"Thet's jest what I done, suh," answered Phin. "Polly, I'se noticin' as how yuh brung them byes up hyah tuh the old Still. Reckons as how yuh never'd dared do thet same on'y foh what's cum ter pass."
"Reckons as how I wudn't, dad," replied the girl; who, somehow, did not seem to display any particular fear of the stern parent, such as might have been expected under the circumstances.
"Are you going to let me go free, Phin Dady?" demanded the prisoner, hoarsely.
For answer the moonshiner stepped forward, and with a key he produced, released the iron that had been fastened about the ankle of the one-time revenue marshal.
"I give you the promise you wanted, Phin, and never will I tell a living soul where the hiding-place of your Still lies," Mr. Quail declared, trying to conceal his emotion as a brave man might.
"Thet's good o' ye, Mistah Quail," remarked the other, with one of his dry chuckles that somehow Thad liked to hear.
"And more than that, Phin," continued the other, earnestly, "I agree never again to enter these mountains in search of the men who live here, and who believe they have a right to make this moonshine stuff as they please, whether the authorities down in Washington let them or not. I've resigned as a marshal, Phin. You and your friends will never have to think of me again as an enemy. And I suppose then that the curious public will never get the sight of this famous Still of yours, that I boasted they would."
"Thet's whar yuh makes a mistake, suh," said the old man, with a wide grin. "I reckons now as it's a gwine to be ther trade mark ter be used on ther bottles. I be'n tole thet it ort ter help make sales, w'en they knows the new medicine, made outen roots an' yarbs got in ther mountings, an' wich cures all kinds o' shakes an' chills like magic, is manufactured in ther same old Still as Phin Dady cooked moonshine stuff foh nigh on ten hull yeahs."
"What's that?" exclaimed the late prisoner, while Polly laughed softly, like one who sees a new life opening up before her.
Thad began to see glimpses of light. He remembered the strange words used by the girl from time to time. Yes, there had a change taken place; things were never going to be the same as they had been in the past. Accident had opened the eyes of the old mountaineer, and he had discovered a way to make money, with the Government for, not against him.