Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/352

 there wouldn't be no guidin' for none of us to do. So he's took to the woods, and he robs every camp he can find, if there don't happen to be any body around to watch it. Leastwise we lay it to him, 'cause we know he's around here, and some of us thought that we'd like to take a peep at his shanty, if he's got one."

"We can't tell you where his shanty is," said Joe, "but we can show you where Matt and his boys were not ten minutes ago. He stole my canvas canoe and gave me a long chase through the woods. He promised that if he could get hold of me, he would wear a hickory out over my back."

"Sho!" exclaimed the guide. "What for?"

Joe's story was a long one, for in order to make the guide understand how he and his companions had incurred the enmity of the vindictive squatter, it was necessary that he should go back to the time when Matt and his family first made their appearance in Mount Airy. He described the fight between them and the constable and his posse, the