Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/44

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
40
JOE WAYRING AT HOME.

handle was beginning to look threadbare, and that, to my mind, indicated that he had seen service.

"You wouldn't think that a few insignificant things like that could be the means of setting a whole village together by the ears, would you?" continued the canoe.

"Insignificant yourself," retorted the long bow; but I was glad to notice that he did not speak as if he were angry. The various articles I saw about me all cherished the most friendly feelings for one another, but when they had nothing to do, they were like a lot of idle boys—always trying to "get a joke" upon some of their number. "You never won a prize for Joe, did you? Well, I have. Go and win a race before you brag. You can't; you're much too clumsy. One of those Shadow or Rob Roy canoes out there on the lake would beat you out of sight in going a mile."

I cared nothing at all for this side sparring. I knew that I would have plenty of time in which to listen to it during the long winter months, when canoe, long bow and fly-rod would be laid up in ordinary, while skates,