Goldfrap John Henry - The Boy Scouts at the Panama-Pacific Exposition стр 6.

Let me congratulate you, boys, on your good fortune, said the kindly judge, as though he wished to settle the matter in such a fashion that there could be no drawing back on the part of the gentleman. He then shook hands first with Rob and then with Andy Bowles.

Rob was looking a little pale from excitement, but there was also a happy glow in his eyes. As for Andy, he could not prevent a wide grin from spreading over his features. His father owned a livery stable in Hampton, but was not considered at all well-to-do, so that the boy had never been able to do more than dream of taking expensive trips. That one down into Mexico had come like a gleam of golden sunshine, for Tubby Hopkins old uncle had footed all the bills.

Do I understand you to make this proposition to us, Professor McEwen? Rob asked bluntly, not wishing to be laboring under any delusion.

Aweel, aweel, I dinna ken how I could do better; and I feel that I am indebted to ye baith for my life. After hearing what bonny lads ye are, from my friend Judge

Collins here, whose opinion carries great weight wi me, I am mair than pleased to offer to stand all the cost of a trip to California and back; as well as the expense which you will necessarily be under while seeing the great Exposition in San Francisco. Do ye think ye can hae the permission of the auld folks to take so lang a journey?

There will be no trouble on that score, Professor, urged the judge. These lads have so amply demonstrated their sterling ability to look out for themselves that I really believe Robs parents would not object if he wanted to go to hunt for the South Pole, or explore the unknown regions of tropical Brazil. And so we shall call it settled, I presume, Professor?

I hae made the offer, and shall tak it hard if they turn it down, said the peculiar little man of science, whose name, Rob afterward learned, was known throughout the whole length and breadth of the world wherever men of intellect gathered to discuss their theories and discoveries.

So far as we are concerned, said Rob, after receiving an entreating look from the excited Andy, we are disposed to accept right on the spot, subject to the reservation that our parents may have the final deciding of the matter. We will run over here by moonlight to-night, Professor, and if everything is satisfactory, we will talk matters over with you, and make all arrangements.

That suits me nicely, laddie, declared the visitor pleasantly; and I shall hae to think mysel unco lucky to have found competent and trustworthy messengers so soon after the necessity arose. I shall look for ye then this same evening; and I hope that there may be no barrier thrown in the way of your acceptance of my offer. The mair I see of ye the better satisfied I feel that I will hae no regrets after entrusting my mission in your hands.

Soon afterward the two scouts said good-by to the professor, and started down to the dock. Even in his distress of body and mind, the thoughtful scientist had not forgotten Captain Jerry; and the boys were entrusted with a message to him to the effect that ten pounds awaited his acceptance when he was ready to install that new three-horse-power engine in his launch.

The old bayman was glad of the chance to have his wrecked boat towed back home; and when Rob delivered the message of the professor, the look of concern on his weatherbeaten face vanished as the mist does with the coming of the sun.

All the way across the broad bay the two scouts were jabbering to each other in connection with the astonishing streak of good fortune that had just come their way.

Seems to me I must be dreaming! Andy declared for the fourth time. Please give me a pinch, Rob, to let me make sure Im awake.

Oh! youll get used to it by degrees, the other told him, though he felt somewhat uncertain himself at times, and had to convince himself that it had all actually happened, and was not the result of a fevered imagination.

Talk to me about luck, continued Andy rapturously, there never could happen again such a wonderful combination of things. First, that the feed-pipe aboard the Sea Gull should be leaking a trifle; second, that Professor McEwen was aboard the same; then he tossed that lighted match the wrong way, so instead of going overboard it fell down and slipped between the bars of the wooden grating into the oil-covered bilge water, and last of all that we chanced to be close by at the critical moment, ready fixed with a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, and capable of hauling the ship-wrecked mariners aboard.

Everything of that kind is always a combination of minor happenings that seem to dovetail in with each other, Rob explained. In this case it worked perfectly. All other boats were so far away that theres no telling what might not have happened.

Were getting close in now, and, Rob, theres somebody waving to us from the dock. Why, it looks like our inventor chum and fellow scout, Hiram Nelson, the queerest fellow in the Eagle Patrol. He must want us to stop and take him out for a ride on the bay. You didnt promise him anything like that, did you, Rob?