Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/257

 which he had unjointed and laid on the bottom of the canoe, "an' I reckon mebbe we've got grub enough to last us fur a day or two good grub, too, sich as don't often come into our house less'n we hooks it. This is a powerful nice little boat, this canoe is, an' now we'll go up to Injun Lake, an' me an' the boys will set up fur independent guides. If they won't have us there, we'll bust up the business."

While communing thus with himself the squatter did not neglect to ply his paddle vigorously, nor to look over his shoulder now and then to satisfy himself that his rascality had not yet been discovered. But Joe and his companions spent fully half an hour in roaming about through the woods, looking for the bear and shooting squirrels for their dinner, and when they came out, Matt was nowhere in sight. He had crossed the pond, and was urging the canoe up a narrow winding creek toward his habitation. With a caution which had become a part of his nature, he had concealed his place of abode so effectually that a fleet of canoeists might have passed up the creek without knowing that there was a shanty within