"As for splints--here is a forest of the finest, straightest, and strongest timber. What more can you ask? You couldn't do things on a grander scale if you were in New York City." Again Theo smiled. "Your father will have you comfortable as a cricket before long," went on Mr. Croyden, "and you will be all ready to start back----" "Start back!" interrupted Theo in distress. "Oh, surely, Mr. Croyden, Father is not going to take me home!" The older man hesitated. "Oh, of course I have no way of knowing what your father means to do," he protested hastily. "I only imagined that you would be more comfortable at home, and would rather go. There really would not be much point in staying out the month here, would there? You see, you won't be able to get about, and your father would not like to go off every day and leave you here alone in camp." "But Father has spent all this money to come into the woods, and he has looked forward to the trip so much!" groaned Theo. "Besides, he is very tired and needs the rest; he told me so. If he takes me back home he will miss it all! He doesn't want the vacation just for his own fun, but so he can serve our country better if he is needed. I don't see why we couldn't stay on here just as we planned, even if I have a broken leg," was Theo's concluding plea. "Think how stupid it would be for you to be left in the house alone." "I shouldn't care. I could find some way to amuse myself." "But your father----" "He could go fishing just as he always does!" exclaimed Theo promptly. "You surely don't suppose I'd be so selfish as to make him stay in the house just because I had to, do you? You see"--Theo colored and then went on bravely--"this accident was my own fault. Father told me the other day to let that ladder alone--and I didn't. It serves me right to break my leg. If I had been in Dad's place I'd have said: _I told you so_. But he didn't even whisper it. He was just patient and kind as he always is. Can't you understand now, Mr. Croyden, that I am the one to be punished--not Dad? If we go back home it will be punishing him too, and that wouldn't be fair, would it?" "No, not fair at all," admitted Mr. Croyden slowly. "That is what I think," nodded Theo. "You see, I am the one to suffer." "If you disobeyed, I guess you are." "I did disobey." "Humph! It was a pity." "I'm sorry; but it is done now," said Theo soberly. "You know how you feel when you've done wrong. It's bad enough anyhow; and it makes you feel a hundred times worse if somebody else gets the blame for what you've done--somebody who doesn't deserve it." "Yes."