Bud also had glanced at the news items of less importance, and had been
startled enough--yet not so much surprised as he would have been a few
hours earlier--to read, under the caption: DARING THIEF STEALS COSTLY
CAR, to learn that a certain rich man of Oakland had lost his new
automobile. The address of the bereaved man had been given, and Bud's
heart had given a flop when he read it. The details of the theft had not
been told, but Bud never noticed their absence. His memory supplied all
that for him with sufficient vividness.
He rolled a cigarette, lighted it, and with the paper stuffed carelessly
into his pocket he went to the car, climbed in, and drove on to
the south, just as matter-of-factly as though he had not just then
discovered that he, Bud Moore, had stolen a six-thousand-dollar
automobile the night before.