As he took his place in the Green Imp Leaver looked across the street at the cottage back among the trees.  Its windows were quite dark, although the hour was barely ten o’clock.  Burns looked over, too.

“By the way,” he said, as they moved away, “why wasn’t Miss Ruston among the crowd assembled to see you off?  As an acquaintance of yours in Baltimore she ought to join in the send-off back to that town.”

“She gave me her good wishes this afternoon, after taking the photograph.  Red, speaking of Baltimore, when are you coming down?”

“When I get a card saying you are holding a clinic on a subject I’m anxious to see demonstrated.”

“Do you expect me to go to holding clinics?”

“Surest thing in the world.  You can’t keep out of them.”

“Do you suppose the men who saw my breakdown will be eager to welcome me back?”

“No question of it.  Good Lord, man, you’re not the first nor the ten-thousandth man who has broken down from overwork.  Because my axe becomes dull I’m not going to refuse to use it when it comes back from the grindstone with a brighter edge than ever on it, am I?  Wait till you see your reception.  Some of those fellows have been making a lot of mistakes in your absence—­have been trying to do things too big for them.  They’ll be only too glad to turn some of their stunts over to you.  And the big ones, who are your friends, will rejoice at sight of you.  Of course you have rivals; you don’t expect them to welcome you with open arms.  They’ll be sorry to see you back.  Let them be sorry, and be hanged to them!  Go in and show them that they’re the ones who need a rest now, and that you’ll take care of their work in their absence.”

Leaver laughed.  “Red, there’s nobody just like you,” he said.

“That’s lucky.  Too many explosives aren’t safe to have around.  I know, and have known all along, Jack, that it’s been like a cat lecturing a king, my advice to you.  A better simile would be the old one of the mouse gnawing the lion out of the net.  If I’ve done anything for you, that’s what I’ve done.”

Leaver turned in his seat.  “Red,” said he—­and his voice had a deep ring in it as he spoke—­“you’re about the biggest sized mouse I ever saw.  I want to tell you this:  Since I’ve been watching your work up here I’ve conceived a tremendous admiration for your standards.  There are none finer, anywhere.  I’ve come to feel that you couldn’t do anything bigger or better in the largest place you could find.  Indeed, this, for you, is the largest place, for you fill it as another man couldn’t.”

“The frog, in the marsh, where he lived, was king,” Burns quoted, in an effort at lightness, for he was deeply touched.