Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/389

 down the last time we drove him away from here."

"You missed it by not putting him in jail," said Roy.

"That's just what we wanted to do," answered the guide. "But when we come to talk to some of the guests about it—there was lawyers among them, you know—we found that we didn't have any evidence that would convict him. We suspected him, but we could not prove any thing."

"You'll not be troubled in that way this time," Arthur remarked. "You'll have the guns for evidence."

"Don't fool yourself," said the guide. "Do you suppose that they will find that three hundred dollar scatter-gun and that fifty dollar rifle when they find Matt Coyle that is, if they do find him? Not by a great sight. Them things is safe hid in the woods. Matt'll sw'ar that he didn't hook 'em, and there ain't a living man that can sw'ar that he did. The only thing they can do is to burn him out of house and home, like we did last time, and force him to go off somewhere and steal a new outfit."