“And they earned the money,” observed Curtis. “Blake and his committee had a fearful time finding their way out of the woods, and Mr. Colson said that when they came into his office they looked like a lot of tramps. It was a sharp trick, Enoch, and no one but you could have managed it.”
“And no one but Lester Brigham would have thought of it in the first place,” said Egan.
From this it would appear that Lester’s secrets were not likely to be revealed. Huggins could not say that it was he who suggested to Lester the idea of running off with a private yacht, for he had left school long ago; and Ross dared not tell that he was the one who planned the stealing of the class dinner, for he was afraid that he would be court-martialed and punished if he did. Lester’s other secret was in the keeping of boys who knew how to hold their tongues.
When the breakfast had been disposed of, and the exciting and amusing incidents that happened during their last term at the academy, as well as the events of the previous night, had been thoroughly discussed, Egan and his party got into the canoe and pushed off for shore, to let Mr. and Mrs. Egan see that the missing boy had come back safe and sound, while Enoch and Jones went aboard the Firefly and set sail for home. In accordance with his promise, Enoch wrote to Lester that very day. After telling him how Don Gordon had escaped from the coaster, he wound up his letter as follows:
“We have not seen Barr since his failure to overhaul us after Don had been taken on board the Firefly, and I don’t think he will ever trouble you. There are too many things against him that he wouldn’t like to have brought to light in a court of law. Don knows nothing whatever of your complicity in his abduction, and you may be sure that we shall not enlighten him. We hope to see you next term, but we tell you plainly that if you have any more schemes for mischief in your head, you can keep them there, or look to somebody besides Jones and me to help you carry them out. We are tired of playing the part of scamps and law-breakers, and are going to see how boys feel who honestly try to behave themselves. It will be a novel experience to us, but we hope to live through it. We are friends with all Egan’s party now, and they have invited us to join them in their hunts and pleasure-rides. They didn’t throw any fatherly advice at our heads, but we have as good evidence as we want that they will stand by us and help us all they can.”
It was wonderful what a change that breakfast on board the cutter made in Enoch and his friend Jones. After that they were seen in Egan’s company almost every day, and the officers of the Magpie, who had more than once told themselves that Enoch would bear watching, began to think that they had been greatly mistaken in him. He and Jones had been brought to their senses in the same way that Don Gordon was. The influence that Egan and his friends exerted over them was a silent one, but it was none the less powerful. They often went sailing and hunting together, and Enoch’s skill as a wing-shot enabled him to present Bert Gordon with one of the largest and finest swans that had ever been killed on the bay. They did not get a shot on the day that Don was lost in the marshes (it was probable that Barr’s sloop frightened the birds away), but they afterward had fine sport with the swans, and every one of Egan’s guests took a specimen home with him.
Affairs went smoothly after that, and the boys who have been spoken of in this book as The Young Wild-Fowlers were happy—all except Lester Brigham. He was as miserable as a boy ever gets to be. When Don was a prisoner, and in danger of being sent off to some distant port, Lester’s terror almost drove him frantic; but as soon as he learned that Don had come safely out of his troubles, that Enoch and Jones had been at hand to assist him when he made that bold “Swim for Liberty,” and that through his influence and Egan’s, his sworn friends had been led to desert him and to resolve to mend their ways—when Lester knew all these things, his fear gave way to rage, intense and bitter. To repeat the expression Enoch Williams once made, he could not have been more alone in the world if he had been set down on Robinson Crusoe’s island, before the man Friday made his appearance. Bert could hardly believe his ears when his brother told him that it was Lester who put Barr up to do as he did, and he threatened to expose him in spite of the pledge of secrecy he had given; but Don promised to duck him in the bay if he did, and so Bert said nothing, although he stormed a good deal.
The boys were sorry to say good-bye to their genial host, but they were eager to start for home. Christmas was coming, and it was a gala day with all of them. Don and Bert enjoyed it, as they always did, but they afterward told each other that no Christmas had ever seemed quite like this one. They took solid comfort in looking back over the year that had just passed. Their record was a clear one, and Don was happy in the thought that he had never caused his mother a moment’s anxiety since Egan, Hopkins and Curtis got hold of him. They never got a glimpse of Lester Brigham, and neither did he go back to school with them. His father, having learned that life on a plantation was not just what his imagination had pictured it, sold his property in Rochdale and removed to New Orleans, where Lester lives at this writing. Whether or not he took a high stand among the boys there, we don’t know for certain, but we feel safe in saying that he did not. His future is easily predicted. To quote once more from Enoch, he is all talk and no do; and a boy who has that failing, is not likely to make much of a man.
It gives us great pleasure to say that Enoch and Jones held firmly to their good resolutions, in spite of all the temptations that came in their path, and that the influence that had been exerted upon them made itself felt, through them, upon other members of “the crowd,” who gradually fell into their ways. During the term no boys worked harder than they did, and the result of the examination was just what the members of the first class said it would be. Enoch was made captain, and Jones won a first sergeant’s chevrons.
Don and Bert did not leave the academy at the close of the term, but remained to take the finishing course, which they will complete next year. What they will do after that they have not yet decided; but it is safe to say that if they make truthfulness, fidelity and manliness their guiding-stars in the future, as they have in the past, they will be of some use in their day and generation.