“But what a way your father and mother must be in. What will they think?”
“Oh, don’t, don’t, don’t!” groaned Cyril. “Think I haven’t gone over it all, times enough? I never thought how much there was in it, or what trouble it would make till it was too late. Do you think I’d have come to be near you for a minute last night, if I’d known that the colonel was going to shoot at me?”
“Of course not.”
“And that’s the way with lots of things: one don’t think about them till it’s too late. Hush, here he comes.”
For while the boys were busy talking, they had climbed up the side of the valley, and come close up to the fire before they were aware of it.
“Humph!” ejaculated the colonel sternly. “So you’ve given up being a savage then, young fellow, eh?”
“Yes, sir,” said Cyril humbly.
“You’ll join us at breakfast, then, eh?”
“I don’t feel as if I could eat anything, thank you, sir.”
“No, I shouldn’t think you did; I don’t think I should have much of an appetite if I had behaved to my father and mother as you have behaved to yours. But there, you are my friend’s son, and I must be hospitable, I suppose. Come and have breakfast, and then the sooner you are off back, the better.”