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 underground 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!