And in this surmise the head of the school was correct. Long afterwards
it was learned that Werner had put the motor-boat into the hands of a
man to bring it back to the party of whom it had been hired, and then he
and Glutts had tramped three miles across the country to a railroad
station where they took a train for parts unknown.
The colonel came up to see Jack and have a look at his injured eyes, and
then sent Mrs. Crews up to the young captain to bathe his eyes with the
lotion the doctor had given him and bind them up.
"It's too bad! too bad entirely!" said Mrs. Crews, who was quite a
motherly woman. "I hope your eyes are as well as ever in a day or two."
And then she added with a twinkle in her own optics: "I suppose that is
what you get for running off with that baby carriage."
"If it is, it's a terrible price to pay, Mrs. Crews," answered Jack, and
then told her about Ruth.
"Now that's too bad entirely," said the matron of the school. "Oh, who
would want to harm a dear young lady like Miss Stevenson? It's awful how
wicked some young men are," and she shook her head dolefully.
Jack took it easy for the rest of the day, and one after another his
chums came in to sympathize with him.
"I can't understand a fellow like Werner," remarked Ned Lowe. "If he
isn't careful he'll land in prison."
"What gets me is that a fellow like Glutts keeps on tagging after him,"
put in Dan Soppinger. "Sooner or later Werner is bound to lead Glutts
into something pretty bad."
Jack passed a restless night, not only because his eyes hurt him, but
because he could not get Ruth out of his mind. What if the girl's eyes
should be permanently injured? The mere thought of such a catastrophe
horrified him.
In the morning he bathed his eyes again, as Doctor Borden had directed.
He had been excused from his classroom, and so sat around where he could
readily be called to the telephone if any message came in for him. It
was not until about eleven o'clock that his sister rang him up.
"The doctor left a few minutes ago," said Martha over the wire. "He was
with Ruth about half an hour, and gave her quite a treatment. He was
very much encouraged, and said he thought she would come around again
all right in a few days, but that she must be careful for several weeks
about how she strained her eyes or went out in the wind."
"But he really thinks she will come around all right?" questioned Jack
anxiously.
"Yes, Jack, he was almost sure of it. And, oh! I am so glad, and so are
all the other girls."
"Well, it's a great relief to me, Martha," he returned, and his voice
showed what a weight had been lifted from his mind.
After that the days to the end of the term passed quickly. There were
the usual examinations, and all of the Rovers were glad to learn that
they had passed successfully. In the meanwhile Jack's eyes continued to
mend, so that on the final day at the Hall they felt practically as good
as ever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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