“I guess Dave got there just in time,” said the senator’s son. “How about it, Buster?”
“He sure did,” said the stout lad, and shuddered to think how close he had been to drowning.
It can well be imagined that Phil, Ben, and Buster did not have much appetite for breakfast. Phil looked around for Nat Poole, but the money-lender’s son had not yet returned to the school.
“Now, tell me everything,” said Doctor Clay, when the boys at length filed into his office. “As they say in court, we want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
“And that is what I’m going to give you, Doctor Clay,” answered Phil. “I made a big mistake in running away, and I am glad Dave came to bring us back. I haven’t done anything wrong, and I am here to face the music, as the saying goes.”
“And so am I,” came from Ben and Buster.
Then the boys told their story in detail, omitting nothing, and Dave related how he had gone to Camptown Falls, and how the flood had caught 258 him. In the midst of the narrative came a sharp knock on the door.
“Come in,” said the doctor, and one of the servants entered.
“A man to see you, sir,” said the servant. “He says it is very important—something about that wild man, sir! He’s terribly excited, sir!”
“The wild man again!” murmured the master of the school, while the boys looked at him and the servant with interest. “Show the visitor in and I will hear what he has to say.”