“Only in the chest,” Johnson answered with a grin. “I see my training did you some good.”
“We are making a lumber report on camp 11,” Scott said, “and came over to see the jammer. I did not know you were here, but thought I recognized you and came down to see.”
“Good thing for me that you did.”
“I found out long ago what a mucker I made of myself last fall and have been longing for a chance to apologize, but something always interfered. Now I am going to get it out before anything stops me. I have made good ever since you called me down, and I owe it all to you. I was ashamed of myself at the time, but was too big a coward to tell you so.”
“And now,” Johnson laughed, “you have far more than squared the account by knocking me down and probably breaking two or three ribs. Forget it. I acted only for your good, knew what I would get from the start and was never sore about it. Let’s go to the camp.”
They talked until late in the afternoon, when Scott and Greenleaf had to return to camp 11. They said good-bye to Johnson with many regrets and left in the minds of the lumberjacks a feeling of respect such as they had never before felt for a college man. The news of the rescue had reached camp 11 ahead of them and Scott was flattered at every turn. This flattery meant little to him, for he knew from experience how little it was worth, but he was delighted over his reconciliation with Johnson. He had not realized what a burden he had been carrying.
The next morning they went to the train behind the old pacer feeling well repaid for their trip. The foreman himself had come out to bid them good-bye.
The journey home was a pleasant one for Scott. He had carried out one of his resolutions and placed himself once more on an honest footing with Johnson. Moreover, he felt convinced that he had picked responsible companions. Merton, Greenleaf and Johnson, he thought, were certainly above reproach. The only thing that worried him was whether the sterling qualities which he knew so well would appeal to his father’s Eastern viewpoint. He remembered how he had regarded them when he first came West, and he had some misgivings.
CHAPTER XXI
Scott realized that the trip to the lumber camps had been the most instructive three weeks that he had ever spent. Every minute of the time he had been learning something new, some detail of logging, some new phase of woods life, some new trait of lumberjack character. At the same time he had been so interested that it had seemed more like a pleasure trip than a required part of the school course. He felt that he could have spent the whole winter right there in that camp and enjoyed it all.