Bound to Rise. Chapter 26, 27
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE REWARD OF FIDELITY.
“Where am I?” asked Harry, the next morning, as he sat up in bed, and stared around him.
“Don’t you remember?” asked Jeff, smiling.
“Yes; I remember now,” said Harry, slowly. “What time is it?”
“Seven o’clock.”
“Seven o’clock! I meant to be dressed at six.”
“That is the time I got up,” said Jeff. “You looked so comfortable that I thought it was a pity to wake you. You must have felt tired.”
“I think it was the cold that made me sleepy. I got chilled through when I lay on the ground there, tied hand and foot. But I must get up in a hurry.”
“Now,” said Jeff, “come down into the kitchen, and mother’ll give you some breakfast. I’ve been up an hour, and feel as hungry as a wolf. So come down, and we’ll see who’ll eat the most.”
“I can do my part,” said Harry. “I’ve got a good appetite, though I’ve been up a good deal less than an hour.”
“Take your overcoat along,” said Jeff; “or will you come up and get it after breakfast?”
“I’ll take it down with me. It isn’t my coat, you know. Mine was a much better one.”
Jeff meanwhile had taken up the coat.
“There’s something in the pocket,” he said. “What is it?”
Harry thrust his hand into the side pocket for the first time, and drew out a shabby leather wallet.
He hastily opened it, and his eyes opened wide with astonishment as he drew out a thick roll of bills.
“By hokey!” said Jeff, “you’re in luck. The robber took your pocketbook, and left his own.”
“Three–eight–eleven–thirteen–eighteen –twenty,” Harry counted aloud. He continued his count, which resulted in showing that the wallet contained ninety-seven dollars.
“Ninety-seven dollars!” exclaimed Jeff. “How much did you lose?”
“Forty dollars.”
“Then you’ve made just fifty-seven dollars. Bully for you!”
“But I’ve exchanged a good overcoat for a poor one.”
“There can’t be more than seventeen dollars difference.”
“Not so much.”
“Then you’re forty dollars better off, at any rate.”
“But I don’t know as I can claim this money,” said Harry, doubtfully. “It isn’t mine. I will ask Professor Henderson about that. At any rate, I’ve got my money back, that’s one good thing.”
This timely discovery made Harry decidedly cheerful, and, if anything, sharpened his appetite for breakfast.
“I shall take care how I carry much money about with me, after this,” said Harry. “That was what got me into a scrape yesterday.”
“He wouldn’t make out much if he tried to rob me,” said Jeff. “I haven’t got enough money about me to pay the board of a full-grown fly for twenty- four hours.”
“You don’t look as if your poverty troubled you much,” said his mother.
“I don’t have any board bills to pay,” said Jeff, “so I can get along.”
“I should think you would feel nervous about riding to Pentland alone,” said Mrs. Selden, “for fear of meeting the man who robbed you yesterday.”
“I do dread it a little,” said Harry, “having so much money about me. Besides this ninety-seven dollars, I’ve got a hundred and fifty dollars belonging to my employer.”
“Suppose I go with you to protect you,” said Jeff.
“I wish you would.”
“If you would like to ride over with your friend, you may do so,” said his mother. “But how will you get back?”
“Major Pinkham will be up there this afternoon. I can wait, and ride home with him.”
“Very well; I have no objection.”
The two boys rode off together. Harry was glad to have a companion who knew the road well, for he did not care to be lost again till he had delivered up the money which he had in charge. There was no opportunity to test Jeff’s courage, for the highwayman did not make his appearance.
When Harry arrived at Pentland, he found that no little anxiety had been felt about him.
“Has Harry come yet?” asked the sick man, at ten o’clock the evening previous.
“No, he hasn’t,” answered the nurse.
“It’s strange what keeps him.”
“Did he have any money of yours with him?”