t a little longer, for then you never would have had to enlist. I am
ready to prove that I think as much of you now as I ever did. I shall
keep an eye on you until your term of service expires, and then you must
go home with me. I am sole master there now--Mr. Gilbert is my guardian,
but he never has a word to say--and as you have no home of your own--"

"That was a lie, George," interrupted Bob. "I have a home at Rochdale, a
few miles below Linwood, where I first pulled you out of the river--you
know where it is--and as kind a father and mother as any scoundrel of my
size ever had. When I ran away I intended to drop my identity
altogether, and that was the reason I told you I was alone in the world.
What do you think of me _now_?"

George was greatly astonished at this confession, for he had put
implicit faith in Bob's story. He was strictly truthful himself, and he
could not understand how a boy as physically brave as Bob Owens had
showed himself to be could be coward enough to tell a lie.

"I feel sorry for you," said he at length; "and if I were in your place
I would go home as soon as I received my discharge--if you keep on as
you have begun you may rest assured that it will be an honorable
one--and try to make amends for my misdeeds. Remember that

'No star is ever lost we once have seen;
We always may be what we might have been,'

and go resolutely to work to 'live it down.' You've got the pluck to do
it, I know."

"Coffee!" shouted Carey, thrusting his head around the corner of the
station.

"By the way," continued George as he and Bob arose to their feet, "what
did you mean by saying that, seeing it was I, you wouldn't arrest me?"

"Oh, the colonel was mad when he started me out this morning, and
ordered me to gobble up everybody--that is, privates and
non-commissioned officers--I caught outside the stockade. But of course
I couldn't touch you if I wanted to, for your leave of absence protects
you. You will stay here to-night and ride to the fort with us to-morrow,
will you not?"

"Certainly I will. Having found you again, I am not going to leave you
in a hurry. Say, Bob, would you have any objections to bringing Gus
Robbins up to eat supper with us?"

"None whatever. I am sorry to be obliged to keep him and the rest so
closely confined, but I know that they are a slippery lot--every one of
them has deserted before--and if I should let them get away now that I
have got a grip on them, the co