“I should have had sense enough not to come. Don’t blame yourself any. And don’t find too much fault with Blunt and Handy. I mixed the dose for myself, and it’s no more than right that I should swallow it.”
During the walk back to town Frank did what he could to soothe Lenning’s injured feelings. Lenning listened quietly to his talk, and really seemed in a better frame of mind when he and Frank parted in front of the Ophir House.
While waiting for Clancy and Ballard to arrive, Frank had ample time for a little hard thinking on the veranda.
At first he had been tempted to throw up the proposed game with Gold Hill and have nothing further to do with it. He was beginning to see now that such a move on his part would be childish.
He had had ample warning not to try to drag Lenning into the baseball game. He had gone ahead in spite of the warning, and for the disaster of the afternoon he alone was to blame.
When his reflections took stock of Blunt and Handy, he felt the hot blood beginning to pound in his veins. But this was childish, too. Lenning, not so very long before, had given everybody abundant excuse for thinking of him just what Blunt and Handy thought.
After all, Lenning was only paying the score he had run up. It was a debt he had to meet. When he was through with the battle, he would be all the better for a few scars to remind him of it.
This train of thought put Frank himself in a more tolerant mood by the time Clancy and Ballard got back to the hotel. They went in to supper together, and, by tacit agreement, dismissed the incident of the afternoon without any further discussion.
On the following morning there came a grind at the books under the eagle eye of Professor Borrodaile; then, after dinner and early in the afternoon, Frank and his chums went out to the baseball grounds and were greeted by the whole team, as originally selected by Frank, with the exception, of course, of Lenning and Shaw.
Mexican Joe was introduced to Frank by Brad. Joe was of about the same height and build as Jode Lenning, and, in addition, the two had a facial resemblance that was most remarkable. Naturally, the Mexican lad’s face was of a swarthier hue, and this of itself made the difference between them most pronounced.