Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/307

 I have had him a month. A two pound trout will give him more than he wants to do."

What else Joe was going to say about me I never knew; for just then the supper bell rang, and he made all haste to put me back in my case. After a hasty toilet he bolted out of the room with the same noise and racket he made when he came in, and I was at liberty to continue my conversation with the canvas canoe. As usual, that useful and talkative individual spoke first.

"What is your opinion of a boy who can deliberately persecute a fellow like that?" said he.

"He ought to receive the same punishment you want meted out to Matt Coyle; he ought to be abolished," I replied. "But Joe doesn't appear to think much of me."

"Don't you worry about that," said the canoe, encouragingly. "You will not wonder at it when you have made the acquaintance of his bait-rod—if you ever do; I mean the one that was stolen from him. He's a big heavy fellow, and strong enough to jerk a four pound