Mrs. Garth sometimes said he ate and drank and dreamed engines, his
thoughts were so filled with the work done at Lisle and Co.'s.
But the months went by with no other tidings from his uncle, though
Dick never forgot to pray for his return.
When his apprenticeship was halfway through he went with Teddy for a
long ramble one summer evening.
Beyond the marshes the road skirted a belt of stunted woodland. This
was Pat's happy hunting ground, though he never found any rabbits
there. Running in and out of the tangled bushes they heard him begin
to bark loudly, and then he rushed back to his master in great
excitement and tried to hurry them on, and following quickly they left
the road and plunged into the undergrowth. And there, under the
shelter of a clump of elder, they saw a man, unconscious, on the ground.
He looked like a tramp, his clothes were so old and broken, and his
face was deadly pale. Teddy looked scared and suggested going for the
police, but Dick had more courage.
He remembered a little stream that ran through the Dingle not far away,
and fetching some water in his cap he bathed the man's face.
Presently there was a feeble movement, and then the stranger opened his
eyes and looked up at Dick, who was bending anxiously over him.
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