CHAPTER XXIV

WHEN THE SUN BROKE THROUGH

“There!”

That was all Perk could say as he gripped Amos’s sleeve with a convulsive hand, and pointed beyond. His heart seemed to be up in his throat, threatening to choke him. But it was quite sufficient.

The man who had been reclining must have heard voices, for he was already struggling to a sitting posture. Amos took one look. The face was prematurely old, and just then wrinkled with physical pain; but the eyes of love may not be deceived long. With a sobbing cry Amos rushed forward.

“Father!” he cried in a choking voice, dropping beside the man, and throwing both arms about his neck.

The other boys stood stock still. Not one of them but who felt himself rendered dumb with the conflicting emotions that ran riot through brain and heart. They saw the tramp push Amos back to look hungrily into his eager face; and then despite the anguish it must have caused him through that swollen ankle he almost fiercely squeezed the other to him, while tears ran down his sunburned cheeks.

The boys turned their faces away, feeling as though it might not be exactly a delicate thing for them to witness the holy joy that accompanied this meeting between their chum Amos and the father who had gone away seven years ago under a cloud, and whose family had believed him to be dead all this time, because he had failed to communicate with them.

Presently Amos called to them to come and meet his father. He seemed almost transformed, such was the happiness shown on his boyish face. Elmer could not believe it was the same sober-looking Amos whom he had come to know; the long-borne burden had been taken from the young shoulders, and thrown aside, never again to bow him down before his time.

So in turn they shook hands with Mr. Codling. He did not look so very much like a homeless tramp, Elmer quickly decided. Indeed, now that he forgot his suffering in the great peace and joy that had come to him, he seemed a very decent-looking and intelligent man indeed; and Elmer liked the kind expression he could see in the returned wanderer’s eyes.

“First of all,” said Elmer, business clean through, “let’s have a look at Perk’s work. It’s possible we may be able to better it; though I reckon he’s done his level best.”

To this the injured man made no remonstrance. Indeed, he could hardly tear his eyes from the face of Amos, who sat there beside him all the time Elmer and Wee Willie went about their work.

“Tell me about your mother, boy,” the wanderer was saying, feverishly. “How is Amanda; yes, and the little ones? Did she take you to her aunt’s as she promised? And oh! I am shivering for fear you may have bad news for me. I’ve stood a great deal, and tried to believe my punishment was just; but I hope there is no break in the family—that all are yet alive.”

“It’s all right, father,” Amos hastened to tell him. “And you’ll never in the wide world know Kittie and Louise, yes, and Peter, the baby you last saw. Why, just think of it, he’s eight now, going to school, and mother says that every day he’s getting to be more like you were when you first knew her.”

This affected Mr. Codling greatly, for his face worked convulsively, though he also smiled through it all.

“Oh! if you only knew how I have suffered, son, all these years,” he went on to say, “but I would not break my vow. They should never see nor hear from me again unless I could wipe out the bitter past. But I am grateful to know that while I wandered the country over, always trying to rise above the level to which I had sunk, at least my dear ones have not suffered from want.”

“Believe me, mother will go wild with joy to see you again,” Amos told him.

The man, old beyond his years, looked pained at first.

“Do you think so, Amos?” he muttered, as though hardly daring to believe such good news. “It will take a terrible load off my heart when I am able to redeem the past, so far as a mere return of the lost money can ever make amends.”

Amos laughed.

“Don’t let it worry you, father,” he hastened to say. “That was all attended to long ago. Why, for more than six years now there hasn’t been the slightest thing against you; and Mr. Hastings never let it be known that he had lost a large sum of money through your fault. So you see there has really been no publicity at all; in fact, these good chums of mine are the only ones who know about it; and they’ve promised never to let it go any further.”

“But—I’ve been expecting all this time that the money would be paid over only through hard work on my part,” stammered Mr. Codling, weakly; “and here, when I’m making my way back in the direction of my old home, meaning to wipe out my error, you’re telling me there is nothing to be done. Whose money was it that settled the claim against me?”

“Oh! mother attended to all that, sir. Why, I believe the very first thing she did after her Aunt Letty died and left everything to us, was to hurry to see Mr. Hastings in the city, and arrange with him to take up his claim. So you see no outside assistance was needed; we took care of things right in the family, father.”

“But—Aunt Letty wasn’t so rich but that this must have sadly crippled your dear mother’s resources, Amos,” expostulated the man, suppressing a groan that might have been from mental pain, though Elmer and Wee Willie were gently handling his swollen ankle at the time.

“Oh! there was quite enough left, sir, to keep the wolf from the door,” the brave boy hastened to declare, though Elmer remembered him saying something that was quite different not so very long back.

“It is wonderful, simply wonderful!” murmured the wanderer, heaving a sigh of supreme contentment, such as probably had not passed his lips for seven long agonizing years. “To come back after this age and find that God has been so kind, so forgiving as to leave me all my dear ones. I can never be grateful enough to Him for these mercies. The hours will seem like years to me until I can look again into her blessed eyes, and hear her say that true love has survived it all.”

“If you knew how often she speaks to me of you, father, how many times I’ve found my mother crying to herself after the children were all in bed, you’d have no fear about that. Her one great dread was that you might be dead, and we’d never know about it at all.”

“I can see now how cruel, yes, and foolish, I was to bind myself by that vow, and keep from communicating with my family all this time. I might have been saved much suffering, and spared her the same. But I believed I had almost broken her heart by my folly, and meant to punish myself in justice. A baffling Fortune gripped me, too; twice I was in almost good shape to come back and clear my name, when a sudden shift swept my savings away, and left me stranded again on the rocks.”

“But it’s all right now, father; and after we can get you down to Chester, the town where we are now living, you will soon be able to walk again.”

“That’s going to be a difficult job, I’m afraid, son,” said the other, with a grimace, as though a pain reminded him just how badly off he was. “You see, I’ve always been under a handicap, with that one short leg; and now that the other is knocked out of business, I’m nearly helpless.”

“Oh! leave that to my chums here, father,” Amos cheerily told him. “They are master hands about doing things; and I reckon we’ll soon be able to make some kind of litter on which we can carry you every step of the way.”

“How fine of you to say that; and how proud I am of my boy! I only hope and pray that the bitter experiences through which I have passed may always serve as a guide-post to you through life, warning you of the hidden perils when once wrong thoughts find entrance to the mind.”

Meanwhile Elmer and Wee Willie had done their best to ease the pain. A sprained ankle can be a thing of anguish, and its effects are often felt for many moons after it happens; indeed, most persons would really sooner endure a broken leg than such an affliction, since a fracture mends much quicker.

They found that Perk had done very well, considering his inexperience; his work was of course a bit bungling, though it had done wonders in easing the pain, and also helped keep down the swelling considerably.

“We’ll keep you quiet while up here with us, Mr. Codling,” Elmer told him; “and in a few days you’ll be in much better shape. Then, as Amos says, we’ll manage to rig up a stretcher, and carry you all the way to Chester; or else to some farm-house on the main road below, and phone for a car to meet us.”

“Thank you a thousand times, Elmer,” said the other, earnestly. “You are all splendid chaps, and I’m a fortunate man to find myself so well taken care of. I shall be counting the hours and minutes until I can see my family again; but with Amos beside me, to answer all my questions, I’ll try to rest content. Surely I have no reason to be unhappy, now that the clouds have rolled away, and the sun of peace is shining for me and mine again.”

He smiled bravely, and Elmer had a faint suspicion there was a sparkle in his eyes that meant something. Just as he formerly guessed that Amos must be carrying a heavy and secret load on his young shoulders, from his serious manner, so Elmer now shrewdly decided that Mr. Codling was keeping something back, something which presently he would be springing as a surprise.

“The first thing we have to do is to get back to the cabin,” Wee Willie suggested.

“You’ve said it,” Elmer admitted, “and suppose you get busy with that good hatchet of yours, so we can make a temporary litter.”

“Leave that to me,” chuckled the tall chum, who really liked nothing better than to be thrown on his own resources, since it always served to bring out latent powers which he had hardly known he possessed, as well as wrought a sense of independence such as a progressive boy liked full well to feel.

He began chopping at small but sturdy second-growth ash saplings growing from the butt of a tree that had been thrown down in some previous storm, and soon had quite a collection on hand.

“Now, if you’ll help, Elmer,” he observed, “we’ll rig up a stretcher good enough for an emergency; though later on I’ll promise to better it in every way.”

To this Elmer agreed, and they had little trouble about carrying out the assignment. It was not a “thing of beauty, and a joy forever,” as Wee Willie candidly admitted, but then they would only require it for a short journey, and on that account it would hardly pay to go to any great trouble.

They lifted Mr. Codling on to this. Fortunately he was a small man, so the labor of transporting him would not be very great; and there was Amos only too willing to “spell” either of the litter-bearers.

Elmer considered well before making a start. He wished to be absolutely certain of his ground, since it would be too bad if they missed the cabin, and hence lengthened their tramp. Wee Willie also figured things out in his own mind; and from the way he wagged his head in appreciation, after Elmer led off, it was plain that his judgment must be identical with that of his chum.

Amos talked almost incessantly, for he had a thousand things of interest to pour into the eager ears of his long-lost father. Mr. Codling never gave even the faintest groan during the entire journey, though there must have been times when he found himself jostled more or less, since the trail was rough, and the slightest jerk would probably send a thrill through his leg.

But his mind was filled with a peace that passed understanding. All the agonies of seven years had rolled away. Once more he looked ahead to happiness during the balance of his sad life. Only again and again across his face would come a look of intense yearning, as voluble Amos did his best to picture just how pretty Kitty, the twelve-year old girl, was growing, so like her mother too; and what a smart scholar Louise had turned out at school, a perfect genius, many said; while Peter, bless his heart, was the dearest little chap, of whom any parent could be proud.

It began to tell on the two boys after a while, but still they stubbornly refused to let Amos or Perk take a hand.

“You’re doing your part, Amos, walking beside the litter, and keeping your father’s mind taken up with all those splendid things,” said Elmer; “because I know we must joggle him sometimes, and every little jolt hurts a sprained ankle. We are getting along all right; and the cabin is close by now.”

“I glimpsed the river through the trees just a minute back, anyhow,” asserted Wee Willie, sturdily.

Amos looked at each in turn affectionately, Perk could see—Perk, who kept hovering alongside the tall chum, hinting again and again that he considered it “mean if they didn’t intend to let him take a turn too.”

“One thing sure, Amos,” said Mr. Codling, warmly; “you’re highly favored in your pals, for they’re the greatest lot of boys I ever ran across!”