"Phwat! Say that agin!"
"Mike is alive and well as he ever was in his life."
They still stared, dazed and unable for the moment to speak another word. The callers sat down.
"I say again that Mike is well and safe. He spent last night on a little island not many miles away and we brought him back in the Deerfoot."
The mother still gazed and clutched her apron. Her husband showed that he caught the meaning of what he had heard.
"And where is Mike?"
The question recalled Alvin's promise to pave the way for his friend's return to his home.
"Before I tell you," said the Captain, "you must give me your pledge that you will not punish him for what happened last night. Will you do so?"
"That I will," was the unhesitating answer. "He desarves a licking, but we'll call it square—that is," was the qualifying condition, "so far as this thing is consarned."
"What! lick me baby Mike!" exclaimed the glad mother; "not in a thousand years! Where is the darlint that I may kiss the hid off him?"