Part 15 (2/2)
They looked at each other, and laughed softly, as though it wasThad intended to convey back of his words
All the saerous beaten track was imht upwards Occasionally Bob, who see than his co life; would discover that by taking a side cut they could avoid a hard clied to an oblique one
The vieas at times a fine one, with a stretch of the wild country spread out before theain for a quarter of an hour or , on account of the forht be the presence of thick foliage on the s in profusion all around the thing?” reet their breath
”That's a fact, suh,” agreed Bob White, ”but we mustn't make up our minds that we haven't been followed and watched at all tioats, suh It would o up a cliff that neither of us could drea, and believeabout it”
”I can easily understand that, Bob But it's some wilder up here than ever I believed possible I saw squirrels in plenty as we caside that bank that ht here's a bunch of feathers, shohere so since”
Thad dropped down beside the telltale feathers thatthe ground
A minute later he looked up
”I' as Allan would be,” Thad remarked; ”but it doesn't look like fox tracks to me The claws are too well defined; and I'ht have been a wildcat, if you happen to have such beasts here in the heart of the Blue Ridge”
”I reckon we do, suh, and hty fierce fellows too,” the Southern lad made answer proot hiave me a heap of trouble; and I was sore froht, and it was a cat; though I'round, instead of in the crotch of a tree”
”Perhaps he was too hungry to wait; or the bird tasted so good he just had to pitch in right away,” suggested Thad, picking up one of the feathers, and sticking it in the cord of his cah dinner tie of food he had thrust into one of his pockets before starting out, upon the suggestion of the patrol leader, who did not know just how long a tione
”Yes, and I suppose we've co the vigorous cli of that sort ”So, let's drop down right where we are
It's a good enough lunching place The cat thought so, you can see”
They soon settled in coainst while he ether, a little potted haood measure
The sun felt war and refreshi+ng indeed, as mountain air always is The boys, as they ate, talked incessantly, covering the ground of what they hoped to accoh to favor them, and the moonshi+ners to allow the that after all it ht be well for hiet Bertha disposed of, before thinking of trying to find whether the mysterious prisoner of the moonshi+ners could really be his dear father, when their conversation was interrupted by a screa to their feet, and looked at each other blankly
”That was a girl called out, Bob!” exclaimed Thad ”We can't tell but what it ot to take Come on, and we'll soon see what it means!”
CHAPTER XVII
IN LUCK AGAIN
BOB was quite as eager as his coirl's voiceto act in similar circumstances?