Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/408

 to have it understood where they shall come together again."

"That's a fact," assented the owner of the Winchester. "I have been among those copper-colored gentlemen, when I had nothing to depend on except the speed of my pony; but how does it come that you are so well posted? Have you ever hunted on the plains?"

"No, sir; but I have the promise that I shall some day enjoy that pleasure," answered Joe. "My uncle told me about it. He's been there often. Now the question in my mind is: Did Matt, before his family scattered like so many quails, appoint a place of meeting? If he did, that's where we ought to go."

"Young man, you are a sharp one," said the gentleman, admiringly. "What do you say, Swan?"

The guide appealed to could not say any thing, and neither could the others. Unfortunately they did not know that the squatter had made friends with the vagabonds living in the vicinity of the State hatchery. If they had known it, that was the place they would have started for without loss of time, but they