Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/54

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50
JOE WAYRING AT HOME.

and arrows with them instead of guns. A good many of the young archers were very fine shots with these novel weapons, and there were about half a dozen of them, of whom Joe and Roy made two, who stood ready at any time to meet an equal number of riflemen at the trap, the archers shooting at twelve yards rise and the riflemen at twenty.

On the morning of July 4, 18—, a large party of newly-arrived visitors were seated on the wide veranda of the Mount Airy House, enjoying the refreshing breeze that came to them from over the lake, and congratulating themselves on having left the city, with all its dust, heat and noise, behind them for one good long month at least. Some of these visitors had never been there before, and consequently they knew little or nothing about the village and its inhabitants. Among these were Tom Bigden and his two cousins, Ralph and Loren Farnsworth, who were leaning over the railing, fanning their flushed faces with their hats, and wondering how in the world they were going to put in four weeks' time in that desolate town. They were city boys, any body