The stern man was very much overcome, just as might be expected. He had not known whether his erring boy were dead or yet in the land of the living, and to have Sam thus suddenly bob up, and prove to be a hero, staggered Mr. Merrivale greatly.
Hugh knew it was all right when he heard the gentleman say earnestly:
“Both of us were in the wrong, my boy. I confess it to you now. But from this time on we will begin all over again. Your old room is waiting for you, Sam. Believe me, I shall be well pleased to see you in your accustomed place at table once more.”
Which words told the observing scout master that while most people believed Mr. Merrivale to be a stern and proud man, he may have been suffering even more than his own wife realized.
So they hurried to the car, where the drenched ones were bundled up in all the robes that were handy, after which Gus headed for home at a fast clip. Hugh felt a little anxious about Sam, remembering that the young fellow had been seriously sick lately; but for all that he and his chums were fairly bubbling over with joy as they made for town again.
Billy seemed to be tremendously tickled at the way things had turned out. Every now and then he would nudge Hugh in the ribs, to say something like this:
“Will you oblige me, partner? Then give me a good hard pinch please, right here in the thigh where it’s going to do the most good. Ouch! but that did sting though; and say, I guess I’m awake after all. You see I had begun to be afraid I was asleep and dreaming all these fine things. But Sam did jump in and save the little girl all right, didn’t he? And that was decent of his dad to tell him the old score had been wiped out as if it had never been. Hugh, if I wasn’t in this car along with all the rest crowded together I’d feel like letting out a big whoop, I’m that chock full of enthusiasm.”
Thereupon the scout master begged him to restrain his bubbling spirits until another and more propitious time.
“We’re going to strike the outskirts of the town right away, Billy,” was what he told the scout chum, “and if you started to cheering it might be some folks might think you had gone looney. You wouldn’t want a certain pretty girl I could name to hear such a report of you, I’m sure.”
That sort of counsel caused Billy Worth to change his mind. Nevertheless the whole party looked so excited, and what with the two boys being so bundled up in fur wraps, all sorts of wonderful stories soon drifted like magic around town. In good time, of course, everybody would learn what a strange thing had happened; and how Sam Merrivale, the runaway son, had come back as poor as Job’s turkey, yet able to show himself a hero by risking his own life to save that of his precious little sister.