Page:Lefty o' the Bush.djvu/305

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  • stood. In order to settle this controversy for all

time, I thought best to wire my brother to come on, and it was to meet him here in Bancroft that I left Kingsbridge this morning. Gentlemen, let me introduce Paul Hazelton."

The youthful stranger who had arrived in company with the bell boy bowed and smiled.

"I'm it," he said. "But, to judge by his record in this league, when it comes to pitching, I'm an 'also ran' compared with Phil."

"It should be plain to you now, Mr. Riley," said Philip Hazelton grimly, "that you made a very bad break when you produced a letter, seemingly in my handwriting, dated at Princeton, and signed with the name of Paul Hazelton. Mr. Hutchinson, also, has blundered in— Oh, by the way where is he? He seems to be missing."

"He's sneaked," cried Sammy Bryant. "He got out when nobody was lookin'."

"He'd better sneak," declared Henry Cope. "I don't blame him a bit for skedaddlin' outer here. He'd better git outer Kingsbridge in a hurry, too."

The following evening found Philip Hazelton meditating over a daintily perfumed note that had been brought him by a boy. A dozen times