It was a shocking sight, and for a minute or two Dick Halliard and Jim McGovern did not speak.  
Tom Wagstaff had been cut off in the beginning of his lawless career, and his dead body lay at the feet of his former companion in wrong-doing, with whom he had exchanged coarse jests but a short while before.
 
It was as McGovern declared, and as the reader has learned. When the Piketon heard the rush of the flood, each broke from the tent, thinking only of his own safety, which was just as well, since neither could offer the slightest aid to the others.
 
We have shown by what an exceedingly narrow chance McGovern the . But for the hand of Dick Halliard, extended a second time to save him from drowning, he would have shared the fate of Wagstaff. The particulars of the latter’s death were never established. He probably fled in the same general direction as McGovern, without leading or following in his footsteps, since his body was carried to the same shore upon which McGovern emerged. His struggles most likely were similar, but, singularly enough, he knew nothing about swimming, which, after all, could have been of no benefit to him, and he perished as did the thousands who went down in the Johnstown flood.
 
Terry Hurley overheard the of McGovern, the roar of the torrent having greatly , and he called out to know the cause. Dick explained, and the sympathetic Irishman instantly the to joke that he had felt a short time before.
 
The boys were not slow in observing that the water was falling. When they first laid down the body the current almost touched their feet. In a short while it was a considerable distance away.
 
“I believe he was an old friend of yours,” said Dick, addressing his companion, who was deeply by the event.
 
“Yes,” replied McGovern; “him and me run away from home together.”
 
“Why did you do that?”
 
“Because Satan got into us; we both have good homes and kind parents, but we played , stole, fought, and did everything bad. Bob Budd came down to New York some time ago, and we made his acquaintance; we were fellows after one another’s heart, and we took to each other right off. We showed Bob around the city, and then he made us promise to come out and visit him. It was his idea to form the Piketon Rangers.”
 
“I don’t know as there was anything wrong in that,” said Dick, who felt for the grief of his companion and was by the fate that had overtaken the others; “camping out is well enough in its way, and I would do it myself if I had the chance.”
 
“It isn’t that which I mean; it’s the way we have been going on since we have been together. I daresn’t tell you all the bad we did, Dick Halliard.”
 
“Never mind; don’t think of it.”
 
“I am going home as soon as I can; this will break up Tom’s folks, for they thought all the world of him.”
 
“It is bad,” said Dick, who saw how idle it was to try to minify the dreadful incidents; “but sad as it is, it will not be lost if you do not forget it.”
 
“Forget it!” repeated McGovern, looking reproachfully in his face; “it will haunt me as long as I live.”
 
“I have been told that people often feel that way when great sorrow overtakes them; but,” added Dick, seeing his companion was grieved by his words, “I do not believe it will be so with you.”
 
“I have run away from home before, but I think this was a little the worst, for my father had everything arranged to send me to college, and I know his heart is well-nigh broken.”
 
“Not so far but that you can mend it by doing what you say you mean to do,” said Dick, thinking it wise to emphasize the truth already spoken.
 
McGovern made no reply, but stood for a minute as if in deep thought. Dick was watching him closely and saw him look down at the inanimate form at his feet. He sighed several times, and then glancing up quickly, said in an eager voice:
 
“Dick Hilliard, I wish I was like you.”
 
The words sounded strange from one who had been so reckless of all that was right, but never was an more sincere—it came directly from the heart.
 
“Don’t take me for a model, for you can be a great deal better than I; you tell me you have good parents; all you have to do is to obey them.”
 
“You seem to doubt my keeping the pledge,” said McGovern, looking with curious fixidity in the of Dick.
 
“I believe you are in earnest now, but what I fear is that you have become so accustomed to your wild life that you will forget this lesson.”
 
“Well,” sighed the stricken youth, “that must remain to be tested; all that I can now do is to ask you to suspend , as they say.”
 
“You can give me your hand on it, Jim.”
 
It was a strange sight, when the two boys clasped hands on the bank of the flood, with the lifeless body at their feet, and one of them uttered his solemn promise that from that hour he would str............