Randall turned away, while Dale once more sought Hanks.
CHAPTER VII.
BEHIND THE PALMS.
Ensconced behind some palms, Dick and June were enjoying a delightful chat. They had a hundred things to tell each other, and June was vainly trying to tell it all at once. From their nook they could see Buckhart happily occupied with Mabel Ditson, and apparently satisfied for the time being that he had stolen a lap on Claxton. Chester Arlington seemed to be a favorite with the girls, and he appeared happiest with several of them near.
“Don’t you think my brother is looking well, Dick?” asked June.
“Never saw him looking finer in my life,” was the answer. “The West must have done him good.”
“Oh, I know it did, but Chester says he owes all the benefit he has received to your brother Frank. He has told me of the most wonderful adventures in company with Frank. You know he was seriously wounded down in Mexico. A bullet grazed his skull, and he was out of his mind for some time. Frank took care of him and brought him back to Wellsburg. Chester has been training in Frank’s athletic school, and I feel confident now that he’s finally succeeded in breaking away from his old bad habits.”
“I sincerely hope he has.”
“He says you, Dick, were the one who started him on the right road that summer, up in the Blue Hills. Oh, that summer in the Blue Hills! I’ll never forget it!”
“Nor I,” said Dick. “It was jolly and strenuous and exciting enough to satisfy the most adventurous tastes. How is Madge Morgan?”
“I knew you’d ask. That was almost the first question Dale Sparkfair had for me. Madge is fine. She’s attending school in Bloomfield, you know. We have rooms together. Oh, she’s a splendid girl, Dick. She’s so kind and thoughtful toward her poor old blind father. He’s there living quietly in a home provided for him by some good people. Madge sees him almost every day. She’s the only person he has to live for now, and I know his one fear is that he will lose her somehow. That fear is groundless, though. She’ll never be parted from him in the world.”