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Page:The Floating Prince - Frank R Stockton.djvu/58

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HOW THE ARISTOCRATS SAILED AWAY.
43

"Those wretched Bagists," he exclaimed, "in trying to escape, have all slid into the tank. Let it be walled over, and that will be the end of them. We are fortunate to get rid of them so easily."

But the watch on the high tower was still kept up, for no one knew when the ship might come back with more Bagists.

One day, as the Head-boy was delivering his letters, he met


THE SCHOOL-MASTER AND HEAD-BOY EMBRACE.


an old man, whom he instantly recognized as his master. At first, he felt like running away; but when the master told him that he was alone, and forgave everything, they embraced in tears. The old man had not been able to find his boys in the town, and had wandered into the surrounding country. In this way, he had never had a letter.

The Head-boy took him to the library that night, and he afterward spent most of his time reading the old manuscripts