mois might have exceeded.

And Thad, looking at his chum, saw that the other's face was wreathed in
a smile such as had long been a stranger there.

"The best day's work I ever did, Thad!" exclaimed Bob, as he seized his
chum's hand, and squeezed it convulsively. "Something just tells me
Polly is going to be my good fairy, and bring me the greatest gift that
ever could be--the knowledge that my dear father lives."

CHAPTER XIX.

THE SILENT VIDETTE.

"SHALL we go back the same way we came up?" asked Thad, as they made a
start toward returning to the camp down below.

"I think I'd like to try another route," Bob replied. "Some of those
places we hit were pretty tough climbing; and you know it's always
harder going down, than up a mountain. Seems to me we'll strike an
easier way over to the right here."

"My opinion exactly," Thad declared, ready to fall in with anything
which the other proposed, because he was interested heart and soul in
the work Bob had cut out for himself--trying to bring more of happiness
into the life of little Bertha, his cousin; and finding out whether his
long-lost father was still in the land of the living.

They had gone about half of the way, and found that, just as Bob
guessed, it was much easier than the other route would have proven, when
Thad made a discovery that gave him a little thrill.

"There's a man, Bob!" he exclaimed, suddenly.

"Where?" demanded the other, turning his head around; for he happened to
be a trifle in advance of his companion at the time.

"Over yonder, on that rock, and of course with a rifle in sight; for you
never see one of these mountaineers without that. I wouldn't be
surprised to hear that some of them go to bed with their guns in their
arms. Do you see him now, Bob?"

"Yes, and can understand why he's sitting there like that," replied the
other, rather bitterly.

"Looks like he might have a touch of the fever and ague, and that with a
spell of the shakes on, he wanted to sun himself," suggested Thad;
though he knew full well the true explanation was along other lines
entirely.

"He's doing sentry duty," remarked Bob, soberly. "You can see, Thad,
that from where he lies he has a splendid view of the road we came
over?"

"That's a fact, and could even toss a rock down on it if he chose,"
continued the patrol leader. "I understood that, Bob, and can guess why
he was placed there by Old Phin Dady."

"I suppose they're all around us," re