"My dear Henry," he said, grasping Mr. Boyd"s hand, "I have found I cannot get along without you, and so have come to make you an important proposal--important to me, at least, if not to you."
Mr. Boyd led the way up to the house, while the lads secured the boat for the night. Supper was on the table, and as soon as the boys came in all sat down to eat it. When it was finished, Mr. Boyd, turning to Mr.
Johnson, asked:
"Did you wish to see me alone, sir?"
"No; all of you are more or less interested in what I have to say, and I will wait until the boys have cleared away the table and can join us in the sitting-room."
Curiosity to know just what was coming hastened the lads" movements, and in a very few minutes all were seated about the fire, and Mr. Johnson began:
"Henry, I want to ask, first of all, if you have really forgiven me the part that I innocently played in securing your imprisonment? This boy has," and he laid his hand on Budd"s head; "but I have thought you, who were the greatest sufferer, still held a little resentment against me.
Is it not so?"
"I have always thought my years of faithfulness to you ought to have counted for something when I was accused of forgery, but you seemed to jump at once to the conclusion that I must be guilty, and so you would in no way admit that my explanation might be the true one," Mr. Boyd replied.
Then he went on, with marked hesitation:
"I don"t think I have felt just right toward you since then--not, perhaps, as I ought to feel. Your mistake may have been a natural one; still you seemed to me to be too hasty in your judgment."
"So I was," admitted Mr. Johnson, frankly; "and the same fault led me to misjudge your boy also. But, Henry, I have learned my lesson well, I believe, and you hold a higher place in my estimation now than ever before, while this boy has my heart."
He paused a moment, visibly affected by his own words, then went rapidly on:
"Henry, I am getting to be an old man, my business is getting larger than I can manage, and since you have been away from me I see how much you were the real head of the whole concern. I have come, therefore, to ask you to show your forgiveness of the wrong I have done you by coming back to me, not as my confidential clerk, but as my equal partner in the new firm of Johnson & Boyd, the whole business to be under your direct management and care. In fact, Henry, the papers are all here ready for your signature. You can look them over and see if the conditions are satisfactory before you give your answer. But I trust you will find it in your heart to accept my offer."
He took from his pocket a package of papers and handed them over to Mr.
Boyd, who took them mechanically, for he seemed completely overwhelmed at Mr. Johnson"s magnificent offer.
"Now, my lads," said Mr. Johnson, turning to Budd and Judd, "I have a proposition to make you. I have no children, as you know, and my great house in the city needs some young life. I have watched and admired the industry and uprightness you boys have this summer displayed. But you ought to do something better than the work you have been doing, however honorable that may be. You want first the school and then the college; after that the business or professional life. I invite you, then, to come to my home as my boys, to be educated as my sons, and to be my heirs. Do not think I mean by this a separation from your fathers; we will find a place in the house for them, for there can be found work at the store for Mr. Floyd, and thus you can all be where you can see each other every day. What I want is to have you with me, so that your fresh young lives will enliven mine, and teach me how to soften the hard, stern heart that has twice led me to commit acts I must to my dying day regret;" and now the tears ran down the old man"s cheeks unhindered.
This was but the opening of the great plan that had entered Mr.
Johnson"s heart and mind as he sat alone in his library on Thanksgiving evening and exclaimed:
"I will do it!"
Little by little he unfolded all his hopes concerning the lads in whom he had become so interested; step by step he made known what he wanted to do for the middle-aged men, one of whom he had so cruelly wronged; until, as they listened, his hearers became bewildered with the man"s large-heartedness and munificence.
But Mr. Johnson"s purpose was accomplished, for he left the island Monday morning accompanied by Mr. Boyd, and the lads and Mr. Floyd were to follow as soon as the house could be closed up and the household matters adjusted.
This was quite an undertaking, however, since everything was to be disposed of but the Sea Witch, for it was now evident that the young firm of Fox Island had closed up their business for good, and the young partners were to enter upon an altogether different career. Still, the same elements of character--patience, industry, energy and quickness to know and use an opportunity--which had made the firm a success, we may be sure would mark their new career.
That it was these elements that had largely contributed to the lads"
success is clearly apparent; for those who succeeded to their business under even more favorable auspices soon abandoned it, and to-day only the tumble-down wharf, the half-filled cellar-way, and the moss-grown well, mark the place where Budd and his partner had their island home.
But they, grown now to manhood, and busy with the cares of their professional lives, think often of the summer when first they met, and talk over the experiences under which they learned some of their most valuable lessons and triumphed over burdens that seemed too great to bear.
THE BEAR AND THE BOMB Sh.e.l.l.
During the early months of the California gold fever the brig Janet entered the harbor of San Francisco. Her freight was intended to supply the wants of the diggers, and it was the most extraordinary cargo that was ever put into the hold of any seagoing vessel, except, indeed, those vessels which sailed to California at this particular time.
There were pickaxes and shovels, powder and boots, needles and coffee, spikes and tea, horseshoes and tobacco; there were wooden houses ready to be put up; canvas tents and mattresses; there were jackknives, hatchets, revolvers, rifles, socks, books, hats, clothes, barrels of flour, soap, coal, towels, sugar, potatoes, grindstones, locks, quack medicines, old periodicals, cheap watches, b.u.t.tons, cotton, gla.s.s, tape, bottles, jewsharps, nails, rubbers; and everything else that the imaginative mind of a wild speculator could possibly think of as being likely to sell to a young and rich but dest.i.tute community.
Whether the speculation was successful or not, is no business of ours.
My business is with Tom Allan, the cabin boy of the Janet.
The Janet took out about fifty pa.s.sengers on their way to the gold diggings. Allan was a stout lad of about seventeen. When he left home he had no idea of digging gold, but the talk of the pa.s.sengers on the way out fairly turned the heads of the crew of the Janet, and even of the officers, so that when the brig reached San Francisco, and the pa.s.sengers landed, the entire crew, together with the cook, the second mate, and even the first mate, landed with them.
The captain was left alone with the cabin boy. The captain was in despair. He couldn"t get anybody to unload his vessel. He couldn"t get any crew to take her away. And so the end of it was that Allan yielded to the universal feeling and took his departure from the ship.
For about a year he led a queer kind of a life. He worked at various diggings without much success, until at length he got possession of a claim all to himself, in a remote locality, which he proceeded to work at with desperate determination.
He erected a little hut, and made himself as comfortable as possible, and set to work vigorously, and soon found, to his great delight, that the claim was one of unusual richness.
At last, then, after more than a year of adverse fortune, he saw his way to success.
One day he was hard at work. He had found a rich vein of quartz in which the gold was very plentiful, so much so, indeed, that it was possible for him to extract it by his own clumsy tools without having recourse to a crushing mill.
He had that day been drilling a hole to make ready for a blast, and was working away diligently with his drill. The hole was just finished, when suddenly he was startled by a deep and formidable growl close behind him.
So great was the shock of this unexpected interruption, that the drill dropped from his hands, and he turned around in horror. That horror was increased by the sight that he saw. For there, not a dozen yards away, was a monstrous grizzly bear--one of the largest of his species, crouching low, and regarding him with eyes that gleamed like coals of fire.
One look was enough. The next instant, without stopping to take a second glance, Allan darted off with the mad speed of one who is running for life, while the huge bear came springing after him.
Such a race as that, if prolonged, could have had but one termination; and this Allan knew but too well.
As he ran, therefore, he looked all around to see if there was any chance of escape. But there was none whatever. There was no high cliff up which he might climb--no narrow crevice in the rocks where he might seek shelter.
The country was a barren one, with rocks of different sizes scattered about, here and there. Among these there did not appear anything that offered a hope of escape from the ravening monster that pursued him.
At last, as he looked despairingly around, he saw one thing which offered a faint prospect of escape. It was an enormous granite boulder which arose in the midst of the plain, surrounded by smaller boulders.
This one was about thirty feet high, and its sides were smooth and convex. In front of this grew a slender tree, and Allan thought that if he could climb the tree, he might be able to get upon the boulder and set his enemy at defiance.
There was no time to lose, so he at once acted upon this idea. He rushed to the tree, seizing it with the grasp of despair, and by vigorous exertions climbed to the top.
Here he was on a level with the top of the granite boulder, and was able, by a violent effort, to get upon it. The top of the boulder was flat, and it had been roughened and scarred and worn by the storms of centuries, so that Allan found a firm foothold.
The moment that he reached this place of refuge he turned to look at his enemy.
The grizzly bear was close behind him, and as Allan turned he beheld him grasping the tree and trying to climb. But the tree was too slender for the enormous limbs of the bear. He could not grasp it firmly. As the bear began to perceive this, he growled wrathfully and ominously, and finally desisted from the attempt.
But he did not desist from his pursuit. On the contrary he drew back a few feet, and sitting on his hind quarters, he regarded Allan with a look of grim and patient watchfulness that was terrible to encounter.