office of United States Marshal for
this district."

"Oh!" exclaimed Thad, beginning to see light now.

"He was induced to take the office by the President himself, who was a
personal friend of my father," the boy went on, proudly; "and having
given his word, nothing could make him back out. Up to then we had
lived at peace with everybody in these mountains; but of course that was
bound to come to an end after he had sworn to do his duty; which was to
send out his agents to destroy all the secret Stills, and bring in the
law breakers, if they could be found."

"He must soon have had the enmity of Old Phin, and every other
moonshiner about the Big Smokies," Thad remarked, the other having
paused, as though to give him a chance to express an opinion.

"That is just what happened, suh," Bob went on, hurriedly, as, having
broken the ice, he wanted to get through as speedily as possible. "After
he had led several successful raids in person, the mountaineers saw that
they had a different man to deal with from the other old marshal. They
sent him terrible warnings of what was going to happen to him if he kept
up his work; but my father was a Quail; and he didn't know the meanin'
of the word fear, suh."

"Were you and your mother living near here all that time, Bob?" asked
the scoutmaster. "Because, I should have thought she might have been
worried for fear some of those desperate men tried to stop your father's
work by burning down his home, or doing something like that?"

"There were threats made, suh, to that effect; and my father moved his
family to Asheville to feel that we would be all safe. Then there came
a dreadful day for us, when my father never came back, after he had
gone into these mountains to arrest another batch of moonshiners, whose
Still had been located. One of the men who had accompanied him told us
he had seen him shot down. They were surrounded by bushwhackers, and the
rifles were popping all about, so they had to leave him there. He was
surely dead, they claimed, before they fled from the spot, and of
course, suh, they could not burden themselves with his body."

Again Bob White paused to gulp down the obstacle in his throat.

"Now, you are wondering, suh, how it happened that when we came to
Cranford there was a gentleman with us who was called Mr. Quail, and
supposed to be my father. That was my father's twin brother, living in
Philadelphia. He kindly offered to stay with my mother, who never