Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/235

 "I claim foul!" sputtered Noble, as soon as his head appeared above the surface of the water. "Bigden capsized me on purpose."

"I say I didn't!" cried Tom, looking very surprised and innocent indeed. "What business had you to try to cross my bows, when any body with half an eye could see that you had no chance to do it? You declared that if you didn't win this race no one else should, and that's why you got in my way."

"And you said that your Cousin Loren was booked to win, if you could make him do it," retorted Noble, who had climbed into his canoe and was rapidly throwing out the water it had shipped in righting. "That's why you capsized me. It is a lucky thing for you that you didn't smash in the side of my boat as you tried to do. I would have made you pay roundly for it, if there is law enough in Mount Airy to—"

"That will do," said the judge, in a tone of authority. "This is not the place to settle quarrels, and neither am I the one to do it."

"My paddle got unjointed, and I couldn't