At the end of his second school year, Bob was permitted to take up his abode at a private house in the village, and, at his earnest solicitation, George consented to room with him.
They studied, worked, and played together, and it finally came to be understood between them, that, if they could possibly prevent it, they were not to allow themselves to be separated as long as they lived.
George did not know what he was bringing upon himself by consenting to this arrangement.
Having described, as rapidly as we could, the various incidents that had operated to bring these two boys together, let us go back to where we first found them—to the day on which that telegram arrived from Arizona.
It was the last day they ever expected to spend in Montford, and it had been big with events. They had passed their examination with flying colors, the base-ball club to which they belonged had established its claim to the championship, after a hotly-contested game, and the two friends—there were only two of them now, for Dick Langdon had completed the course a year before—were in high spirits.
Having exchanged their uniforms for their ordinary clothes, and taken a run around the bases for the last time, they set out for their boarding-house.
CHAPTER XVI.
HOW ONE TELEGRAM WAS RECEIVED.
Bob Howard and his companion had other reasons besides those of which we have spoken, for feeling at peace with themselves and all the world.
By hard work and strict attention to their books, they had succeeded in winning an enviable position in their class, and this night was to wind up their connection with the academy in a blaze of glory.
George had written an essay on “Unconscious Influence,” which was a very creditable effort for a boy of his years, and Bob had been chosen, without one dissenting voice, to deliver the valedictory.