d retreat so long. In spite of the long beard and strange
looks of the other, he realized that Mr. Quail was no ordinary man. But
then Thad had guessed that already, from what he had heard about the
one-time marshal.

"This is a mighty big piece of luck for Bob!" Thad remarked. "It seems
nearly too good to be true; and he'll be the happiest boy in the States
when he takes you back home with him, sir."

"Home!" repeated the prisoner; "how strange that word sounds, after
being shut up here so long. And how queer the outside world will seem to
me. But I hope the promise Old Phin Dady made me, still holds good; for
I've no longer the desire to hold out against his will. In my own mind
I'm no longer on the pay-roll of the Government, for he tells me every
one believes me dead; so I can take the vow with a clear conscience.
Yes, I'm hoping to go home with my boy."

Thad felt that all now remaining for them to do was to get in
communication with the moonshiner, and have Mr. Quail set at liberty.
Surely after what he and Bob had done for the family of Phin Dady, the
latter could not refuse to let his prisoner go; especially since he now
professed his willingness to make the promise that up to this time he
had absolutely declined to subscribe to.

They were still talking in this strain when a sound like a cough drew
their attention, and looking up, Thad discovered a grim figure leaning
on his gun not twenty feet away. There was no need to ask who the man
was, for every one of them had already recognized the moonshiner, Phin
Dady!

CHAPTER XXVII.

BUMPUS CALLS FOR THREE CHEERS.

THE mountaineer was the first to speak.

"'Pears like I was interruptin' a leetle fambly reunion," he remarked,
drily.

At any rate, Thad noticed, there did not seem to be any great show of
anger in the actions or words of the man. Nor was he leveling that
terrible gun, which had doubtless brought consternation into the hearts
of more than one invading group of revenue officers in times past.

Indeed, Thad was rather inclined to think Old Phin looked remarkably
docile, as though his claws had been pulled, and he no longer felt that
the whole world was against him.

Mr. Quail, however, did not see things in this way. He was not aware of
the great change that had come about in the Dady family, that threatened
to remove from the Blue Ridge the most remarkable and picturesque figure
the region had ever known.

"I'm ready to make that p