possible, if placed in the hands of a competent lawyer in Asheville,
that this document would take Bertha from the custody of Reuben, and
give her a home with Bob's mother up in Cranford?

All these things were debated from every standpoint; and wide-awake boys
can see the weak links in the chain about as quickly as any one; so that
Thad was kept busy explaining, and building up plans to suit the altered
conditions.

"Ought to be time he was here," Giraffe remarked, as he stifled a huge
yawn.

"It's sure nearly a whole hour since we heard that row across there,"
Bumpus went on to say. "Seemed like a whole crowd had started to yell,
and dogs to bark. We none of us could make up our minds what it meant.
Some thought the wounded man must a got to the cabins, an' all that
noise meant the kind of reception a brave feller gets in these parts
when he's brought home on a shutter. But others, they seemed to b'lieve
it might have had to do with our chum Bob, and that p'raps he'd been
surrounded, and trapped by the wise old Reuben."

"We hope not, for a fact," declared Thad.

"Well, there's somebody coming right now, I give you my word!" observed
Smithy, who happened to be on the windward side of the fire, and able to
hear better than some of the rest.

"And from the right direction, too," added Allan.

The patter of footsteps came closer, and presently a dim figure loomed
up, almost staggering.

"It's Bob, all right!" cried Bumpus; and Thad heaved a sigh of relief,
for he had begun to fear that something might have happened to disturb
the carefully laid plans of his companion.

The Southern boy came into camp, breathing heavily. He seemed to be very
much exhausted, but Thad could detect a look of triumph on his face that
seemed to tell of something worth while having been accomplished.

Dropping down, Bob motioned for a drink of water, and Step Hen made
haste to get him one from the collapsible bucket they had brought along
with them. Draining the tin cup, Bob sighed as though the cooling liquid
went just to the right spot, and had refreshed him wonderfully.

"It's all right, Thad!" he managed to say, noticing the questioning look
that the other was bending upon him.

"Then you saw your cousin, and got the paper?" asked the scoutmaster,
eagerly, while the rest of the boys fairly hung upon every word.

Bob nodded his head.

"Get my breath right soon now," he remarked; "then tell you all about
it. Phew! I had a s