"Well, if I am, what of it?" returned Dan Baxter sharply. So many things had gone wrong lately that he was thoroughly out of humor.
"Oh, I allow you have a perfect right to give 'em the go-by if you want to," answered Sack Todd. "I wouldn't mind helpin' you a bit—maybe. Tell me about 'em, will you?"
"They are fellows I hate, and I've always hated them!" cried the bully fiercely. "We used to go to the same boarding academy, and they did their best to get me into trouble. Then I tried to get square, and that put me in hot water and I had to leave. After that, we had more trouble. They tried to prove I was a criminal."
"I see. Go on."
"It's a long story. I hate 'em, and I'd do almost anything to get square with them."
"Good for you!" cried Sack Todd. "I like a fellow who wants to stand up for himself. But just now you are running away."
"I can't stand up against such a crowd alone. But some day it will be different."
"Let us turn down a side road," said Sack Todd. "That will throw 'em off the scent."
He was a good judge of character, and fancied he could read Baxter's story fairly well. The young man had come down in the world, and he was bitter against everybody and everything.
They passed down a side path and then on to a trail that was all but hidden by the grass and bushes.