[CHAPTER XXIII]
TAKING THE LEAD
Baseball Joe wasted little time in reaching the end of the pier. He hailed a cab at the first thoroughfare he came to and was soon once more at the hotel.
He found his party ready to start and wondering where he had gone.
“Where on earth have you been, Joe?” asked Mabel. “We were beginning to get worried about you.”
“Oh, I was just called away by a telephone message,” Joe parried.
He had no desire to let the women of the little group know that he was being made the victim of any hostile machinations. They would have magnified the danger and worried without ceasing.
“Well, it’s all right as long as you are here now,” Mabel said brightly, flashing Joe one of the dazzling smiles that always made his heart beat more quickly.
There had been a tenderer note in her voice ever since he had rescued her from the reckless ride on which Fleming had taken her. She blushed when she remembered how she had taken refuge in his arms in her first paroxysms of relief. It had been instinctive, and she had fled to them as naturally as she would have gone to those of her brother in similar circumstances. How strongly those arms had held her and how absolutely safe they had made her feel!