By that time the man, who was the father of the little girls, had the other one safe, but he was a big man and fat and couldn’t swim very well, so Hal helped them both into the boat again, jumped in himself and rowed them back to the shore near the hotel where they were stopping. They were tourists from the East and wanted to reward Hal, but he didn’t think he had done anything so great, so he ran away. That was the last Hal heard of it, until a month later a package came by express addressed to him. He opened it and found a letter and a very fine gold watch with two large diamonds in the case.
The letter was from the father of the two little girls. He said he had found out who Hal was and begged him to accept the watch in token of the sender’s gratitude for the rescue of the little girls. They were twins and exactly alike—so were the diamonds in the case. Hal hardly ever wore the watch and so very few knew he had it. Now he decided to pawn it if he could borrow enough on it to get to California.
He had never been in a pawnshop in his life and he was nervous. Besides, his time was getting short. He rushed out of the station and asked the first person he met (it was Crossley, although in his excitement Hal couldn’t have told whether the man was black or white) where there was a pawnshop. Crossley didn’t answer, because Hal hadn’t stopped for an answer and Crossley himself was hurrying. He was already talking to the policeman on the corner. The policeman told Hal there was a pawnshop in the other end of town, but that most of the students who had to raise money that way went to Boston. Hal started out to the pawnshop the policeman told him about, but when he got there he found it closed.
By the time Hal got back to the station it was five minutes of three. He had decided to go into Boston and try to raise the money there on the watch; then he would go right on home from here. He checked his trunk, and just then the train drew into the station and he got aboard.
Meantime Hans had arrived back at the house thirty minutes before he was expected. He straightened things around in his room, put his books away and after a minute or two found Hal’s note. The note just said that he had bad news from home, his father was sick, and they couldn’t send him his allowance. He was going. He was sorry he couldn’t see Hans again, but he was discouraged and said he would write. Would Hans tell Hughie the circumstances, etc.? He was leaving Boston on the afternoon train.
Hans knew the train left at three. He pulled out his watch and saw it was fifteen minutes of three. It took sixteen minutes to get to the station on the car. The train might be on time.
The note hadn’t sounded quite right to Hans. Hal ought not leave the University without first registering out at the office of the college. He thought there might be something else. Above all he didn’t want Hal to go to California without seeing him again. He was very fond of his chum. He thought of these things as he was gliding down the front steps. To catch that train he would have to beat the car. That meant to do it on foot.
Hans started to run. [Every block] put behind him [was like a stolen base to him]. By running every block he managed to catch the last car of the train just as she pulled out. There he stopped long enough to catch his breath for he knew they couldn’t get off now since it was an express to Boston without stop.
