“Why—why, dad, I thought you knew!”
“Knew what? What tomfoolery have you been up to now, eh?”
“I like that!” laughed Hal. “If it hadn’t been for us, especially Jack and—Mr. Glass—things would have been a heap worse, I guess! It was we who sent word to the life savers, dad.”
CHAPTER XXV
Mr. Folsom Makes An Offer
“What?” exclaimed Mr. Folsom. “How? When was this? Come, come, let’s have it, Harry!”
So Hal, Bee assisting and Jack corroborating when called on, told the story from the time they had been awakened by the cannon until they reached Bill Glass’s cabin. After that Bill himself took up the tale. “Plucky they was, Mr. Folsom,” he said in concluding. “Why bless ye, sir, ’twan’t no night for a dog to be out! Most blowed away many’s the time we did, sir. One thing, sir, be plumb certain, an’ that be that them boys saved more’n one life aboard the schooner last night! Take my word for it, sir! An’ Honest Bill Glass don’t lie!”
Hal frowned. He had grown to like Bill Glass much better since yesterday, but he didn’t think it good taste on Bill’s part to insist on his honesty when they all knew that he had helped himself liberally to their belongings! But Hal’s father only nodded.