“Well,” said Mrs. Martin at last, “I am usually the last person to point a moral, but I do think that there’s a moral in that story.” She saw her opportunity at last. “I think that Dick Byrd’s parents were responsible for the boy’s success. If they had squelched his adventurous spirit at the beginning, he would probably never have got any place.”
Mrs. Gregg smiled to herself in the darkness. “Do you believe in young boys going off by themselves, Mrs. Martin?”
“It teaches them self-reliance,” said Mrs. Martin firmly.
“Do you think that they ought to fly planes by themselves?”
“And why not? After all, there isn’t very much to flying a plane, if you keep your wits about you. And I’m sure that both of our boys have their wits about them. I think that the earlier you learn a thing, the better it is for you. It makes everything else easier, too.”
There was a silence for a while. Then Mrs. Gregg said, with a laugh in her voice, “I think that I’m being worked upon. First by the Captain with his story, and then by you. I’m afraid I have no defense.” She turned to Hal, who had not spoken at all, but who had been thinking a great deal during the story of Byrd, and the obstacles that he had overcome. “Well, Hal,” she said, “what do you think? Shall we yield to these people? Shall the Greggs yield to the Martins?”
Hal had not seen his mother so light-hearted and gay for a long time. The pleasant evening and the story had had a decided effect upon her.
Hal didn’t know exactly what to say, But his mother went on, “I think we’re beaten, Hal. Do you want to go to the mountains with your friends?” Nobody there knew the effort that that sentence cost Mrs. Gregg, but she had said it, and she stood committed.
Hal was at a still greater loss as what to reply. His heart was beating wildly. There was nothing that he desired more now than to go to the mountains, but he felt the effort that his mother had put behind her words. Should he go? He wanted to. He wanted to show them that he wasn’t afraid. And he wouldn’t be afraid, either. Not any more. Other people, little fellows, too, had done things, had gone places, and they weren’t afraid. So Hal said, “Well, I’d like to.”
“If you wish to, you may,” said Mrs. Gregg.