CHAPTER XXIV

_The Quarrel With the Major_

Major James Lawrence was at breakfast with Bill Krag, on the wide porch at Shasta View bungalow, when a telegram was handed to him by Chun, the Chinese youth who had assumed charge of the housekeeping.

The Major, who had been arguing with Krag, ripped open the envelope, frowned, reread the message, frowned more heavily and commenced to storm:

“Young rascal!” he shouted. “I suppose he has had more trouble at school. All foolishness to send a boy to college, waste of time—and he does nothing but get into trouble”——

“But, Major,” argued Krag, who was breaking his egg, “you took the opposite end of the argument the other evening. You insisted that a boy without a college education was like a boat without a pilot.”

“What do you mean by throwing up my mistakes to me?” demanded the Major. “I only took that side of the argument because you took the other. Confound it, can’t a man argue in his own house?”

“He sure can,” grinned Krag, who enjoyed the Major’s tyrannical outbursts. “What’s the matter with Larry now?”

“He don’t say, confound him!” spluttered the Major. “Says he must see me on an important matter and is coming home. Confound him, why don’t he be more explicit?”

“Girl, I suppose,” suggested Krag, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s about time for him to have his first love affair.”

“Woof,” said the Major indignantly. “Girl? That child in love? Why, confound him, if he dares mention such a thing I’ll cowhide him within an inch of his life.”

“I suppose you didn’t have a girl when you were about his age, Major?” inquired Krag. “He’s past eighteen now—nearly nineteen.”

“I never had time for that girl foolishness,” snorted the Major. “Why, when I was his age”——

“Not even one?” persisted Krag teasingly.

“Oh, well”—— The Major paused a moment and grew thoughtful—— “Eighteen, eh,” he said, “when I was eighteen?”

He drummed for a moment with his fingers on the table and looked far away toward Shasta.

“She was the only one, Krag,” he said softly with a far-away look in his eyes. “I left home then. She kissed me good-bye—Bloop,” he exploded, “the idea of him in love! Why, if he dares mention such a thing”——

“Maybe it isn’t a girl at all,” remarked Krag, his mouth full of toast. “Maybe it’s some baseball trouble. So he’s coming home? Why don’t you go to Cascade instead? The team plays Golden University Saturday.”

“I haven’t time to be cavorting around all over the continent to see this baseball foolishness,” snorted the Major. “I’m a busy man, Krag.”

“Oh, well,” said Krag. “I just thought it would save him the trip up here, and, besides, you have some business down there and could stay and see the game.”

“Foolishness!” snorted the Major angrily. “I’ll wire him not to come. He’s got to stick to his business just as I stick to mine.”

He stamped across the veranda to his office, to write the telegram, and Krag laughed until his great body shook when he heard Chun repeat the message over the telephone to the telegraph operator in Pearton.

The message that the Major sent was:

“Don’t come home. Will be there to-morrow and stay over to see the game Saturday.”

Major Lawrence, preparing to storm and upbraid his ward, reached Cascade on the morning of the deciding game of the baseball season. At the first glance of the haggard face and drawn expression of the boy, his kind, old heart relented. He felt a great surge of tenderness come over him as he looked into Larry’s troubled eyes.

“It’s all right, boy,” he said tenderly. “It’ll be all right. Don’t worry.”

“I had to tell you about it, sir,” said Larry in a strained voice. “I was coming down to see you because it is something I couldn’t write.”

“Don’t tell me about it now,” ordered the Major. “Not a word until we have had breakfast. You’re right to tell your old uncle about it. I’m sure it’s nothing we cannot fix up. Wait until we get to the rooms, and we’ll talk it over.”

“Thank you,” said Larry. “I’ve been dreading telling you. I didn’t sleep much last night, worrying about it.”

“Not sleep?” stormed the Major, working himself into a mock rage to cover his own agitation. “Not sleep and on the eve of the game? Why, confound you, boy, I came down here to see you win that game.”

“We’ll win, I think,” said Larry, smiling wanly at the familiar sight of the Major’s anger. “The team is playing good ball—and Katsura will pitch.”

The subject, thus changed to baseball, was not resumed. At breakfast, Major Lawrence met Winans and Trumbull, and after they had learned his peculiar temperament and had drawn him into several hot arguments, they bore him off under the pretense of letting Paw Lattiser decide a point. It was luncheon time before they returned, the Major triumphantly declaring Lattiser the only sensible person in the entire school. It was not until he was preparing to start to the game that Larry had the opportunity to speak to the Major alone.

“Uncle Jim,” he said, “I want to talk with you.”

“Don’t bother me with your nonsense now,” stormed the Major. “I’m going to the game with Lattiser—sensible fellow, Lattiser, not one of these flighty-headed college idiots like Winans and that monkey Jessup he introduced me to. Wait until to-night and we’ll talk things over.”

The Major was decorated for the occasion, and his cane and coat lapel bore huge Cascade ribbons.

“I’ve learned the Cascade yell, Larry,” he went on. “Listen to me and I’ll make you win.”

“But it’s something that must be settled. I must know before the game,” the boy persisted.

“All right—fire away,” said the Major resignedly. “I suppose its money.”

“Yes—and no,” replied Larry. “Its a girl.”

“Girl?” roared the Major, leaping from his chair and stalking up and down the floor. “Girl? Confound it, I’ll girl you! Krag said it was a girl and I told him if it was I’d soon knock that sort of foolishness out of your head. The idea—girl? Why, you young scoundrel, you’ve just shed your pinafores and talking of girl! Next thing I hear you’ll be wanting to marry her.”

“I do want to marry her, Uncle Jim,” said the boy earnestly. “Right away.”

“What?”

This time the Major’s astonishment was not pretended. He stopped and stared at Larry as if striving to comprehend.

“Marry?” he cried. “You marry? What have you to offer a wife? What means of support have you? Nothing. You’re dependent on me, sir, and if you talk marriage in the next five years, I’ll cut you off without a penny, without a penny, understand? Don’t talk to me of marriage.”

He had worked himself into a real passion, and resumed his storming up and down the room.

“But you don’t understand, Uncle Jim,” pleaded the boy. “She is in trouble; her family is not treating her well; I am the only one to whom she can turn for help.”

Somehow, in spite of his earnestness, the reason seemed inadequate and the necessity not so real as it had seemed when he was listening to Helen Baldwin’s sobs.

“Not treating her right?” demanded the Major. “Well, I’ll attend to that; I’ll see to that. I’ll fix it with the family and then, after you are old enough to marry and still love her—who is she?”

The Major broke off his promises suddenly and shot the question at Larry.

“Helen Baldwin,” replied Larry, in a low tone.

He was prepared for an outburst, but for nothing such as the one that broke. For an instant Major Lawrence stood glaring at him.

“Baldwin?” he screamed. “You want to marry a Baldwin? Marry one of the tribe that robbed me and robbed your father, broke your father’s health and killed him. YOU marry one of that breed of rats? Never!”

“But, Uncle Jim, she is not one of them. She is different. They are cruel to her and accuse her”——

“Don’t talk to me of a Baldwin,” raged Major Lawrence. “I’d rather see you in your grave. Never dare mention her name to me again.”

Larry, bridling with what he thought was injustice, stood his ground before the wrath of his guardian. He was about to speak when Winans, from the hallway, shouted:

“Hustle up, Larry. Time to start.”

“That is your final decision, sir?” asked Larry, his voice trembling as he strove to control himself.

“My final decision,” stormed the Major. “Yes, if you ever dare speak to me of her, or of marrying, I’ll cut you off without a penny. She only wants my money, anyhow. She’s like all the rest of the Baldwin’s. She’s been trying to trap you and get a hold on my money.”

“I won’t listen even to your slandering her,” said Larry rapidly. “I can work. I can support her without your help. I’ll marry her and prove to you that what you say about her is false.”

He turned quickly and started for the door.

“Hey, aren’t you ever coming?” shouted Winans.

“Coming,” cried Larry, striving to conceal his emotion.

He turned his face quickly as he opened the door. The Major, looking apoplectic had sunk into a chair and did not meet his gaze. For ten minutes Major Lawrence remained motionless. Then suddenly he slapped his leg.

“By George,” he ejaculated, “I believe that little game cock would do it. I’ve got to get busy and see that girl.”

He arose quickly, and bustled out to meet Lattiser.