The family sat down on the steps the next morning after breakfast.
“I want to go home,” said Benny suddenly.
“We all want to go home,” said Henry. “But how can we? We can’t take Bill in a canoe. Four people are too many.”
“We’ll have to get to Mr. Long’s store some way,” said Jessie. “If only we had our station wagon.”
“Let’s wait a little while,” said Joe. “Maybe something will happen.” He winked at Alice.
Benny rushed over to Joe and shook his shoulder. “What are you winking at Alice for?” he cried.
“Don’t you wish you knew?” teased Joe. He rolled Benny over in the grass.
“Get up and look what’s coming, boys,” called Alice. She pointed up the road. Coming around the corner was their very own station wagon.
“It’s the station wagon!” shouted Benny. “That’s Mr. Long driving and his boy is with him.” Benny began to jump up and down. He waved with both hands.
Mr. Long soon saw him, stopped at the little house, and got out. He laughed to see the children so surprised.
“You didn’t hear us, did you?” he said. “Joe and I made a lot of plans up at my store that first day.”
“Henry, I was sure you heard us,” said Joe, laughing. “I had just asked Mr. Long to meet us here in six days, when you suddenly came around the corner.”
“No, I didn’t hear a word,” said Henry, smiling. “But Mr. Long came on the right day. We do want to go home.”
“I never thought I would want this trip to end,” said Violet. “But now I want to get home to see Grandfather, and we all want to get Bill home to Mrs. McGregor.”
“Don’t tell me you have found Bill!” said Mr. Long, much surprised.
“Oh, yes,” said Benny. “Remember Dave Hunter, the hermit?”
“Yes,” said Mr. Long, “you mean he is Bill?”
Jessie said, “Yes, and it’s going to be a big surprise for Mrs. McGregor. Joe, shouldn’t we send a telegram to Grandfather?”
“Good for you, Jessie,” said Joe. “We’ll do that, just as soon as we find a place.”
“Come on,” shouted Benny. “Let’s go.”
The little house was soon full of people rushing around, rolling up bed rolls. They put things into the back of the station wagon, while Jim packed a big lunch for them to eat on the way home.
Jessie took the money out of the tin box and put it carefully into her handbag. “I’ll take care of this,” she said.
“We carry that money around as if it were just pieces of old paper,” said Violet laughing.
“It is,” said Benny, as he carried his bed roll to the station wagon.
“Why not let me cut off that long beard, before you go, Mr. McGregor?” asked Jim, when he came over with the lunch. “I can cut it for you.”
“How do you feel about it, Bill?” asked Joe. “Do you want it off?”
“Of course I do,” said Bill. “Don’t you remember I said I would look more like Bill McGregor?”
So the family all watched Jim as he cut off Bill’s long beard, then shaved him.
“What a change!” said Joe. “You certainly look fine, Bill.”
“A fine-looking man,” said Jim. “Look at yourself, Mr. McGregor.”
“Yes, you’ve got a nice smooth face,” said Benny. “Mrs. McGregor will like you better this way.”
“Oh, dear,” said Jessie suddenly, “we forgot all about the two canoes. We can’t leave them here.”
“Yes, you can,” said Mr. Long. “That’s why I brought my boy with me. We can paddle them back. Don’t worry about the canoes or the tents. We’ll take them with us.”
Benny took Bill’s hand, and said, “You’ll be surprised, Bill, when you see where Mrs. McGregor lives. Grandfather’s big house is very nice.”
Bill smiled at the little boy. “I know that house very well,” he said.
“What are you going to do about this house, Dave—Bill, I mean?” asked Jim Carr. “And your cabin in the woods?”
“You can have them both,” said Bill quietly. “You were always very kind to me, and gave me things to eat when I didn’t even say thank you.”
“That’s all right,” said Jim. “And thank you. Nobody ever gave me two houses in one day.”
At last everything was ready. Bill sat in front with Benny and Joe who was going to drive. Alice and Violet sat behind them. Henry and Jessie sat on the back seat.
“Now we’re really going home!” shouted Benny. “We did find Bill and we did find the money, Joe. Won’t Grandfather be glad!”
Joe turned the station wagon around, and the children waved good-by until they were out of sight of Old Village.
“Little boy,” said Bill suddenly, “how much money was in that tin box?”
“It was all hundred-dollar bills,” said Benny. “And it was four thousand dollars in all.”
“Four thousand dollars,” said Bill in great excitement. “That’s exactly right. Who did you say put it there?”
“We aren’t sure,” said Joe, kindly. “You must tell us that.”
“I’m afraid it was my own brother, Sam,” Bill told them sadly. “I understand the whole thing now.”
“Tell us,” begged Jessie. “Tell us everything you know.”
“Well,” began Bill in a weak voice, “did you hear about the horses? I sold two fine race horses for Mr. Alden.”
“He was not our grandfather,” said Jessie. “That Mr. Alden is dead.”
“Oh, dear. I suppose so,” said Bill. “He is Mr. Alden to me, because I worked for him. Your grandfather is James Alden. Well, my brother Sam told me to give him the money, and he could make three times as much. So I gave it to him.”
“That was when you lived on the island,” said Henry.
“Yes, he told me not to say a word, but to come to Maine and soon I could come home with a lot of money to pay Mr. Alden.”
“And what did you do next?” asked Alice.
“I came up here to meet my brother,” said Bill. “And then I heard he was killed by a car. I hunted all over my house for a tin box. But I never could find it. His friends didn’t know where it was. So I shut up my little yellow house, and went to live in the woods.”
“Yellow? You mean your yellow house on Surprise Island?” asked Henry, wondering.
“No, I mean my yellow house right here in Old Village.”
“But the house we were in is brown, Bill,” Jessie told him kindly.
“Well, yes, my dear,” said Bill, almost whispering. “It is brown now. But it used to be yellow. It has been painted since then.” |