A JOYFUL REUNION
Don plunged into the stream, which was only a couple of feet deep,
and waded over to the other side, uttering incoherent exclamations of
wonder and delight.
The man watched his coming with a dawning look of recognition in his
eyes. He brushed his hand over his face, as though to clear his mind of
some bewilderment. He was standing when Don got to him.
Don threw his arms about him and hugged him convulsively.
“Father! Father!” he reiterated again and again, holding the man
tightly as though he feared he would vanish. “I’ve found you at last!
Oh, I’ve found you at last!”
Mr. Sturdy returned his son’s embrace, at first in a perfunctory way.
Then, suddenly, as though the floodgates of memory had been opened, his
clasp tightened. All the hunger of his heart, long separated from his
boy, found expression in his voice.
“Don, my dear boy! Don, how glad I am to see you again!”
They remained a long time embraced, uttering words of endearment,
and then Don, his face wet with happy tears, released his hold and
stepped back, in order that he might see the dear face for which he had
searched over a large part of the world.
It was a fine face, cleanly chiseled, with splendid forehead and dark,
piercing, but kindly, eyes. The form was like that of his brother
Frank’s, tall, sinewy and powerful. His complexion was as bronzed as
that of an Indian from his work as an explorer under many suns. But the
black hair that Don remembered was now heavily streaked with silver.
“But how comes it that you are in Brazil, my dear boy?” asked his
father. “I thought you were at home in Hillville. I was counting on
seeing you again as soon as Mr. Clifton had his yacht ready to sail.”
From the first mention of Brazil, Don had been thinking rapidly. It was
evident that the happy shock of seeing Don had in some way swept away
the knowledge of this present Egyptian adventure and carried his father
back again to Mr. Clifton’s plantation.
Don knew little of mental science, but he knew instinctively that any
revelation he might make to his father of the real condition of things
must be made gradually and tactfully.
“Oh, I got impatient to see you,” he said, with perfect truth. “And
as Uncle Frank and Uncle Amos were coming to Brazil on a hunting
expedition, I got them to bring me along.”
“Fine!” declared his father. “Your mother will be as delighted as I
am to see you sooner than she expected. But perhaps you have seen her
already?”
“Oh, yes, I’ve seen her,” replied Don, who found himself getting into
deep waters.
He looked up and saw Teddy near by, and welcomed him as a diversion.
“This is my friend, Teddy Allison, Father,” Don introduced him.
“Any friend of Don’s is a friend of mine,” said Mr. Sturdy genially, as
he took Teddy’s extended hand. “What do you think of Brazil, as far as
you’ve seen it?”
Poor Teddy, who had never laid eyes on Brazil, was nonplused. Don came
quickly to his relief.
“He thinks it’s a mighty fine country; don’t you, Teddy?” he said
brightly.
“Yes, indeed,” answered Teddy, clutching gratefully at the cue thrown
to him. “A very wonderful country.”
“You’ll enjoy looking over Mr. Clifton’s plantation,” went on Mr.
Sturdy. “I’ll show you around it if you like. It’s a remarkable place.”
To ease the situation, Don urged his father to tell them about the
wreck of the _Mercury_, and Mr. Sturdy did so. But there were certain
breaks and pauses in the narration, as though the story teller were
trying to reconcile certain things that bewildered him.
Don’s mind was in a storm of conflicting emotions. The dominant feeling
was one of intense delight. His father at last was restored to him. But
his heart was torn with grief at his father’s distraught condition and
with perplexity as to how, if at all, he could bring him to a clear
conception of things as they were.
“Guess perhaps we’d better go in and get dinner,” said Mr. Sturdy
genially. “Are you hungry?”
Don and Teddy looked at each other. Were they hungry?
“Though now I think of it I have some provisions here,” went on Mr.
Sturdy, and their hearts leaped. “The servants must have put up a
lunch for me when I came out into this grotto, though I don’t remember
bringing it. Why they wanted to put up so much I can’t imagine,” he
continued, as he went to a little distance and returned with a big bag
of food of various kinds. “But here it is. Help yourselves.”
The boys dived into the bag, and brought out bread and meat and canned
supplies, which Don rightly conjectured were part of the equipment
with which his father had started on this strange expedition.
It was like manna from the skies, and the poor starved boys had all
they could do to refrain from gorging it like wolves. But they knew
that in their condition this might prove fatal, and besides they had to
conserve the contents of the bag.
So with a mighty effort they restrained themselves and ate but
sparingly, with new life flowing through their veins and new hope
springing in their hearts.
What marvelous changes an hour had wrought! Many problems remained yet
to be solved, but they faced them with high hearts and renewed courage.
They felt equal to any fate.
While they ate, Mr. Sturdy had been watching Don with deep affection in
his eyes. But his bewilderment persisted. Again and again he rubbed his
forehead in perplexity.
“Do you know,” he said, when they had finished, “there’s something
queer about this grotto? It looks more like Egypt than Brazil.”
Don thought the time had come to hazard a bold stroke.
“It is Egypt,” he said quietly.