Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/112

 he had said to Matt Coyle. "I saw he was thick-headed and needed help, and so I gave it to him."

"But don't you know that it is dangerous to trust a man like that? If he gets into trouble through the suggestions you made to him—and he will just as surely as he attempts to act upon them—he'll blow the whole thing."

"What in the world has he got to blow, and how have I trusted him?" asked Tom, rather sharply. "I didn't tell him to turn the sail-boats adrift or to steal the guests' hunting-dogs, did I? I simply told him what I should do if I were in his place."

"But you intended it for a suggestion, and hoped he would act upon it, didn't you?"

"Well, that's a different matter," answered Tom. "If he tries to revenge himself upon the citizens of Mount Airy for refusing to employ him or to buy his fish, and his efforts in that direction bring him into trouble, it will be his own fault. You and I want to see some of these conceited fellows, who think they know more and are better than any body else, brought down a peg or two, and if that squatter is