The instant he saw it he knew that Oscar was the boy he and his companion were looking for.
Oscar was gone just a week, and what he saw and did during his absence, and what bargain he made with the committee, we shall learn as soon as he meets his friend Sam, who, of course, must know all about it.
We will tell the reader this much, however, for it would not sound well coming from Oscar's lips, even if he knew all about it, which he did not.
The young taxidermist was almost overwhelmed by his reception. He was introduced to the faculty, to the students, and to many prominent citizens as the brave youth who had saved President Potter's life.
That eccentric gentleman had never thought it worth while to mention the name of Sam Hynes in connection with his rescue, but the reader may rest assured that Oscar did not neglect to do it.
Whenever the subject was spoken of in his hearing, the active and important part taken by the cool-headed Sam was faithfully and graphically described.
This one act on Oscar's part—the saving of the president's life—was enough to make him a hero in the eyes of all the strangers who surrounded him; but what added to the interest with which they regarded him was the fact that he had been selected to complete the university's collection of birds and animals.
The faculty and students, as well as some of the citizens, knew that Professor Potter had at last found somebody to do the work, and when it was announced that that somebody would soon visit Yarmouth to exhibit specimens of his skill, his arrival was awaited with no little impatience.
The professor had not been at all particular about describing the person he had engaged, and the students expected to find themselves confronted by a bearded, fine-looking man in buckskin, or else in high-top boots, red shirt, and slouch hat, standing at least six feet high, with broad shoulders, and so powerful a grip that nobody would dare shake hands with him.
These being their ideas, how great must have been their astonishment when there appeared among them, one morning, a neatly dressed, modest youth, who seemed to shrink away from them, and who blushed every time anyone spoke to him!