“Will he ever recover his mind?” asked Mrs. Racer anxiously.
“Well, such cases have been known,” replied the doctor. “Perhaps in time, with rest and quietness, it may all come back to him as suddenly as it left him. But what are your plans in regard to him?”
“He is to stay here, of course, until he recalls something of himself,” said Mrs. Racer decidedly. “Then he may be able to tell us who his people are.”
“And if that should take—say all summer?” The doctor looked at her questioningly.
“If we have to take him back to New York with us in the fall, we’ll do it,” went on the mother of Frank and Andy.
“Perhaps the city sights may recall him to himself,” suggested Frank.
“Perhaps,” agreed Dr. Martin. “Well, I’ll stop in again to-morrow.”
The next day, and the next, however, saw very little change. The lad grew much stronger, so that he could sit up in bed, but that was all. The past remained as dark as before. Yet he was intelligent, and could talk on ordinary topics with ease, and with a knowledge that showed he had been well educated. But even his name was lost to him. They looked in the newspapers but saw no mention of a lost boy.
Meanwhile Frank and Andy had made diligent inquiries about the wrecked boat, but had heard nothing. Nor was there any news of the whale.
“Of course I don’t intend to go out after him, when dad and mom don’t want us to,” Andy carefully explained to his brother, “but it does no harm to ask; does it?” and he laughed joyously.