“Please don’t thank me,” he said; “I’m repaid a thousandfold when I see you standing there safe. It might so easily have been the other way,” and he shuddered at the thought.
Before the girl could answer, another figure strode forth and grasped our hero’s hand in both of his.
“Professor Davis,” Bert exclaimed, as he recognized one of the college professors.
“Yes, it’s Mr. Davis, Bert, and he owes you a debt of gratitude he can never cancel. Bert, it was my daughter you rescued from a hideous death to-day, and, dear boy, from this day, you can count on me for anything in the world.”
“Thank you, Professor; I don’t deserve all this——”
“Yes, you do, my boy—every bit of it and more, and now,” he added, seeing that the strain was telling on Bert, “I think you, Dick, and Tom had better get Bert home as quickly as you can. This daughter of mine insisted on staying until you revived, but I guess she will excuse you, now. I’d ask you to take supper with us to-night, but I know that what you most need is rest. It is only a pleasure deferred, however.”
As they turned to go, the girl held out her hands to Tom and Dick, and lastly to Bert. “I am very, very grateful,” she said, softly.
“And I am very, very grateful that I have been given a chance to serve you,” he answered, and watched her disappear with her father through the bushes.
Then he turned to Dick and Tom. “You fellows deserve more credit than I, a thousand times more,” he said, in a voice that was a trifle husky.
“Huh,” said Tom, “all that I did was to run to the nearest house for a rope, and all Dick did was to hand you the rope, while Professor Davis and I hauled you in.”