"How would you do it?" asked the squatter, whose anger was all gone now.
"Simply by keeping my eyes open. You see those sail-boats anchored out there? Well, if one of them should happen to get adrift some stormy night, and come safely through the rapids into the pond and I should catch it, I wouldn't give it up until I got a big reward for saving it, would I? Then again, the pointers, setters and hounds that hunt in these fields and woods very often get lost, and their owners are willing to give almost any price to get them back. I tell you," exclaimed Tom, who knew by the gleam of intelligence that appeared on the swarthy faces before him that Matt and his family understood him perfectly, "I could make plenty of money by taking up my abode down there on the shore of that pond. If the things I have been talking about didn't happen of themselves, I'd make them happen—do you see? Well, good-by, and remember that we three boys had no hand in driving you out of Mount Airy."
So saying Tom walked off followed by his companions, while Matt and his family faced about and went toward their shanty.
