ten just how to get there, had you, Polly; you
knew the old trail, even with its changes; and did they have a prisoner;
or was it just a story that's been going around all this time?"

Bob's impatience could not hold back any longer. He felt that he must
know the truth with regard to this fact, right away. If there was no
prisoner after all, then hope must sink out of sight. On the other hand,
should Polly say that she had discovered a guard, and a patient working
figure kept in restraint for long, weary months, he might still hug that
fond illusion to his heart, that it might yet turn out to be his own
father.

"Yep, I gut thar, even if they had hid the trail right smart," the girl
continued, "an' sure 'nuff, thar war a prisoner!"

"Oh!" said Bob, and Thad could feel him quiver again with eagerness.

The girl was slow, not because she wished to tantalize Bob, but simply
on account of her sluggish nature. The hook-worm has a firm grip upon
most of the "poor whites" of North Carolina, as well as in Tennessee and
Georgia close at hand. It would take something out of the common to
arouse Polly; a sudden peril perhaps; or the anticipation of a new
dress, which latter could not be an event occurring in less than yearly
stages, Thad had thought.

"An' he war a man," Polly went on, dreamily; "jest like yuh thought,
Bob; but his hair hed growed so long, and thar was so much beard on his
face, I jest reckons his own mother wudn't never a knowed 'im."

"But did you get close enough to him to say a single word, Polly--just
to ask him who he was?" the boy demanded, faintly.

Thad unconsciously let his arm glide around the figure of his chum. He
seemed to fear the result, no matter what the answer of the mountain
girl might be.

"Sure I did. Thet's what I went up thar fur, ain't it?" Polly went on to
say. "They hed him chained ter ther rock. I reckons thar mout a be'n a
guard alongside, sum o' ther time; but right then he must a be'n away.
So arter peekin' around, an' not seein' any critter astandin' sentry, I
jest mosied up clost ter ther man, an' touched him on ther arm."

She paused again, as if to collect her thoughts, and then yawned; but it
was only through habit, and not because Polly felt sleepy; far from it,
she was seldom more wide-awake than just then, though it was hard for
Thad to believe it.

"He looked kinder s'prised tuh see me, 'cause like I done tole yuh,
gals, they ain't never be'n 'lowed 'round thar, s