Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/326

 good part of the time, their property is left to the care of their wives and children. They can't stand guard day and night, and consequently it is no trouble at all for Matt to steal all he wants. He has a fine hiding-place now, and as he and his family make it a point to travel different routes every time they go away from the shanty or return to it, they don't leave much of a trail for the guides to follow, if they should make up their minds to hunt them up. Another thing," added the canoe, in a tone of anxiety, "Matt hates Joe and his chums for two reasons: First, because their fathers turned him out of Mount Airy, and second, because they gave him such a pelting with potatoes the last time they were up here. If he is here, he will try to have revenge for that; now you see if he doesn't."

The canvas canoe spoke confidently, and his words occasioned me no little uneasiness; but I was greatly relieved to learn from the conversation, to which I listened while the boys were eating supper, that they were fully alive to the dangers of the situation, and that they did not mean to let the squatter take them off their