“I’ve been looking for you fellows,” he surprised them by saying. “I—I——”
“Come along with us, Truem,” said Chot, kindly, as the other hesitated.
“Well, if you don’t mind,” he said, and falling into step with them, walked on toward the barracks. “Vacation’s pretty near,” Truem went on after a moment, looking at the ground as he walked along, “and I hate to leave Winton without telling you boys what you’ve done for me.”
“What we’ve done for you!” gasped Tom, with a queer look at his chums.
“Yes, what you’ve done for me. You’ve made me see myself as I was. I know now that I’ve been a cad—I knew it all along, but didn’t have sense enough to admit it. You fellows have always been on the square with me, while I’ve tried to injure you on every occasion. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done. I’m tired of having the whole school down on me, and feeling that I have no friends among the cadets except certain ones whose friendship is not desirable. I don’t ask you to take me into your set—I realize that would be asking too much—but I want to ask you right out to be my friends.”
When Truem paused there was a moment of silence. This was broken by Pod.
“Do you include me in that, Truem?” he asked.
“Yes, kid, of course I do. I’ve treated you worse than anyone, because I picked on you for years back in Bayville. I’m sorry for that, too. I want to earn the regard and friendship of you all.”
“You’ve earned that already, Truem, by expressing sorrow for what you’ve done,” said Chot. “We’ve never had anything against you—in fact, we’ve always thought that you had the material in you for the making of a mighty nice fellow, and now that you’ve found it out yourself, no one will be readier to offer you friendship than we. Am I right, boys?”
“You bet you are,” said Fleet.