Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/407

 "And I will add a hundred to it," cried the owner of the stolen Winchester.

The guides did not need these extra inducements, for they had more at stake than these two strangers who spent two months out of every twelve in the woods, and the rest of the year in the city, following some lucrative business or profession. The guides' bread and butter depended upon their exertions, and they were no whit more anxious to effect Matt's capture now, than they were before the two hundred dollars reward had been offered them. At a word from Mr. Swan they separated and began circling around the lean-to to find the trail; but this did not take up two minutes of their time. They found five trails; and a short examination of them showed that they all led away in different directions.

"That trick is borrowed from the plains Indians," said Joe, when Mr. Swan announced this fact to his employer. "Whenever the hostiles find themselves hard pressed by the troops, they break up into little bands, and start off toward different points of the compass; but before they separate, they take care