“Now, don’t switch off on that track, for if you do I’ll not listen to another word,” said Tom, angrily; and to show that he was in earnest he pushed his canoe away from the beach and turned the bow up the lake.
Then there was a short pause, during which Matt stood with his hands on his hips and his eyes fastened searchingly upon the boy’s face. It was beginning to dawn upon him that Tom was a trifle more independent than he had been.
“Say,” he growled at last. “What trick are you up to?”
“Why, what makes you think I am up to any trick?” asked Tom, innocently. “You said you wanted me to buy those guns for fifty dollars; and I say I will be ready to do it to-morrow morning. Is there any trick about that?”
“You’re goin’ to bring a constable with you,” Matt almost shouted. The thought popped into his head suddenly, and made him dance with rage.
“I shall come alone,” was the quiet reply.
“There ain’t no one constable in the Injun Lake country that can take me up,” Matt went on, furiously. “But if you do bring one on ’em with you, I’ll tell him that you was knowin’ to my stealin’ of that canvas canoe.”
“What’s the use of lashing yourself into a tempest for nothing?” said Tom, coolly. “You can hide in the bushes, and if you see any one with me you need not come out. I’ll be here at seven o’clock, and when you put those two guns into my canoe I will put fifty dollars in greenbacks into your hand. Is that the understanding?”
“Don’t you want me to hide ’em a piece back in the bresh so’t you can say that you found ’em?” inquired Matt, in rather more civil tones.
“No; I want you to put them into my canoe. I will find them there, won’t I? Is it a bargain or not?”
“It’s a bargain. I’ll be here; an’ if you ain’t—”
The squatter did not say what he would do if Tom failed to appear at the appointed hour, for the latter did not linger to listen to him. He put his canoe in motion again and pulled toward the point above, while Matt backed up to a log and took his pipe from his pocket.
“Something’s wrong somewheres,” he told himself, as he filled up for a smoke. “He didn’t act that-a-way t’other day, but was as humble as a hound purp that had jest been licked. Now, what’s in the wind, do you reckon? Has he been snoopin’ round in the woods an’ found them six—whoop!”