Part 14 (2/2)
”Good-by, Tommy, old boy; hope the tin fish don't get you going back!”
”Hurry up back and bring some more over, Whitey!”
”_Bon voyage!_”
”_Au revoir!_”
”Give my regards to Broadway, Whitey.”
”Cheer up, Whitey, old pal. Kaiser Bill'll be worse off than you are when _we_ get at him.”
”_N'importe_, Whitey.”
”I'll be there,” called Tom.
”_Venez donc!_” some one answered, amid much laughter.
The last he saw of them they were waving their hats to him and making fun of each other's French. He watched the train wistfully until it pa.s.sed out of sight.
”They seem to like you, Tommy,” Mr. Conne smiled. ”Is that a new name, Whitey?”
”Everybody kinder always seems to give me nicknames,” said Tom. ”I've had a lot of people jolly me, but never anybody so much as those soldiers--not even the scouts. I'll miss 'em going back.”
”The next lot you bring over will be just the same, Tom. They'll jolly you, too.”
”I don't mind it,” said Tom. ”But one thing I was thinking----”
Mr. Conne rested his hand on Tom's shoulder and smiled very pleasantly at him. He seemed to be going out of his way these days to befriend him and to understand him.
”It's about how you get to know people and get to like them, kind of, and then don't see them any more. That feller, Archibald Archer, that worked on the other s.h.i.+p I was on--I'd like to know where he is if he's alive. I liked that feller.”
”It's a big world, Tom.”
”Maybe I might see him again some time--same as I met my--my brother.”
”Perhaps,” said Mr. Conne, cheerily. ”It's always the unexpected that happens, you know.”
”I saw _you_ again, anyway.”
”Yes, you can't get away from me.”
”And Frenchy--maybe I'll never see him any more. He's got people that live in Alsace; he told me all about them. He hasn't heard from them since the war first began.--Gee, I hope Germany has to give Alsace back to France--just for his sake!”
Mr. Conne laughed.
”Most of the people there stick up for France in their hearts, only they dasn't show it. He gave me this b.u.t.ton; it's made out of a cannon, and it means the French people there got to help you.”
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