He was Little Snap's father.
"Why, John! Where have you been?" asked Mrs. Lewis, starting toward him. "I have been so worried about you."
"No need of that, Mary. I think I ought to have shown you by this time that I am able to take care of myself."
Mr. Lewis was a man who was a mystery to all who knew him. He was generally considered mildly insane, but more often spoken of as "the man without a memory." His past life seemed to be a void to him, except at rare intervals, when a ray of light would suddenly flash across his darkened mind, to go as quickly as it had come. Of late years he had been at home but very little, though where he spent his time not even those at home knew. Of course his wife worried over his strange conduct, but as long as he was harmless and seemed, as he had said, able to care for himself, it was not thought best to keep him at home by force.
The Lewis family was one of the oldest and most respected in the valley of the Kanawha, our hero being directly descended from those gallant pioneers of the dark days of the Old Dominion, John and Samuel Lewis, well known to the pages of Virginia history.
"John," said the anxious wife, "I wish you would not be away from home so much. What is it calls you away so much? You look pale and haggard; there is some trouble."
"There is trouble, Mary, and I have been trying to think what it is. For the present we must wait, though it will all come round in good season.
"Did I tell you, my son, that you had aroused the snakes of Blazed Acre? You must carry a level head. Most of all, look out for those who profess the greatest friendship. There, that is all I can think of now. I must leave you now, Mary. I will be back again to stop longer next time."
Then, in spite of their remonstrances, he went out of the house and was not seen again that night.
Though it was late before our hero retired, he was on hand at his usual hour the following morning, and promptly at six he called at the post office for the mail pouch.