Harry Castlemon

“ Now I'll tell you what I'll do with you consarnin' them guns that you've got hid in the bresh," continued Rube. "You dassent sell 'em or give 'em back to the men you stole 'em from, 'cause if you try it you will be took up; but I can do it for you, an' they won't never suspicion any thing agin me. I can take 'em up to Hanson to-day an' get the hundred dollars cash money that has been promised for 'em. Say the word an' I'll do it, an' go halves with you. Fifty dollars is better than leavin' 'em out there in the woods to rust till they ain't good for nothing." ”

“ I've done a heap fur pap fust an' last, an' he ain't never give me nothin' fur it, 'ceptin' that ole canvas canoe I brung home to-day. I sold them poles that he stole from Joe Wayring an' his crowd down on Sherwin's pond, an' he never once said to me: 'Jakey, here' s a couple of dollars to buy you a pair of shoes agin winter comes.' Now I say that was mighty stingy in pap. He says them guns may stay where they be till they sp'ile, afore you or any body 'ceptin' himself shall make any money outen 'em. ”

“ He's gone on down the carry t'wards the 'atchery. Be goin' to let him have them boats an' guns, pap? Seems like 'twould be better to have the money than the things, 'cause we could use the money an' we can't use the boats an' guns."
"Now jest listen at the blockhead!" exclaimed Matt. "Do you reckon that if we give the things up to Rube we'd ever see a cent of the money? Do you think that 'cause he opened this shanty to us, an' told us to use his dishes to cook our grub with, that it's safe to trust him too fur? I don't. ”

“ I would be willin' to work hard an' faithful if they would only give me a chance to be a guide, but they won't do it, an' me an' the boys have set ourselves the job of bustin' up the hul business. We've done right smart of damage already, but we ain't through yet. ”

“ But if we give him the guns, then he'll bring the constable here arter me, an' he'll get two hundred dollars fur it. Understand? I don't b'lieye that every body up to the lake is down on him like they be on me. If he was stopped from guidin', how does it come that he got to be watchman at the State hatchery? They wouldn't have no lazy, good-for-nothing feller there, I bet you. There's something mighty jubus about Rube, an' you want to be careful what you say an' do afore him, the hul on you. It won't do to trust nobody 'ceptin' ourselves. ”

“ They always had the fear of the law before their eyes, and lived in a state of anxiety and apprehension that could hardly have been endured by any one else.
"Here he is, all right an' tight," said Jake, laying hold of the rope with which he had tied me together and hauling me out of the thicket. "Ole Swan didn't go to pokin' around through the bresh like I was afeared he would. Come out here. You' ve got to help me steal some more bacon an' 'taters to-night." ”