"
"I begin to see daylight!" Jack cried.
"Well, the prince being on his way to the hills and we having a good
idea as to the locality of his place of hiding, the conspirators
conceived the idea of giving us a false little prince to play with!"
"They're no fools!" Jack exclaimed. "No fools at all!"
"Now," Ned went on, "some of the conspirators knew Mrs. Brady's son
in Washington. They knew of his many promises to his mother to return
to the mountains. They knew of his recent promise to her to come home
and bring the boy with him. They were doubtless very intimate with
Mike Brady, Senior, for they knew all the little details of the life
his mother was living.
"So they got him to permit them to bring the boy to his grandmother.
They knew he would be looking for a prince in the hills, and so they
gave us a false one to engage our attention! Rather clever, that,
Jack."
The old lady was now regarding Ned with eyes which expressed awe as
well as wonder.
"How did you find it all out?" she asked. "How do you know what took
place in the minds of those wicked men?"
"After they took possession of the boy they began bribing him to play
the part he has played here so imperfectly. They taught him cheap
little French phrases from the dictionary, and touched up his already
dusky complexion so as to make him look darker than ever.
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