Sam Hynes, warned by a telegram which Oscar sent from Albany, met the returned hunter at the depot, and stuck to him night and day during the week he spent in Eaton, where everybody made a lion of him.
His mother, of course, was overjoyed to meet him, and listened with a beating heart to what he had to say in regard to Tom, who, during the rest of his life on the plains, was the regular recipient of something that did much to sustain and encourage him in his efforts to reform—a mother’s letters.
That week passed all too quickly for Oscar, who, at the end of it, was once more obliged to tear himself away from home and go to work.
He had months of it before him, too, for the specimens he had secured were all to be stuffed and mounted. He was almost overwhelmed by the attentions he received on every hand.
It was not long before everybody in the city knew who he was and what he had done; at least it seemed so, for everybody stared at him on the streets, and Oscar finally began to wish that he was back in the foot-hills, out of sight.
The committee were more than pleased with his success, and with the appearance of his specimens; and the first year he spent in their employ was only the beginning of a long and profitable engagement with them.
THE END.
Specimen Cover of the Gunboat Series.