"Ever your loving cousin, Rick."
"P. S.—The principal reason I let the Sonntaggs go was because they called me 'Allie.' Please tell this to Dad."
Bonny's letter was not so long as Alaric's, but it described the situation with equal vagueness. He wrote:
"Dear Aunt Nancy,—I am not in China, as you may suppose, having quit the sea after rising to be first mate. Have also been a smuggler, but am not any more. Am now engaged by the French as interpreter, and so far like the business very well. Have also gone into the climbing trade. We are to do our first mountain to-morrow. Have for a chum one of the cleverest chaps you ever saw. He can talk most any language except Chinook, and is a daisy ball-catcher. His name is Rick Dale, and I am trying hard to be just like him. If you have any news from father, please let me know. You can send a letter in care of Mr. P. Bear, Hotel Tacoma, which is our headquarters.
"Ever your loving nephew,
B. Brooks, Interpreter."
Both these letters were sent to Massachusetts, Alaric's being addressed to Boston, and Bonny's to Sandport. After they were posted, and our lads were on their way back to the railway station, they began for the first time to realize how very tired and sleepy they were. They were so utterly weary that as they snuggled down in their corner of the baggage-room, on a bed made of M. Filbert's tents and blankets, Alaric remarked,
"This is what I call solid comfort."
"Yes," replied Bonny, "we certainly have struck a big streak of luck. Do you remember how we were feeling about this time last night?"
"No," answered Alaric, "I can't remember. It's too long ago. Good-night." And in another minute both boys were fast asleep.
They had taken "through tickets," as Bonny would have said, and slept so soundly that they hardly stirred until the agent flung open the baggage-room door at six o'clock the following morning, and caused them to spring from their blankets in a hurry by shouting, "All aboard!" A dash of cold water from the hydrant outside drove all traces of sleep from their eyes, and so filled them with its fresh vigor that they raced all the way up town to the restaurant. Here, although their appetites were keen as ever, they managed to fully satisfy them with a ninety-cent breakfast, "and left the place with money still in their pockets," as Alaric expressed it.