“There must be no more of this,” said the Colonel, sternly. “You two boys are not fit to be trusted in these dangerous places. Now, go home at once.”
The little crowd attracted by the accident had begun to cheer wildly, but the congratulatory sound did Gwyn no good. He did not feel a bit like the hero of an adventure, one who had done brave deeds, but a very ordinary schoolboy sort of personage, who was being corrected for a fault, and he felt very miserable as he turned to Joe.
“Are you coming home, too?”
“Yes. I suppose so,” said Joe, dismally.
There was another cheer, and the boys felt as if they could not face the crowd, till an angry flush came upon Gwyn’s cheeks; for there stood, right in the front, the big, swarthy fellow who had been caught plumbing the depth of the mine, and he was grinning widely at them both.
“Ugh!” thought Gwyn, “how I should like to punch that chap’s head. Here, Joe, let’s tell our fathers that this fellow is hanging about here.”
“No,” said Joe, dismally. “I feel as if I didn’t mind about anything now. My father looked at me as if I’d been doing it all on purpose to annoy him. Let’s go home.”