Of the three who passed through that terrible experience in the icy water Rodney Grant was the first to recover, and the following day found him apparently as well as ever. Lelia Barker was ill for a day or two, but she likewise came through it surprisingly well. Lander was not so fortunate, for he caught a heavy cold, which quickly developed into pneumonia. Everything possible was done for him; he had the constant attendance of two physicians, and a trained nurse was secured to watch over him faithfully.
Having a naturally rugged constitution, Lander made a good fight for life, and one day word went round through Oakdale that the doctors said the crisis was past and the boy was safely on the road to recovery.
When the time came that Bunk could receive visitors, Rodney Grant was the first one admitted to his bedside. Looking somewhat emaciated and very pale indeed, Lander was bolstered up amid a mass of soft pillows. His eyes shone with a light of pleasure and a grin overspread his face as he beheld the caller.
“Hello, Roddy, old fel,” he said. “I’m glad to see ye. I guess I’ve had a pretty tight squeeze of it, but you know I’m the toughest feller in town—everybody says so—and it’ll take more’n this to kill me.”
Grant grasped Lander’s hand with a strong yet tender pressure.
“Bunk, old chum,” he said in a voice that was husky in spite of himself, “I can’t find words to tell you how glad I am that you’re coming through all right. Everybody is glad. The whole town has heard the favorable report, and there’s general rejoicing.”
“You don’t say!” muttered Bunk whimsically. “That’s mighty queer, and I don’t just understand it. They’ve told me how the fellers have been ’round every day to ask how I was gettin’ on; they say even Barker’s been here more’n once. Seems queer folks in Oakdale should care a rap about me.”
“Bunk, they do care—everybody cares. You’ll find when you get out that you haven’t an enemy in this town—that every living soul in Oakdale is your friend.”
“Oh, say! you can’t include Barker. I s’pose he come ’round to ask just for a show of decency, ’cause I helped you save his sister from being drownded.”
“You’ll find even Barker your friend. Doubtless it was a bitter pill for him to swallow, but he came to me like a man and owned up that he was all in the wrong, asked my pardon, and begged me to shake hands with him.”