Page:Dave Porter on Cave Island.djvu/316

298 answered Dave. "The pawnbrokers will have to give them up."

"Then the loss will be less than five hundred dollars—a mere trifle alongside of what it might have been. Dave, I'll not offer you a reward, for I know you won't take it. But I thank you, my boy, I thank you most heartily!" And Mr. Wadsworth caught Dave by both hands, while tears of emotion stood in his eyes.

"It saved us all from a tight place, if not ruin," added Dunston Porter.

"How is that old watchman?" asked our hero, to change the subject.

"You mean the man who was hurt?" asked his father. "He is about as well as ever."

"And have you heard from Hooker Montgomery?"

"Not a word, and we sha'n't need to, now."

"Any word from Oak Hall?" asked Roger.

"Yes, the place opened again last week."

"Then I suppose we'll have to get back once more," said Phil. "Well, we've had a long enough vacation,—if you can call it such," he added, with a grin.

"And such adventures!" murmured Roger. "We'll never see such strenuous times again, eh, Dave?"

"There is no telling, we may," answered Dave. There were still many adventures ahead, and what