“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!”
The bare thought that perhaps Tom had stumbled upon the valises, and intended paying him for the stolen guns out of the money that Matt regarded as his own, was enough to drive the man frantic. He sprang to his feet, jammed his pipe into his pocket, caught up his rifle, which he had placed behind a convenient tree, and dashed into the bushes.
“I wonder how Mr. Coyle feels by this time,” chuckled Tom, as he rounded the point and left the place of meeting out of sight. “My face must be an awful tell-tale, for Matt knew there was something up as soon as he looked at me. I expect to have a time with him to-morrow.”