“I wish we had,” said Loren. “Of course we should have laid no claim to a share of the reward. We would have given our portion to the guides, and perhaps gained their good will by it. Every time we go to the hotel after supplies or mail I notice that they look at us cross-eyed, as if they thought we were good fellows to let alone.”
“And what makes them do it?” Tom almost shouted. “It is because Joe Wayring and his friends have gained Swan’s ears, and stuffed him full of lies about us. Ugh! How I should like to see that boy taken down—clear down; as far as any body can go by land. Say,” he added, after cooling off a little, “I am ready to give up the guns now. Matt Coyle may believe that Swan and his party found them at the time they found Wayring’s canoe, and he may not. At any rate, I do not like to take the risk of his jumping down on our camp some dark night and finding them here. So I propose that we get rid of them this very afternoon.”
The others agreeing, and a bountiful dinner having been disposed of, the three boys stepped into their canoes and set out for Indian Lake, taking the guns with them. A more astonished and delighted man than Mr. Hanson was when they walked into his office and laid the cases upon his desk Tom and his cousins had seldom seen; but the language in which he expressed his gratitude for the service they had rendered him almost made Tom wish that he had held fast to the guns a little longer. After asking when, and where, and how they had found them, and listening with the liveliest interest to their story, Mr. Hanson said—
“That villain Coyle shall be arrested to-morrow, if I have unemployed guides enough in my pay to find him. I should have been after him two weeks ago, if it hadn’t been for these guns; and now that I’ve got them I shall not fool with him a day longer. You have fairly earned the reward,” he added, opening his money drawer, “and I am authorized—”
“We don’t need money, Mr. Hanson, and we’ll not touch a cent of it,” interrupted Ralph. “Give it to the guides who lost their situations when the guns were stolen.”
“Swan and Bob Martin?” said Mr. Hanson. “Well, they are deserving men, and, although they did not lose their situations on account of the loss of the guns, because they were working for me and not for the sportsmen with whom they went into the woods, still I know they would be glad to have the money. I’ll hand it to them, if you say so, and tell them I do it at your request.”
“Thank you,” answered Ralph. “We shall be much obliged.”[obliged.”]
“Hold on a minute,” said Mr. Hanson, as the boys turned away from the desk. “The gentlemen who own these guns are not the only ones benefited by your lucky find. You have saved me the loss of a good deal of patronage, and I wish to make you some return for it. Whenever you want any supplies, go to the store-house and get them. They shan’t cost you a cent.”
Thanking the landlord for his liberality, Tom and his companions left the hotel and walked slowly through the grounds toward the beach.
“The place is almost deserted,” observed Tom. “There are not half as many guests here as there were the first time we saw the Sportsman’s Home.”