A FAMILIAR FACE.
Leon made the best of his way across the parade-ground, and threw
himself helplessly down upon the steps of a warehouse. He was so ill,
and so utterly discouraged, that he almost wished he might die then and
there, and so bring his sufferings to an end.
He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, looking
the very picture of misery.
His gaze being directed toward the gate through which he had entered
the day before, he did not fail to see the neatly dressed young
civilian who walked briskly up the hill and stopped to speak to the
sentry.
At the sight of him Leon started up, and even attempted to get upon his
feet; but he was so weak that he fell back upon the steps again.
"I thought at first it was Oscar Preston," said he. "He looks like
him, walks like him, and dresses like him. How much good the sight
of one familiar face would do me! I wish I was at Oscar's side this
minute. I tell you, it wouldn't take me long to get home!"
"Corporal of the guard number seven!" shouted the sentry.
As Leon wearily raised his head he saw the corporal come out of the
barracks in response to the call and hasten toward the gate. He
exchanged a few words with the visitor, after which he conducted him
along the path toward where Leon was sitting.
Again the boy raised his head; his eyes opened to their widest extent;
his under-jaw dropped downward; he trembled in every limb. He staggered
to his feet, winked hard to clear away something that seemed to be
obstructing his vision, and when he looked toward the visitor again
he and the corporal were just disappearing through the door of the
colonel's quarters.
"That's Oscar Preston, if I ever saw him!" panted Leon; "but what
brought him out here? Did my father send him after me? No, that can't
be, for he did not know where Frank and I were going."
Leon picked up his overcoat, which was as heavy a load as he wanted to
carry now, and, moving slowly along the path, seated himself upon the
threshold of the first door below the colonel's quarters, intending to
wait there until the visitor came out again.
He would have a good view of his face as he passed, and then he would
know whether or not he had been mistaken in regard to his identity.
At the end of half an hour--it seemed an age to the impatient
runaway--a door opened in the commandant's quarters, voices sounded
in the hall, and presently the visitor came out, accompanied by the
colonel, the post surgeon, and several subordinate officers.
They walked leisurely down the path, conversing gayly, and Leon's heart
seemed to stop beating when he heard the colonel say:
"Mr. Preston, when you write to the professor, give him my kindest
regards, and assure him that I will do all in my power to assist you.
Hallo, here!" he added, in a very different tone of voice, as a pale
and trembling figure arose from a door-step close at his side. "Who are
you?"
Leon could not reply. He covered his face with his hands, and tottered
as if he were about to fall; but Oscar (for it was he), who was struck
motionless and dumb with astonishment, recovered himself in time to
spring forward and catch the runaway in his arms.
"Leon! Leon!" he exclaimed, in a voice that was husky with emotion, "is
this you? Look up and speak to me."
But Leon's sobs effectually choked his utterance. Supporting him with
one arm, Oscar forcibly drew away his hands, and was amazed at the
sight of the pale and sunken face which rested on his shoulder.
"It is Leon, as sure as the world!" cried Oscar, who was almost beside
himself with excitement. "Doctor, this is a friend and schoolmate of
mine, and he is sick. Won't you do something for him?"
"Did you call him Leon?" asked the surgeon, stepping up and putting his
hand under the boy's arm. "Then he must be that runaway my steward was
telling me about. Ah!" he added, as Oscar nodded his head to him. "If
that's the case, you can do more for him than I can."
Leon was at once assisted into the surgeon's quarters and placed on a
sofa.
The doctor felt his pulse, while Oscar knelt beside him, and rested his
arm over Leon's shoulder, as if to assure him of protection.
"What's the matter with him, sir?" he asked.
"Oh, I've got something that's catching," sobbed Leon, "and I'm to be
kicked out of the fort. The trader told me so. He wouldn't let me stay
about where he was."
Oscar and the surgeon looked at each other in surprise, and the latter
said:
"Why, my young friend, you're homesick. There's nothing else the matter
with you."
"But that's bad enough," said Leon, who was, nevertheless, greatly
encouraged. "I shall never see my home again."
"Yes, you will," exclaimed Oscar. "You can start to-morrow, if you are
strong enough to sit on a stage-coach."
"There!" said the surgeon. "That assurance will do him more good than
all the medicine in the dispensary. Sit down and talk to him," he
added, handing Oscar a chair. "I'll give him a tonic and go out for
half an hour. He will be all right at the end of that time."
When the surgeon had seen Leon swallow the medicine he prepared for
him, he left the room, and Oscar drew his chair up beside the sofa and
sat down.
Leon pinched himself to make sure that he was not dreaming, and then
took Oscar's hand in his own and clung to it as if he were afraid that
his friend might vanish into thin air.
"Oscar," said he, "I don't deserve this treatment at your hands."
"Yes, you do," replied Oscar cheerfully. "I shall do all I can for you,
and then I shall not begin to cancel the debt I owe your father."
"But you don't owe me anything but ill-will. It was I who shot Bugle."
"I know it; but you didn't hurt him. You only made him angry. Now,
drop that--it is all forgotten--and tell me what in the world brought
you to the plains. If I had met my own mother in the fort, I certainly
could not have been more surprised."
"I came out to be a hunter," confessed Leon.
"You did? So did I."
It was now Leon's turn to be astonished.
"Yes, sir," continued Oscar. "I expect to make my living for years to
come by hunting. I am sent out here to procure specimens for the museum
connected with the Yarmouth University."
"Well," sighed Leon, after thinking a moment, "your way of becoming a
hunter is better than mine."
"Tell me your story from beginning to end," said Oscar, "and then I'll
tell you all about myself."
We know the story of Leon's adventures and mishaps; so we will not
repeat what he said to Oscar.
We know everything that happened to Oscar, too, up to the time he left
Sam Hynes at his mother's gate on the night he returned from Yarmouth.
We dropped the thread of his narrative there, and will now go back and
take it up.
Oscar's mother, you may be sure, was overjoyed to see him. The letters
she had received from him during his absence had prepared her for a
portion of the story he had to tell, but there were also some things
for which she was not prepared, because the boy had had no time to
write about them.
"I was never so surprised in my life as I was this morning," said
Oscar, after he had told of his reception and experience at the
university. "The committee invited me into their room and gave me a
check for sixteen hundred dollars. There it is. The thousand dollars I
am to use in paying my expenses, and the rest belongs to me. I shall
leave it all with you, with the exception of a hundred dollars, which I
shall need to buy an outfit; so you will be well provided for during my
absence."
"O Oscar!" exclaimed Mrs. Preston; "I don't see how I can consent to
this. You will be so far away from home and among strangers----"
"But I shan't be among strangers, either," interrupted Oscar, handing
his mother a package of papers which he drew from the inside pocket
of his coat. "There are my credentials, my instructions, which tell
me just where to go and what to do, and letters of introduction to
high government officers, both civil and military. You see, Professor
Kendall--he is the geologist, you know--has taken two parties of
students out to the plains, and during his excursions he made the
acquaintance of these officers, who gave him every assistance. These
letters will bring me the same aid and comfort. The professor is going
to take another party out there next summer, and I am going to arrange
matters so that they can camp with me for a few days."
The conversation was kept up until midnight, and when Oscar went to
bed he had the satisfaction of knowing that, although his mother could
hardly bear the thought of so long a separation, she would adhere to
her promise and throw no obstacles in his way.
He set about making preparations for the journey as soon as he arose
the next morning, and when Monday came he was all ready to start.
His friend Sam, who went around looking as though he had lost
everything on earth that was worth living for, was with him night and
day, and accompanied him when he went to say good-by to his friends.
Early on Monday morning the omnibus drew up before the door. Oscar
assisted the driver to carry out his trunk, and then went back to take
leave of his mother.
This was by no means an easy thing to do, and when he came out he held
his handkerchief to his face.
The only other passenger was Sam Hynes, who did not speak to or even
look at him, although Oscar walked to the forward end of the vehicle,
where his friend was sitting, and took a seat by his side.
He resolutely kept his back turned, and looked steadily out of the
window until they reached the depot; then he jumped up, wrung Oscar's
hand for a moment, and started for the door.
"Say good-by, Sam, and tell me that you wish me success," cried Oscar.
But Sam did not act as though he heard him. He dashed open the door,
and sprang to the ground and hurried away.
There was a large company of schoolboys assembled on the platform to
see Oscar off, and if he had stopped to shake all the hands that were
stretched out to him, he would have been obliged to wait for the next
train.
He sprang upon the steps of the nearest car as the train was moving
off, waved his cap to the boys, and looked around for Sam Hynes.
Presently he discovered that young gentleman far up the street,
striding along with his hands in his pockets and his chin resting on
his breast.
"Good luck to you, Sam, wherever you go and whatever you do!" said
Oscar, while a big lump of something seemed to be rising in his throat.
"You're the best friend any fellow ever had."
Oscar stopped one day in St. Louis to make a few purchases, and then
went on to Atchison, where he took the stage for Julesburg. He arrived
there on time, ate a hearty breakfast, and, leaving his luggage at the
station, walked up to the fort to present his letters of introduction
to the commandant and surgeon.
The reception these gentlemen extended to him was all he could have
desired. They were astonished that a boy like himself should have been
selected for so arduous and dangerous a mission, but they entered
heartily into the spirit of the matter, and promised to assist him in
every way.
We have seen that Oscar's arrival was most opportune. Had he delayed
his coming a few days longer, there is no telling what would have
become of Leon Parker.
Oscar spent the afternoon in writing long letters to his mother and
Sam. The one intended for Sam, which was marked "confidential,"
contained a full history of Leon's adventures, and wound up with the
request that Sam, for the sake of the friendship he bore the writer,
would take Leon under his protection. Oscar hoped in this way to make
things smooth for Leon.
There were mean boys in Eaton, as there are everywhere, but they would
not be likely to say much to Leon about running away from home when
they found he had a friend in such a heavy hitter as Sam Hynes was
known to be.
The two boys took their meals with the officers' mess, and slept at the
surgeon's quarters that night.
Leon's recovery was wonderfully rapid, as the doctor said it would be,
but he was not yet himself by any means. What would his father and
his acquaintances in Eaton say to him when he reached home, was the
question that worried and haunted him continually.
Oscar said all he could to cheer him, and the next morning he placed
in his hands a sum of money sufficient to bear all his expenses, and
accompanied him to the station.
The coach arrived in time and the runaway, after shaking Oscar warmly
by the hand, and thanking him over and over again for his kindness,
climbed to a seat on the top, and in five minutes more was whirled away
out of sight.