"That makes my mind feel much easier."
"If your father should yet be alive and they should have him concealed somewhere around this swamp, it might account for their presence here."
"Yes, yes," she assented, eagerly. "You've proven conclusively that my poor father was not the man found in the river."
"In view of the fact that the game is up, so far as Mason is concerned, I can't fathom any object he may have in keeping your father a prisoner any longer. That is, of course, presuming he really has your father alive and imprisoned anywhere."
"Well," said the girl, reflectively, "I cannot give an opinion on that point at all. I can only keep on hoping that you may soon find my father, dead or alive. It would end this dreadful suspense and uncertainty about his fate."
At this juncture George's wife stuck her kinky head in at the door and announced that dinner was awaiting them.
The Bradys were shown to their rooms.
Having washed and made their toilets as best they could, they went down and joined Lizzie in the dining-room.
After that, several days and nights of hard work ensued.
The Bradys abandoned their disguises, merely wearing their top boots, and thoroughly scoured the swamp.