Harry Castlemon

“ I didn't take them guns 'cause I wanted 'em, but jest to drive them city sportsmen away from here. They ain't goin' to bring fine things into these woods when they know that they stand a chance of losin' 'em. An' if there ain't no guests to come here, what's the guides an' landlords goin' to do to make a livin'?"
"I've made a heap of money for you, pap, by sellin' them fish-poles an' takin' back the scatter-gun you hooked outen one of them camps, an' you ain't never give me nothin' for it," said Jake. ”

“ We want to do all the damage we can without bein' ketched at it."
"All I've made by this night's work is a prod in the ribs that will stay with me for a month," groaned Jake, who, as I afterwards learned, had received several sharp thrusts from the blade of Roy Sheldon's oar. "Pap, you spiled our chances of gettin' that skiff for a house-boat when you told us to run into her. She's at the bottom of the pond by this time. Didn' t you hear the planks rippin' and crackin' when we struck her?"
"Wal, then, what did they put theirselves in our way for?" demanded Matt, angrily. ”

“ Catching up a long pole that had probably been used for the same purpose before, the squatter went back to the stream through which we had just passed, and carefully straightened up all the bushes that had been bent down by the weight of the scow.
"There!" said Matt, when he had finished his task, "Swan an' some more of them guides will be along this way directly, but I bet they won't see nothin' from the creek to tell 'em that we are in here. Of course the bresh don't stand up squar', like it oughter, an' the bark's rubbed off in places ”

“ Now there's that skiff of their'n," added Matt, reflectively. "She's better'n the scow, 'cause she's got oars instead of paddles, an' can get around faster."
"An' she's big enough to carry us an' our plunder, an' she's got a tent, so't we wouldn't have to go ashore to camp when we wanted to stop for the night," said Sam. "But we'd have to steer clear of the guides, 'cause they all know her."
"We've got to steer clear of them anyhow, ain't we?" demanded Matt. "I reckon we'd best take her for a house-boat, an' use the canvas canoe to go a prospectin' for camps." ”

“ I would have worked hard an' faithful for 'em if they had give me a chance to make an honest livin'; but they wouldn't do it, 'cause I didn't have no good clothes to wear, an' now they see what they have gained by their meanness. ”