Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/379

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CHAPTER XVIII.

AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.


MR. SWAN and his young friends at once went ashore and set out for the hotel, the former to tell "the boys" that he had struck the trail of the man they most wanted to see, and Joe and his companions to examine the rods the landlord had in his possession, and to engage some one who was handy with tools to repair the skiff. They left me lying in my usual place on the stern locker, with Jim and the two bait-rods for company.

I had heard so much about Indian Lake and its hotels that I had pictured them out to myself, and thought I could tell pretty near how they looked; but nevertheless I was greatly surprised by what I saw around me. I told myself that the boy who could not find there what he wanted in the way of recreation, must