“I thought he and Haxton were great friends,” remarked Larry, who was getting more information than he expected.
“They were, but Mr. Haxton was just hateful to Harry, Harry says. He loaned Mr. Haxton a lot of money—and then Mr. Haxton turned against him.”
“Thank you,” said Larry quietly. “Let’s change the subject and talk of pleasanter things.”
Half an hour later, as he drove away from the lights of the Baldwin ranch house, he was so deeply engrossed in patching together the circumstances of his expulsion from the team with the things the girl, in her ignorance of the game, had revealed, that he roused himself just in time to jerk the horse to one side of the road as a big touring car flashed past. In that flash he recognized Harry Baldwin at the wheel. He smiled bitterly.
“I just escaped in time,” he muttered to himself. “If I had met him”——
He whistled softly to himself as he hastened the gait of the horse and turned toward Shasta View.
“Hello, Larry, where have you been?” shouted Major Lawrence from the shadows of the piazza as Larry tossed the reins to the waiting Chinese boy and leaped from the runabout.
“I’ve been over to Baldwin’s ranch,” Larry replied quickly, determined to have it over with.
“I thought you would,” replied the Major, chuckling.
Larry, who had expected an outburst of wrath, was taken aback.