"Sercomb is not a friend of mine——"
"I have nothing to do with that, King. Every fellow who amounts to anything is bound to make enemies."
"I want to become a racer, Colonel Plympton, and I think, if I had a chance, that I could deliver the goods."
"Why don't you hook up with the Bly-Lambert people?" asked the colonel dryly. "You seem to have established a connection in that quarter."
"I don't understand you," replied Matt.
"Oh, come, come!" exclaimed Plympton impatiently. "Do you mean to sit there and tell me you didn't have a talk with Slocum, last night?"
"Is Slocum connected with the Bly-Lambert people?"
"Well, I should say so! If the Kansas City men want to hire a fellow to throw a race, Slocum is just the one to put the deal through for them."
Matt, who was beginning to see a little light in the queer tangle, laid the card Slocum had sent up, the evening before, on the desk in front of the colonel.
"Is that your card, Colonel Plympton?" he asked.