Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/106

 towering rage. Ralph and Loren were afraid of them now that the constable and his broad-shouldered backers were gone, but Tom looked serenely on, and could hardly resist the impulse to laugh outright when he saw Matt and his family stamping about, shaking their clenched hands in the air, and acting altogether as though they had taken leave of their senses.

"Let's get away from here," whispered Loren, when Matt made a sudden and furious rush toward the shanty, and began trying to kick the side of it in with his heavy boots, just to show how mad he was, and to give his wife and boys some idea of the damage he would do if he only possessed the power.

"What's your hurry?" asked Tom, indifferently. "Can't you see how we can turn this to our advantage?"

"I can see that those people are in a terrible rage," replied Loren, who was really alarmed, "and I am afraid they will turn on us next."

"There's no danger of that," answered Tom, confidently. "When men rant and rave in that way they are not to be feared for any thing