“‘Good?’” retorted Silas instantly diverted. “‘Good?’ There’s none better. If th’ New Yorks onct got a chance t’ see him work then ’twould be good-day for your school. I’m told that some o’ them players get as much as ten dollars a game. D’ye s’pose that can be true?”
Walter laughed as he said, “Silas, some of them get four or five times as much as that.”
“Well, Dan’ll get it then.”
“I believe he will do well whatever he tries to do,” said Mr. Borden quietly.
“Ye’re right he will. I charged Tim Long two shillin’ for fixin’ his tugs this mornin’ an’ it took me ’most two hours. If I had Dan’s chance I’d be makin’ four times that, I guess.”
Dan, who had been the subject of much of the conversation on the way back to Rodman, seldom spoke. There was an air of seriousness about the thoughtful boy that was marked. Mr. Borden occasionally glanced at him, and there was always a quiet smile of approval whenever he did so. Whatever Walter’s hopes and plans for his friend were, it was manifest that his father also had thoughts of his own, though he did not once refer to them in the presence of his boy.
At last the day arrived when Walter was to depart from Rodman. In two weeks the Tait School was to reopen and there were many things to be done in the city before he went.
Before the family left for home, Mrs. Borden was seated one evening on the piazza alone with her husband and broached a subject which had long been in her mind. “Don’t you think it would be a good thing to take Dan back home with us for a few days before he enters school? You know he——”