CHAPTER XXIWHAT BECAME OF THEM
The morning of the fourth day found the water still flowing into the lake in a steady stream.
"It's a sure thing now," said Spencer. "I must get to town and arrange to close up those options and organize the Buffalo Lake Summer Colony. I'm not going to tell you how much I expect to clear on this deal, but your share won't be less than a thousand dollars."
"It will be enough to buy mother a home!" said Glen.
"That's the thought, boy. And we'll see if we can't get you paroled from the school so you can live at home and work for her. I'm going back with you to the school, myself, but I believe that war-correspondent friend of yours has matters moving already."
The war-correspondent friend, taking an unusual interest in the case, had been doing his best, but he had found it a case of many complications. That very day, however, he had receivedan official communication of favorable tone from his friend, the Superintendent.
"The Board of Control," wrote the Superintendent, "finds in the case of Glen Mason some very unusual and delicate features. It is not the desire of the Board to reward a boy for running away by granting him an unconditional parole. Neither is it their desire to keep in the institution a boy who has been found worthy of parole privileges. In this case the boy voluntarily offers to return. Not only so but he has undergone such a transformation that he returns as a reformed character. Furthermore he has rendered a service to the State in assisting in the apprehension of two dangerous characters. Added to all this he is greatly needed at home for the support which a boy of his age and intelligence can give to his mother. In consideration of all these things the Board is inclined to grant a parole subject to the usual conditions."
In a personal note which accompanied this letter the Superintendent made a few additional remarks to his old friend.
"Another rather unusual element is that Mason's running away has been altogether too well done. He has been too fortunate. Usually such a boy would get into bad hands and go frombad to worse. It would never do for us to have him back at the school telling about all his good times and how he was to have a thousand dollars for his part in discovering this wonderful lake about which you phoned me this morning. Every boy in the school would be keen to try the adventure. I am glad for Glen that he has surrendered his life to God's guidance and I know that he has found the one real, safe way of life. So I surrender him gladly, and I feel sure that you and Mr. Newton will not forget your promises of guidance and support."
Glen went home with Will Spencer to stay with him while he wound up his business affairs and disposed of his options on the Buffalo Lake property to a syndicate.
"I'm going to take you out to see an old friend, Glen," said Spencer one day. "I still have a great deal of business to care for before I can go away. You know I want to go to that famous hospital, where, if they can't make a whole man of me, they will make me look and walk like one just the same. I can't go yet, but I have something planned for you right this very day. It's a surprise."
They traveled along a road that was vaguely familiar and after a few miles Glen recognizedthat they were drawing near the Gates' home. They were evidently expected, for the whole family ran out to greet them.
"It seems mighty good to get back here," said Glen. "I wish I could stay as long as I liked but I must get away and finish that trip home that I told you I was making."
"Would you like to stay here, Glen?" asked Mr. Gates.
"I surely would," replied Glen.
"Would you like to stay and work with me and learn how to run a farm?"
"I don't know anything I'd like better."
"Step out here into the road with me. Do you see that cottage at the corner? It was empty when you were here. It is a tenant cottage which I rent to the man who works for me. Yesterday there moved into there a very nice lady with a little girl and a little boy. There is an older brother whom they are expecting, who is coming here to work for me. Run—"
But he did not need to tell Glen to run along. Ever since he had been given a new heart and a new life he had felt a yearning for the mother of whom he had been so unworthy. He wanted to tell her that he was a different boy, to show her that he was worthy of trust, to shoulder herburdens, to relieve her of responsibilities, to turn the bitter years into sweet. He did not run, but he walked with a swift and steady gait, with erect head and a clear resolve in his heart. After all he was coming home triumphant, a victor, one who had sought treasure and found it, one who had found the greatest riches of God's mercy.
Mr. Gates was not a hard man to work for. Glen became more and more convinced of this as the days went by, but the crowning proof came one year later when the kind employer ordered him to drop his work and take a week's vacation at the Scout camp at Buffalo Lake.
Glen planned a great surprise, but some one gave his secret away for he was met at the station at Buffalo Center by the entire troop. Chick-chick jumped up on the steps before the train stopped and at peril of life and limb pulled him off the train into the receptive arms of Apple and Matt. Big Tom Scoresby gave him grip for grip in a mighty scout handshake—the only scout who could match him. Goosey hung on to his elbow waiting for his turn. All affectation of reserve disappeared on this great occasion—the greeting of Brick Mason—his welcome to camp—good old Brick! Glen was glad to shake hands with Mr.Newton for a good long minute so that he might wink back the suspicious moisture that threatened to rush past the guardian eyelashes.
"Brick rides on my old motor-bike," exclaimed Chick-chick. "Same old bike—it is."
"Brick walks with the troop," Glen decided. "Where did we get this dandy road?"
"Built by the Buffalo Lake Summer Colony," explained Apple. "Do you notice all the new stores in town—all because of the Colony? Wait until you get to the Lake and you'll see something worth while."
A few minutes later Glen stood before Troop Three's splendid new club-house in appreciative silence.
"Do you see what we've named it?" said Matt, patting him on the shoulder. "Look up over the porch."
Carved in ancient script were the words:
YE BREAD BOX
"And you don't object to that?" asked Glen, looking into Matt's face.
"I object?" exclaimed Matt. "It's a compliment. I've learned to take a joke as well as give one. We named it because the money that built it was our share of the reward for the box inthe cave, and the second box was a lot like the first box only different."
"Different inside an' out," put in Chick-chick. "Jus' like old Matty is, it was. Good old Bread Box. Go on in an' see what's inside, Brick."
"All right," Glen agreed. "Lead the way."
"Don't be 'fraid, Brick. Go in all your own self. It's a surprise."
Cautiously Glen pushed open the handsome door and stepped inside. Nothing happened. He looked around the spacious room with its home-like accommodations and its air of easy comfort. From a chair by the window a gentleman arose and started leisurely toward him. Glen covered the intervening space in two jumps.
"Will!" he shouted. "Will Spencer! Look out—you'll fall!"
"Never more, you good old scout," said Jolly Bill, as he flung a strong arm around Glen's broad shoulders. "I can walk as gracefully as you if not as powerfully. I'm all O. K., warranted not to slip or stumble, ready to give a Castle Cakewalk or an imitation of a Highland fling at a moment's notice. What do you think of your new home?"
"Splendid!" replied Glen. "Too fine for a scout camp, though. It makes it too easy."
"And the easy life isn't the best life is it, you hard old Brick? But Mr. Newton understands that. This isn't the camp—just the club-house. You'll find the camp a half mile up Buffalo Creek as wild as ever, and do you know what they've named it this year?"
"I give it up," said Glen.
"It's named in honor of the scout who has done most with his opportunities this year."
"It's Burton, then," Glen guessed.
"You have another guess coming yet," said Jolly Bill. "They've named it Camp Mason!"
Now if you want to follow the further adventures of Glen and his scout chums you will find them recorded in another book "Boy Scouts to the Rescue."
FINIS
Published with the approval ofThe Boy Scouts of America
In the boys' world of story books, none better than those about boy scouts arrest and grip attention. In a most alluring way, the stories in the BOY SCOUT LIFE SERIES tell of the glorious good times and wonderful adventures of boy scouts.
All the books were written by authors possessed of an intimate knowledge of this greatest of all movements organized for the welfare of boys, and are published with the approval of the National Headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America.
The Chief Scout Librarian, Mr. F. K. Mathiews, writes concerning them: "It is a bully bunch of books. I hope you will sell 100,000 copies of each one, for these stories are the sort that will help instead of hurt our movement."
THE BOY SCOUT FIRE FIGHTERS—CRUMPTHE BOY SCOUTS OF THE LIGHTHOUSE TROOP—McCLANETHE BOY SCOUT TRAIL BLAZERS—CHELEYTHE BOY SCOUT TREASURE HUNTERS—LERRIGOBOY SCOUTS AFLOAT—WALDENBOY SCOUTS COURAGEOUS—MATHIEWSBOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE—LERRIGOBOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL—GARTHTHE BOY SCOUTS IN AFRICA—CORCORAN
BARSE & HOPKINSPUBLISHERS
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By OLIVER LEE CLIFTON
For Boys from 8 to 14
A group of resourceful boys living in a small town form a camping and hiking club, which brings them all sorts of outdoor adventures. In the first story, "At Log Cabin Bend," they solve a series of mysteries but not until after some lively thrills which will cause other boys to sit on the edge of their chairs. The next story telling of their search for a lost army aviator in "Muskrat Swamp" is just as lively. The boys are all likable and manly—just the sort of fellows that every other wide-awake boy would be glad to go hiking with.
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BARSE & HOPKINSPUBLISHERS
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BY FRANK A. WARNER
BOOKS FOR BOYS FROM EIGHT TO TWELVE YEARS OLD
True stories of life at a modern American boarding school. Bobby attends this institution of learning with his particular chum and the boys have no end of good times. The tales of outdoor life, especially the exciting times they have when engaged in sports against rival schools, are written in a manner so true, so realistic, that the reader, too, is bound to share with these boys their thrills and pleasures.
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An American boy with plenty of grit—baseball at its finest—and the girl in the case—these are the elements which compose the most successful of juvenile fiction. You don't have to be a "fan" to enjoy these books; all you need to be is really human and alive with plenty of red blood in your veins.
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