“Flattering,” laughed Tom, “but awkward. I told the silly chumps I wouldn’t have time for it but they wouldn’t listen to me. Have you heard how George is getting on?” “Mother said he was doing finely. But it will be three or four weeks before he can be out again. Is that the whistle?” “Yes, you’d better get your bag out.” But Jimmy returned just then and performed that service and the two boys piled out of The Ark as the 1:57 came whirring into the station. They conducted Willard across the platform and put him on the train. “Good-bye, Tom! Be good to The Ark! Good-bye, Jimmy! Look after yourself!” “Good-bye, Will! Don’t forget to write to a fellow!” “I won’t. See that you do. And tell me all the news. Make him write to me, Jimmy, will you?” “If he doesn’t I’ll cut his tires,” responded Jimmy. The train started slowly out. Tom, with a last wave of his hand, darted across the platform and pounced on the horn. “Honk! Honk!” said The Ark. “Honk! Honk! Honk!” THE END Transcriber’s Notes: ――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). ――Except for the frontispiece, illustrations have been moved to follow the text that they illustrate. ――Printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected. ――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved. ――Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.