"Thaddeus Lasher!"
As Jerry muttered that name his eyes sought those of his chum.
"Whew!" he whistled in an expressive way.
"It looks serious for Andy, don't you think?" asked Frank.
"It does now, for a fact. Do you think this can be his dad?" asked the other.
"Don't know; either that, or an uncle, for the account mentions that he is a man about fifty years of age. He seems to have been imprisoned a good long time back for the crime of robbery. There was a little doubt about it at the time, and he was sentenced on purely circumstantial evidence. Some people even thought he might be innocent," went on Frank.
"And all these years he has lain in the penitentiary, forgotten by every one but his family; that's pretty tough," muttered sympathetic Jerry.
"How long have you known Andy?"
"He and his mother came to Centerville about five years back. Nobody ever knew anything about the family. I always supposed his father was dead," replied Jerry thoughtfully.
"Well, it looks as though this escaped convict, who still had years to serve, might be his father. Some cruel people would say that that is why Andy has always been a wild, tough boy; but I think that came from other reasons. But, Jerry, do you remember that we couldn't for our lives guess what was taking Andy up in this region?"