“It would be a wonderful thing for those poor little orphans,” mused the Captain. “But how would you get them home?”
“That’s easy,” said Porky. “Our time is up pretty soon. You see we were only allowed a limited stay. That was the agreement when we came, and we can take the kids over with us. Won’t you please get General Pershing to fix it up for us? There will be some woman on board to tell us what they ought to eat, and when to put ’em to bed and all that.”
“It would be a wonderful thing,” said the Captain again. “If you are sure about your mother. It’s a good deal to wish off on her.”
“Feel in my left pocket,” said Porky. “Feel that letter? Now take it out and read it. It’s all right. She wouldn’t mind, and I’m proud of mother’s letters.”
The Captain drew out the letter which was much thumbed and soiled, and read:
“My own dear boys:
“It was good to hear from you both again after the long time between letters. A whole month, in which we received not so much as a post card. But something told me that you were safe and well, so I did not worry. You know, dears, I am not the worrying kind when it comes to that. Your dad, who boasts continually that he never worries over anything, does all the fussing for the whole family, but as long as he doesn’t know it, and we never tell him, why, I suppose it is all right.
“I wrote you a long letter yesterday, telling you all the news of the neighborhood, and this is only a note to acknowledge your letter at once because in my letter I said that we had not heard in a long time.
“Well, dears, it will not be very many weeks now before we will hope to see our boys again. I am counting the very days. I wonder what souvenir of the war you will bring me. It will be something I will love to have, I know, and not a horrid helmet or anything of that sort. Of course the thing I would like best you can’t possibly bring me, and that is a house full of those poor pitiful little Belgian refugees. When I think of our big house, this splendid home we have built since you went away, when I think that soon it will be finished, and we will be in it, just we four, I can scarcely bear it. So many little children homeless!
“Well, some day, boys, we must manage to do something for some of those suffering little ones. I know of no other way in which to thank God for our two boys and our many, many blessings. Your father is prospering more and more in his business, and we both feel that we must all four unite in doing for those less fortunate than we.
“However, I know I can’t hope for a couple of Belgians just at present. After the war, we will go and collect a few!
“Take care of yourselves always for the sake of the two who love you so well.
“Your always loving
“Mother.”
“Well, I declare!” said the Captain as he finished the clearly written page.
“Doesn’t that about fix it?” asked Porky triumphantly. “Of course these are French, but I guess she won’t mind that. They couldn’t be worse off in the way of parents or more destitute, no matter what they were.”
“Mother will be in her glory,” Beany cut in. “I hope they don’t get fat before we get them home.”
“I should say not! The thinner, the better as far as mother is concerned. She snaked a private right out of the camp hospital last summer and took him home. He had had pneumonia and looked like a sick sparrow. Mother fed him and nursed him and he gained seventeen pounds in three weeks.”