Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/303

 could have done it. I felt particularly savage on the night Jake used me in making his raid on that old guide's potato-patch and smoke house. When I saw the skiff coming after me, wouldn't I have laughed if I had possessed the power? I knew that Jake was going to run me on to that snag, and when I was settling to the bottom, I told myself that Joe would never leave me there. I wasn't hurt at all. I was easily mended with rosin and tallow and a piece of canvas, and am just as good as I ever was; although I confess that I look like a boy who has been in a fight and has to wear a patch over his eye."

"How did the squatter make the journey from his shanty to the creek in which Joe found you?"

"Well, he carried me on his back from the pond to the river. It took him two days to do it, for I hindered him all I could by catching hold of every limb and bush that came within my reach. When we got to the river, Matt loaded me to the water's edge with his household goods (you will know how I shrank from contact with them when I tell you that