Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/187

 "How would you go about it?" repeated Tom.

"Oh, there's plenty of ways," answered the squatter, shaking his head knowingly.

"Give us one of them."

"Wal, s'pos'n I should see a big party, with childern among 'em, start out from one of them hotels as big as life, an' I should foller along after 'em. easy like, an' some day, when there wasn't no men folks about, I should slip up, grab one of them childern an' run him off to the mountains? An' s'pos'n one of my boys should happen to be loafin' around that hotel when the party come back without the child, an' should hear that a reward of a hunderd, mebbe two hunderd dollars had been offered fur his safe return? Couldn't my boy easy hunt me up, an' couldn't I tote that young un back to his pap an' claim them dollars? Eh?"

Tom was so astounded that he could say nothing in reply. Matt Coyle was a great deal worse than he thought he was. The squatter saw that his solitary auditor was interested, and went on to tell of another way in which he could break up the business of guiding in the