Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/99

 how they could manage to get on without them.

Into this settlement there came one day an unkempt man, with a red nose and a very forbidding face, who brought with him a large punt, into which he had crowded all his worldly treasures, including his wife and two stalwart sons, not one of whom was one whit more prepossessing than the husband and father. Without saying a word to any body the red-nosed man, who answered to the name of Matt Coyle, took possession of a piece of ground that had been cleared but not fenced in, and began the erection of a shanty with boards which formed a part of the punt's cargo. While he and his sons were at work Mr. Hastings, who was one of the village trustees, rode by. He did not at all 1ike the appearance of the new-comers, but he had nothing to say to them. There was room for more guides and boatmen, and Matt and his family might turn out better than they looked. If they proved to be honest, industrious people who were willing to work for a living, Mr. Hastings was perfectly willing that they should stay, and he knew