continued Mrs. Ruthven. "He is improved,
but still somewhat weak. You can go to him when he awakens. I think it
will be best, for the present, to keep the fact of Dr. Mackey's capture
a secret."

"You are right, mother."

The matter was talked over, and Dr. Mackey was later on taken to a
garret room and tied fast to an old four-poster bedstead, a piece of
furniture weighing considerably over a hundred pounds. Then Old Ben was
placed at the door to watch him.

Just before the colonel awoke Jack went in to see him. As our hero
looked at that handsome face his heart beat rapidly. He bent over and
kissed the colonel's forehead, and this awoke the wounded man.

"Jack, my son!" murmured the colonel, as his eyes rested on the face of
the youth. "My son, at last!"

"Father!" was the only word Jack could utter, but, oh, how much it
meant! Then he caught his parent by both hands, and for a moment there
was utter silence.

"I was so afraid something had happened to you," went on the colonel.
"Oh, Jack! you do not know how glad I am that we have found one
another!"

"And I am glad, too," replied our hero. "Do you know I was drawn to you
from the first time I saw you?" he added.

"And I was drawn to you--even though you were a little Confederate," and
the colonel smiled.

"And you are a Yankee!" cried Jack. "But I don't care what you are,
father," he continued hastily. "Blood is thicker than water; isn't it?"

"Yes, Jack; and what is more, I trust this cruel war will soon be over,
and we will have no North and no South, but just one country."

Jack remained with his parent for over an hour, then went off to see
what could be done with Dr. Mackey.

It was the middle of the forenoon when Marion discovered St. John
coming, accompanied by several Confederate soldiers.

"He has come to arrest my father," said Jack. "But he shan't do it."

"He will be surprised when we show him Dr. Mackey as a prisoner,"
returned Marion.

She went to let her cousin in, and St. John began at once to speak of
Colonel Stanton.

"He is a spy," said the spendthrift. "You should be ashamed to harbor
him in your house. These men will place him under arrest."

"I don't think they will," put in Jack, as he came forward. "So you are
here to do Dr. Mackey's dirty work, are you," he added.

"Eh? What--er--do you mean?" stammered St. John.

"You are found out, St. John," said Mrs. Ruthven, coming on the scene.
"And let me tell you that hereaf