Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/161

 it would not take me long to make up my mind which one I wanted."

"Of course not. There is as much difference between them as there is between a trotter and a plow-horse; but each one has served the purpose for which it was intended, and served it well, too. I like the canoe better, because she was the first thing in the shape of a boat I ever owned. She has carried me a good many hundred miles, first and last, and although she has often got contrary and spilled me out into the water when I wasn't expecting it, I have had any amount of fun with her exploring creeks and ponds that I could not otherwise have reached. She is fourteen feet long, weighs fifty pounds fully equipped, and packs in that little chest you see there. I know she isn't very good-looking, but when it comes to running the rapids she is there, every time. That's the reason I took her out of the chest. We are going down to Sherwin's Pond to-morrow after bass; will you join us?"

Tom and his cousins replied that they would be glad to do so, and Joe went on to say:

"You see, the fishing in the pond is better