A theory that pleased him better was, that this cablegram would be followed by another, of a gentler sort, requiring him to come home.

Should he write and strike his flag, and ask for a ticket home?
Oh, no, that he couldn't ever do.

At least, not yet.

That cablegram would come, it certainly would.

So he went from one telegraph office to another every day for nearly a week, and asked if there was a cablegram for Howard Tracy.
No, there wasn't any.