It's about all that I kin do. He'll understan' if yo' tell him."
Neither of the other boys spoke, and after a moment the mountain lad
went on:
"An' when yo' see him, give him this, an' tell him it comes from Bill,
his 'tryin' scholar.' He used to call me that because, although I wasn't
learnin' much, I was always tryin'. An' yo' can tell him I'm tryin'
still."
Reaching his hand into the bosom of his ragged shirt the boy pulled out
a slab of wood four inches square. It was carved as a bas-relief,
showing the schoolhouse in the foreground in high relief, with the
wooded hills beyond.
"That's great!" exclaimed Hamilton. "I don't believe I ever saw better
carving than that anywhere."
A momentary gleam of pleasure flashed into the boy's dull eyes, but he
went on again in the same lifeless voice.
"Thar's the schoolhouse jes' as it was when he was here last, but it's
never looked the same to me sence. I want yo' to give this to him an'
show him, if yo' will, that I whittled it with the door open, jes' to
show him we're lookin' for him back."
"But supposing I shouldn't meet him in the city?" queried Hamilton
gently.
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