At the supper table his father and Janet, his sister, just home from boarding school a couple of weeks back, plied him with questions concerning the game. Of course, the girl had been present and had seen her brother carry off the honors on the diamond; but there were lots of things she wanted explained.
And before Frank knew it he was asked point blank what had happened on the way across the lake, for Janet had been aboard another boat, it seemed.
"Marjorie Lee told me she heard that you jumped overboard to save some one, she didn't just know who?" was what Janet said, and the good doctor pricked up his ears as he looked inquiringly toward the boy of whom he was so proud.
"Oh, pshaw!" he said. "I had hoped that would be kept quiet. But some of the fellows like to talk too much."
"Who was it you jumped over after? They said you held him up until the boat got around--that he could not swim a stroke, and must surely have drowned only for your prompt action. It couldn't have been Cousin Andy, because he can swim nearly as well as you. Tell us, Frank," Janet persisted.
So Frank found himself compelled to relate the whole circumstance. In his usual generous manner he tried to gloss over the conduct of Puss and spoke as though the other had tumbled overboard during a little boyish roughhouse business; but Janet knew of the enmity between the pair, and she could read between the lines.
Frank spent a couple of hours after supper in poring over a book Andy had loaned him. And it might easily be assumed that it had to do with the birds, animals, fauna and inhabitants of that great country lying north of the equator, down in Central and South America.
It was about nine o'clock when his father called to him. The doctor had just come in from a few last visits and looked anxious.
"Frank, I'm in a peck of trouble," he said, with a whimsical smile, "and I wish you could help me out, though I dislike putting you to so much trouble."
"Oh, don't mind that, dad, one little bit; you know I'm only too glad to be of any assistance to you. What's gone wrong now? Machine laid off again and garage closed? But you won't need it till nine tomorrow, will you?"
There was a world of affection in the very way Frank used that word "dad." It might seem disrespectful coming from the lips of many boys, but to the ears of the good doctor it was as sweetest music.