“No, it wouldn’t, although it would go a long way toward it. It is, in fact, the very first step you must take if you want to regain the confidence of the folks in Eaton. There is a stain upon your character, and you must live it down. That’s what I had to do.” “You! My conduct didn’t affect you in any way.” “I should say it did, and in more ways than one. Mr. Smith discharged me because he was afraid to trust me, and that is what brought me out here. You remember how much sport you used to make of my taxidermy, don’t you? Well, it is now bringing me in a hundred dollars a month, clear of all expenses. I received enough in advance to make mother comfortable a long time, and a thousand dollars besides with which to pay my bills.” “Why, what do you mean?” exclaimed Tom, who was quite as much astonished as Oscar expected him to be. “I mean just what I say. I have a life position, if I succeed in satisfying my employers, with the promise of a big increase in my salary. I may go to Africa after I get through here on the plains.” “Oh, now, leave off chaffing me!” said Tom impatiently. “I am in no humor for nonsense.” “It is not nonsense. I will tell you all about it, and when you have heard my story, you are at liberty to think what you please.” Oscar then went on to describe, in as few words as possible, all the incidents which had operated to make so great a change in his circumstances. He told the story of his discharge from the store, of the vindication of his character by the discovery of the thief who had been systematically robbing the money-drawer (Oscar did not yet know that his friends, Sam Hynes and Miles Jackson, had anything to do with that affair), and of Mr. Smith’s efforts to induce him to return to his old situation at an increased salary. He told how he and Sam Hynes had rescued Professor Potter when the latter was capsized off the head of Squaw Island, and wound up his narrative by giving the details of his visit to Yarmouth, and his employment by the committee who controlled the immense fund which was to be expended in adding a museum to the university. Tom listened in genuine amazement; and, by the time the story was finished, he was so angry that he could scarcely breathe. He would have been glad, indeed, if he could have disbelieved every word his brother uttered, but his story bore the impress of truth upon the face of it. We know how he had accounted for Oscar’s presence there on the plains, and he had fairly rejoiced in the belief that his brother was a runaway thief like himself.