“There they are!”
Everyone, from the mother of the Four to Yanni the boatman, rushed down to the little landing stage.
“They are in that,” said the master of the house, pointing to a puffing little steam launch which was fast approaching. “I heard their voices shouting, and saw one of the girls’ frocks, but how the little rascals got there is beyond me. I only hope they have not been in any mischief.”
The steam launch had stopped alongside, and he caught sight of a bandaged head.
“… or in any danger!” he gasped.
When everyone had landed, Iason looking very pale under his white bandage but walking without help, there was at first such confusion, so many speaking all together and such a tangle of officers and children and dogs, that it was very difficult for the grown-ups to get any clear idea of what had occurred. But the mother of the Four gathered at last that something out of the common had certainly happened, that the children had certainly been in some peril, and that the officers had rescued them and brought them home. So she tried, though her voice shook a little, to thank the Chief.
“You must not thank us,” said the gray-haired admiral standing cap in hand, before her. “We did nothing but arrive at a lucky moment, and bring the children home. It is another you must thank, another who deserves your deepest gratitude; one who by his presence of mind and coolness saved them all in a moment of great danger, … of very real danger. This is the boy!” he said, putting his hand on Pavlo’s shoulder. “This is a real Zamana, who when he grows up will be an honor to his glorious name! And in the meantime I for one, am proud to know him!”
Oh, how they shouted for him when they heard it all! And while the mother of the Four was holding him very tight to her, and while the master of the house and Pavlo’s uncle were shaking each other’s hand as though they would never stop, Deko, who had been set free, limped nimbly down all the steps, and leaped upon Chryseis, and licked her hands, and whined for joy, and caught hold of her skirt and shook it so hard that he tore it.
But he was forgiven that time.
And joy followed for Pavlo as well as glory, for though his uncle was obliged to leave for Athens the next day, no one in the Red House felt as if Pavlo could be spared. So his uncle was persuaded to leave him behind; to leave him indefinitely, till it should be autumn, and school time, and everyone returned to town.