“I’m sure glad to hear that, father,” he said as well as he could; “for it’ll make you a whole lot better satisfied; but you’d be just as welcome home if you didn’t have a nickel.”
“That’s the best part of it,” observed Mr. Codling, “and what makes me so satisfied with the wonderful way things have turned out. But I worked, and prayed, and in the end hit it rich, so that when I sold out my claim in the new diggings I had a sum that was more than I ever expected to realize, even in my wildest dreams.”
Taken in all, that was a most happy evening for them. How the sound of those fresh young voices as they sang their favorite songs made Mr. Codling shut his eyes and dream of past days, when he took Amanda Green to singing-school evenings. Again he could in imagination hear her sweet voice in carols of the times, as the scroll of the past was unrolled before his mental vision.
“By all odds this has been the happiest evening I ever spent, barring none,” he assured Elmer when, later on, they gave up singing and began to make arrangements for sleeping. “In other days I never realized my blessings half enough; but now that I’ve passed through the valley of humiliation things look vastly different to me. Thank you again for the pleasure it has given me to hear you sing. And I’m very glad my boy has such a promising voice, because music used to be my one passion—in those other days, you know.”
They were shy one blanket, now that they had a guest. Mr. Codling understood how he had been given Elmer’s spread, and started to protest; but he was speedily “sat down upon,” as Wee Willie expressed it in his boyish vernacular.
“Elmer’s going to share my blanket, don’t you see, sir?” the attenuated chum blustered, before his mate could say a word. “I’m so thin I don’t take up half the room Perk here does. Besides, it’s summer weather, and shucks! any fellows as used to camping out as we are don’t need to bother much about coverings; this hemlock stuff is good enough for me.”
So it was arranged, and during the balance of their stay at Long Cabin Bend Elmer and Wee Willie expected to share the latter’s blanket, which fortunately enough was of unusually generous proportions.
During the night, after the late moon arose, and it was partly light inside the cabin, Elmer, waking, saw Amos sitting up and looking steadily toward the spot where his father lay. He could easily understand the deep emotion that must possess the boy, as after a vivid dream he was hardly able to bring himself to believe the wonderful thing could be true.
So the night passed, and another day dawned.
All were stirring early, for they had laid out many things to be accomplished between sunrise and the coming of night.