One of Ours | Page 6

which things were done on the
Wheeler place, and thought his going to college a waste of money.
Leonard had not even gone through the Frankfort High School, and he
was already a more successful man than Claude was ever likely to be.
Leonard did think these things, but he was fond of Claude, all the same.
At sunset the car was speeding over a fine stretch of smooth road across
the level country that lay between Frankfort and the rougher land along
Lovely Creek. Leonard's attention was largely given up to admiring the
faultless behaviour of his engine. Presently he chuckled to himself and
turned to Claude.
"I wonder if you'd take it all right if I told you a joke on Bayliss?"
"I expect I would." Claude's tone was not at all eager.
"You saw Bayliss today? Notice anything queer about him, one eye a
little off colour? Did he tell you how he got it?"
"No. I didn't ask him."
"Just as well. A lot of people did ask him, though, and he said he was
hunting around his place for something in the dark and ran into a reaper.
Well, I'm the reaper!"
Claude looked interested. "You mean to say Bayliss was in a fight?"
Leonard laughed. "Lord, no! Don't you know Bayliss? I went in there
to pay a bill yesterday, and Susie Gray and another girl came in to sell
tickets for the firemen's dinner. An advance man for this circus was
hanging around, and he began talking a little smart,--nothing rough, but

the way such fellows will. The girls handed it back to him, and sold
him three tickets and shut him up. I couldn't see how Susie thought so
quick what to say. The minute the girls went out Bayliss started
knocking them; said all the country girls were getting too fresh and
knew more than they ought to about managing sporty men and right
there I reached out and handed him one. I hit harder than I meant to. I
meant to slap him, not to give him a black eye. But you can't always
regulate things, and I was hot all over. I waited for him to come back at
me. I'm bigger than he is, and I wanted to give him satisfaction. Well,
sir, he never moved a muscle! He stood there getting redder and redder,
and his eyes watered. I don't say he cried, but his eyes watered. 'All
right, Bayliss,' said I. 'Slow with your fists, if that's your principle; but
slow with your tongue, too,--especially when the parties mentioned
aren't present.'"
"Bayliss will never get over that," was Claude's only comment.
"He don't have to!" Leonard threw up his head. "I'm a good customer;
he can like it or lump it, till the price of binding twine goes down!"
For the next few minutes the driver was occupied with trying to get up
a long, rough hill on high gear. Sometimes he could make that hill, and
sometimes he couldn't, and he was not able to account for the
difference. After he pulled the second lever with some disgust and let
the car amble on as she would, he noticed that his companion was
disconcerted.
"I'll tell you what, Leonard," Claude spoke in a strained voice, "I think
the fair thing for you to do is to get out here by the road and give me a
chance."
Leonard swung his steering wheel savagely to pass a wagon on the
down side of the hill. "What the devil are you talking about, boy?"
"You think you've got our measure all right, but you ought to give me a
chance first."
Leonard looked down in amazement at his own big brown hands, lying

on the wheel. "You mortal fool kid, what would I be telling you all this
for, if I didn't know you were another breed of cats? I never thought
you got on too well with Bayliss yourself."
"I don't, but I won't have you thinking you can slap the men in my
family whenever you feel like it." Claude knew that his explanation
sounded foolish, and his voice, in spite of all he could do, was weak
and angry.
Young Leonard Dawson saw he had hurt the boy's feelings. "Lord,
Claude, I know you're a fighter. Bayliss never was. I went to school
with him."
The ride ended amicably, but Claude wouldn't let Leonard take him
home. He jumped out of the car with a curt goodnight, and ran across
the dusky fields toward the light that shone from the house on the hill.
At the little bridge over the creek, he stopped to get his breath and to be
sure that he was outwardly composed before he went in to see his
mother.
"Ran against