“Well, he could come down any time after working hours,” said Dick reflectively. “But I tell you what I’d better do. I think I’d better tell him all about the baseball game and what I did first.”
“Yes, sir!” replied Bill earnestly, “and tell him about my funk and all. The more he knows about us the better. What do you say, Tom?”
“I say the same thing,” said Tom.
“What I like about this Club is, that we’re all working together for something that’s worth while, and that something is all in the Charter. But—Gee!—the more I think of it, the bigger it seems to me; and an older fellow, like Dick’s Dad, ought to be able to help us a lot.”
Then the meeting adjourned; and that evening at home, Dick had a heart-to-heart talk with his father and told him everything of importance that had happened during the cruise.
Mr. Gray’s face clouded over when Dick made his confession about his foul play at second base, but it soon began to brighten as Dick spoke of the torment which began working inside of him afterwards from time to time, and finally the revolt of his spirit against any further deception when he was about to receive the commendation for having saved the little girl’s cat.
“You gained a victory over yourself, then, Dick, and I thank God! There has always been a mean streak in you which showed itself in what we used to call your ‘dark moods.’ You conquered that mean streak then, and you will be able to conquer it again. Have you had any of the dark moods since?”
“Yes, father, but they have been lighter, and I have been able to drive them away without much trouble.”
“Good,” replied his father, “you could not have told me anything that would have given me more real satisfaction. God bless you, and help you to keep on the same track.”
Mr. Gray listened attentively and with great interest, also, to the story of Billy Brown’s struggle with fears, and every now and then asked a brief question to make sure that he had understood all that had occurred, and all that had been going on in the boys’ minds. He had never heard the story of Captain Craven before, and was delighted with it, as an example of the spirit of loyalty to duty and heroic courtesy.