ht have been caused by water. Evidently the secret Still was not in
operation just then; and words dropped by Polly gave Thad the impression
that possibly it had ceased work for all time, because of some reason
that brought about a change in the conditions.

Polly could not have been gone more than five minutes before she came
gliding back again to where she had left the boys.

"Hit's all right, an' thar don't 'pear ter be any guard 'round."

She plucked at Bob's coat sleeve, as if to let him understand that he
could come on now; as if the boy needed a second invitation.

They turned a bend in the narrow passage ahead, and Thad drew a long
breath as he looked upon one of the most remarkable scenes it had ever
been his fortune to see.

The cave was a natural grotto, rock-ribbed, and as firm as the
everlasting foundations of the mountains themselves. The moonshiners had
fitted it up for their purpose; and there, for the first time Thad saw
what a Still looked like. After all, it did not amount to much, the worm
being the most interesting part of it. But then the fact that he was now
gazing upon the very Still that revenue men had for years tried in vain
to discover and wreck, gave the scoutmaster a sensation akin to awe.

But all this he saw with one sweeping glance. There was more. A clanking
as of a chain drew his attention to a figure that had arisen from a
bench, and was pushing the long hair from his eyes to watch their
entrance. Evidently Polly during her short absence must have whispered
to the prisoner that Bob was close by.

There was, of course, no such thing as holding Bob back any longer. He
saw that ragged and altogether uncouth figure, which of course bore not
the least resemblance to the father he remembered so well; but he also
had discovered a pair of extended arms, and toward their shelter the boy
fairly leaped.

Another instant and Bob Quail was wrapped in the embrace of the parent
he had not seen in more than two years, and whose fate it had been to
remain here a prisoner among the moonshiners who hated him so
thoroughly, while his dear ones mourned him as dead.

After a few minutes Thad moved closer, and gave a little cough, wishing
to let his chum know that he had a comrade tried and true near by. With
that Bob started up, and gripped him by the arm.

"This is my best friend, Thad Brewster, father," he said.

Thad shook hands with the emaciated man who had been confined in this
undergroun