CHAPTER IV. THE MUSEUM.
"It beats anything I ever heard of. Do you suppose that Oscar Preston really killed a grizzly bear and saved his guide's life?"
"Of course he did. Sam Hynes received a letter last February that contained a full account of it."
"Why didn't he tell the fellows then?"
"Because Oscar asked him to keep it secret. He didn't want his mother to know anything about it, for fear it would frighten her, and Sam told no one but Mr. Chamberlain."
"Who would have thought that Oscar had so much in him? We fellows have associated with him for years, and none of us ever imagined that he had pluck enough to face the most terrible animal on this continent, and nerve enough to kill him with a single bullet! It's just wonderful!"
That was the opinion of all the Eaton boys, who often talked in this way among themselves after Oscar returned from his memorable trip to the foot-hills, and all the thrilling incidents connected with his life there had become known. And they became known very speedily.
Oscar's safe return abrogated the command he had laid upon his friend Sam Hynes to say nothing about the contents of his letters, and the successful young hunter had scarcely entered his mother's door before Sam proceeded to "unload"—in other words, to get rid of numerous secrets to which he could hold fast no longer, and to publish abroad a full history of everything Oscar had done during his absence.
He was able to make his statements accurate in every particular, for Oscar had kept nothing from him.