Two great tear drops rolled down Bob Jarvis' cheeks. He brushed them away and rose from the chair in which he had been sitting all night.
"I'm going home. I must get ready to go to work. If he should become worse won't you please let me know?"
"Yes," answered the surgeon, giving the boy a quick, keen glance. "He'll be all right now. No need to worry."
Bob went to his boarding place happier and more light of heart than he ever had been before.
Steve's recovery was very slow, however. All that day and the next he was too weak to talk, having lost considerable blood. Then again the shock had been greater than many men could have sustained and lived to tell about.
At the end of a week the invalid was allowed to sit up, but ten days had elapsed before it was considered prudent to permit him to dress and walk about. Bob spent all his evenings with his companion, but they did not discuss the accident. Each lad tacitly avoided the subject.
The first day that Rush was allowed to go out of doors he walked over to Mr. Penton's office, a hundred yards away, and asked permission to see the superintendent. Mr. Penton welcomed the young man warmly.
"I am glad to see you out, Rush. You had a pretty close call, didn't you?"
"I guess so, though I do not remember much about what happened beyond a certain point."
"If you feel strong enough I wish you would tell me exactly what occurred leading up to the accident," said the superintendent.