There was a moment of silence as the two worked over the body; then, with an exclamation of satisfaction, one of the doctors sprang to his feet.
“I thought so!” he cried. “I thought he was still breathing! He’s badly hurt, but the poor lad is not dead!”
Cap’n Dan stood as if turned to stone. A great tear rolled down his face, but he said nothing. He watched with indescribable pathos as the surgeons brought their skill into play, and finally, when Young Dan began to babble an incoherent string of words, he drew one weather-beaten hand across his eyes, as if in a daze.
A while later, Young Dan sighed and looked into his father’s face.
“Was I in time, dad?” he whispered softly.
Cap’n Dan smiled down at him, and lied so bravely that the recording angel must have stopped to mend his pen just then, and forgot to mark it down against him.
“Plenty, Dannie, plenty,” he replied.
And then he leaned still farther down and kissed him.