Ned was strangely interested in this simple life history. The poor
old woman living there, probably alone and in want, after such an
ending to a hopeful plan!

"And you kept on here?" he asked. "Why didn't you go back to the
city?"

"There was the boy," she answered. "He was ten when we came here. I
didn't want him to get the thirst! After Mike died I lived here to
keep him in the good path. He is a good boy, but when he was twenty
they got him, too--the moonshiners!"

"And he left you?" asked Ned.

"He said he couldn't make anything of himself here, so he went to
Washington. He's never come back, though I've always kept a home for
him, and never ceased to look for him. He writes me now and then that
he's coming home, but he doesn't come! When I saw your fire I thought
he might be with you."

By this time they were at the camp, and Mary Brady was presented to
the boys and made comfortable by the fire, with tea and canned fruit
before her. She enjoyed the lunch immensely and looked the gratitude
she did not speak.

"When did you hear from your boy last?" asked Frank, by way of
keeping the conversation going. "Did he write from Washington? Was it
to Washington you said he went?"

"It was Washington," was the reply. "He wrote me a month or more ago