Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/217

 come there again. Whether or not they succeeded in their object shall be told further on.

Tom Bigden and his cousins never knew how near they came to being black-balled when their names were brought before the canoe club at its next meeting. Prime and his friends were suspicious of Tom. The latter kept away from the drug-store altogether; he and his cousins were often seen in Joe Wayring's company, and Prime said that looked as though Tom wasn't in earnest when he promised to assist in carrying out the arrangements that had been made for defeating Joe and Arthur at the coming canoe meet.

"I'll vote for him," said Prime, after Noble, Scott, and one or two others had labored with him for a long time, "but if he plays us false, as I really think he means to do, he can just hang up his fiddle, so far as the Toxophilites are concerned. I'll take pains to let Miss Arden and the rest of the girls know that he and his cousins smoke and play billiards and cards on the sly, and they'll make dough of his cake in short order."