That night, after Bobby and Tim had told the story of their camping-out, Mr. Tucker thoroughly frightened them by saying that on the next day he was going to take Tim back to Selman, to see Captain Babbige.
Tim’s face grew very pale, and it was plain to be seen that he was in the greatest terror, while Bobby was thrown into a perfect fever of excitement.
“I am not going to leave you there, Tim, if I can help it, for I intend to do by you as I would some one should do by my Bobby if I had been called to meet the Great Father. As matters now stand, you have no right to be here, nor I to keep you; for Captain Babbige is your lawful guardian, whom I hope you did not leave without sufficient cause. To-morrow night we will start for Selman, and there the law shall decide whether you may not be permitted to choose another guardian.”
Bobby caught eagerly at the idea that Tim would soon return, with a perfect right to stay on Minchin’s Island; but the homeless boy took a more gloomy view of the case. He felt certain that Captain Babbige would force him to remain with him, and the future now looked as dark as a day or two before it had looked bright.
So positive did he feel that he should not be allowed to return that if Tip’s wound had been any less severe he would have taken him with him; but as it was he made Bobby promise faithfully to send him as soon as he should be able to travel.
The next day, when the boy population of Minchin’s Island learned that Tim was to be taken back to the man who had abused him so cruelly, they held a sort of indignation meeting back of Mr. Tucker’s barn, where the matter was discussed.
Some of the more excitable among them proposed that, since the steamer on which Tim was to leave would not touch at the island until nearly six o’clock, there was plenty of time for him to run away again, making it impossible for Mr. Tucker to take him back. They argued that he could build himself a hut in the woods, where, protected by Tip, he could live the jolliest kind of a life, and they could all come to see him, as summer boarders.
But Tim rejected all such counsel, giving good reason for doing so:
“Mr. Tucker says I ought not have run away in the first place, and I s’pose he knows, though it does seem hard to have to stay where folks are so awful ugly to you. Now he says I must go back, an’ I wouldn’t be any kind of a feller if I run away from him after he’s been so good to me. I’d like to go out in the woods to live, if it wouldn’t rain any, and I’d do anything rather than go back to Selman; but Mr. Tucker says I ought to go, an’ I’m goin’, whatever Captain Babbige does to me.”
Every boy present knew that Tim was right, and those who had first advised him felt ashamed of having done so, while all united in cheering him for his resolution, until Tip, awakened by the noise, barked loudly, which to Tim’s mind at least was proof that he approved of his master’s decision.