Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/356

 "It's too late to do any thing to-night," said he, at length. "I reckon you boys have got something good to eat in them lockers? I thought so. Well, suppose we go ashore and camp."

Joe and his friends readily agreed to this proposition. They had spent five days and nights in their boat, and they longed fora good, sound sleep on a bed of balsam-boughs, with the spreading branches of some friendly pine for shelter instead of their water-proof tent. They were not afraid to go into camp on shore now that they had the stalwart guide for company. Matt and his boys would not be likely to show themselves as long as they knew that he was with them; but the trouble was, they didn't know it, although they were in plain sight when the boys built their fire on the bank, and laid their plans to pay them a visit before morning.