“But you said you would have to go to Mount Airy after the money.”
“I have seen my cousins since then, and I find that it will not be necessary for me to go home.”
“Have you got the money?” said Matt, eagerly.
Tom winked first one eye and then the other.
“There, now. I knowed you had it all the time; but you kind of thought you could beat me in some way or other, an’ that you could get out of buyin’ them guns. But you know better now, don’t you? I want to be friends with you, but I tell you, pine-plank, that I won’t stand no nonsense. I’ll tell on you sure, if you—”
“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.