“I thought you mightn’t come out to-night, Tom,” said Hugh, as he pushed in without even waiting for an invitation, “and so I made up my mind to step over and be sure of you. Fact is, Tom, there’s going to be something planned of great importance to our cause. I’ve depended on you to be one of six or eight of the brawniest fellows in the troop to stand by and help us win a great victory.”
Tom looked somewhat impressed, though he shook his head sadly as he went on to say in reply:
“Well, I had almost made up my mind, Hugh, that I didn’t care to go out to-night. Fact is, to tell you the truth, I’m so miserable these days that I don’t seem to care whether school keeps or not—lost my appetite, and even think of resigning from the scouts.”
Hugh slapped him on the back in his cheery fashion.
“Don’t let me hear you make that threat again, Tom,” he said, in pretended severity. “We need you too much every day to let you go. Besides, your influence is going to count for a heap after the town is cleared up. You don’t know how much it means to have a scout in good standing in a family. But what ails you, Tom? Has anything new happened to give you the blues again?”
“Yes,” came the reply, accompanied with a deep sigh from the heart.
CHAPTER XI.
THE REVELATION.
“Tell me what it is all about, Tom, won’t you?” asked Hugh, as he followed the other upstairs to his own room. Somehow, Tom seemed to feel that they ought to be alone so his mother might not overhear what passed between them.
“I’ll just close the door, Hugh, before I say anything,” remarked Tom, “though for that matter there’s no danger Benjy will interrupt us, because he’s gone off for the evening. This time I’m glad to tell you it’s to a sociable they’re having over at our church for the young people.”
His manner when saying this showed that Tom would be a happy fellow, indeed, if he could only know that every night Benjy was away from home, he was enjoying himself in similar innocent amusements as on this particular occasion.