"Well," replied Mr. Garrabrant, with a smile and a nod around; "I've got a pleasant surprise for you all. Having some time on my hands after I had carried out my little business affairs, I just thought it would be nice if I took my car and ran around to the home of every scout who is in camp here on old Solitude!"
"Bully for you, sir!"
"That was mighty fine of you, Mr. Garrabrant, and did you see my folks, sir?"
"Three cheers for our scout master, fellows; ain't he all to the good, though?"
Now, Mr. Garrabrant knew boys and was not in the least offended by such crude ways of expressing their appreciation. He knew it sprang straight from the heart, and was prouder to have won so lasting a place in their regard than he would have been to take a city.
"Yes, I saw the folks of every lad, and bear messages that will please you, I am sure," he observed. "Here they are, just as they were sent by mothers and fathers. And you may be sure they were delighted to learn how well things were going. They want you to stay your time out, and come back, ruddy and brown, better fitted to take up your school duties when vacation ends."
After the packet of little hastily scribbled messages had been distributed, care having been taken by the thoughtful scout master that not a single one might feel neglected, there was a strange silence in camp. Undoubtedly several of the boys were rather perilously near the breaking point, as they began to once more experience the grip of that terrible malady—homesickness.
But Mr. Garrabrant knew, and he it was who began to play with the captive monkey, causing more or less sport, that presently had all the boys laughing uproariously. And so the threatened eruption was avoided. When supper time came they had managed to recover their former steadiness of purpose to stick it out to the end.
But there was not a single member of the troop who did not treasure that little slip of paper, bearing only a few cheering loving words in a familiar hand, during the rest of the stay in camp.
As to what else befell the Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts, and particularly those members of the Wolf Patrol in whom we have had especial interest, time and space will not allow my attempting to narrate here. Later on the opportunity will doubtless arise, so that we shall once more make their acquaintance, and accompany them on other fields of outdoor life, where they continue to imbibe the secrets of Nature that are calculated to make them better fitted to take care of themselves, and be of service to their fellows.