“Jerry!” cried Dan.
“Just the thing!” cried Nelson.
“We know the very fellow you want, sir!” added Bob.
“Well, this is interesting,” said Mr. Cozzens. “Who is he?”
“You tell him, Bob,” said Nelson. “Tom’s excited, and it would take him all night.”
So Bob told about their meeting with Jerry Hinkley in the barn near Bakerville, of their plans for his education, and of their subsequent encounter at the circus. It was rather a long story, and Mr. Cozzens frequently interrupted the narration with his questions, but when it was finished their host was clearly impressed.
“If you can get hold of that boy,” he said, “you do it. Send him right to me at Oak Park. I shall be there in three days. I can’t make any promises, but if he turns out what I expect from your description he will suit me nicely. And if he’s really eager to learn, and has an ordinary amount of pluck, he ought to be able to do very well at St. Alfred’s. He will be pretty busy, for there’s plenty to do, but he will have time to attend all classes, and to study some outside. In fact, it ought to be the very place for him. He’s sixteen, you say, but backward? He’d probably have to start with the younger boys, but if he showed willingness I’d do all I could to put him along. Whether at the end of the year he would be able to pass the examinations for Hillton, I can’t say. It will depend a great deal on himself. But I should think that, with some help during the summer, as you had planned, he ought to be able to pass. You will see him, you say, at Barrington?”
“Yes, sir; at least, we hope to,” answered Bob. “He said when we left him that he expected to be there about the twentieth. I hope we will find him! When does your school begin, sir?”
“On the twenty-third, but I should like to have him there as soon after the twentieth as possible. Supposing you let me hear from you after you get to Barrington? Let me know whether to expect him, for if you don’t run across him I’ll have to look for some one else.”