“Please, young lady, let me go see my boy. I’ll be up in a second and thank all of you for your kindness.”
He had disappeared down the companionway before Frances got her breath, Mr. Wing following and the rest of the crew close on the heels of their captain.
Some persons think it is an amusing thing to see two men kiss, but no one would have been amused to see the gray-haired Mr. Reynolds take his red-haired son in his arms and kiss him first on one cheek, then on the other. Tim seemed to like it and not to be a bit abashed.
“How’s mother?” he asked as soon as he emerged from the bear’s hug his father was giving him.
“In an awful stew about you! When you didn’t come home that night, she threw a few fits and then, when there was no word from you, she threw a few more. The telegram that finally arrived only assured her you were as well as might be expected with a broken leg. Now she is having an awful time because the telegram didn’t say which leg.”
“Poor little Mumsy! It’s the left one, but since I don’t write or shave with my toes it doesn’t really make much difference.”
Then Tim introduced his father to the captain and the crew and the elder Reynolds by his heartiness and honest gratitude soon began to run his son a close race in their admiration and affection. It doesn’t take many hours on ship board for people to become very well acquainted and, already, the inmates of the “Boojum” had begun to feel that Tim Reynolds was a life-long friend.
“And these two slips of girls carried you down that rocky hill all by themselves? I don’t believe it! Let me feel your muscle!” said Mr. Reynolds, putting his hand around Frances’ biceps.
“Jimminy crickets! As hard as steel! Now where did you get your stretcher? Tell me all about it, every detail. My wife is sure to want to know everything that can be told. You say Tim was unconscious most of the time?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Frances, who, having been the one to find Tim, was tacitly understood to be the one to answer for him. “Either unconscious or light-headed, but his head was the only thing that was light, I can assure you. He said he hadn’t eaten anything for a day and a night, but he must have been breathing heavily all the time because he certainly hadn’t lost any weight.”