CHAPTER XIII
THE TRICK MULE
Neale O'Neil was wiser than most boys of his age. Perhaps having oncelived in a circus had something to do with it. At any rate, among thethings he had learned was to think first and speak afterward. And hedecided to put this into practice now. He was doing a deal of thinkingabout the ring he had seen roll over the deck to be so quickly, almostsecretively, picked up by Hank Dayton. But of it Neale said nothing tothe mule driver nor to those aboard the _Bluebird_.
Walking about on the upper deck and looking down the towpath towardHank, who was bringing the mules from their sylvan stable to feed them,Neale heard Ruth call:
"How's the weather up there?"
"Glorious!" cried the boy. "It's going to be a dandy day."
"That's great!" exclaimed Ruth. "Come on, children!" she called."Everybody up! The mules are up and we must be up too," she went on,paraphrasing a little verse in the school reader.
"Did any of the mules fall into the canal?" asked Dot, as she made hasteto look at her "Alice-doll," who had dried satisfactorily during thenight.
"'Course not! Why should a mule fall into the canal?" asked Tess.
"Well, they might. My doll did," went on the smallest Corner House girl."But, anyhow, I'm glad they didn't."
"Yes, so am I," remarked Mr. Howbridge, as they all gathered around thebreakfast table, which Mrs. MacCall had set, singing the while someScotch song containing many new and strange words.
"Well, shall we travel on?" asked the lawyer, when the meal was over andHank was hitching the mules to the tow-rope, the animals and theirdriver having had a satisfying meal.
"Oh, yes, let's go on!" urged Agnes. "I'm crazy to go through one of thelocks."
"Will there be any trouble about getting the houseboat through?" askedRuth of her guardian. "She is a pretty big craft!"
"But not as long as many of the canal boats, though a trifle wider, or'of more beam,' as a sailor would say," he remarked. "No, the locks arelarge enough to let us through. But tell me, do you find this method oftravel too slow?" he went on. "I know you young folks like rapid motion,and this may bore you," and he glanced quickly at Ruth.
"Oh, not at all," she hastened to say. "I love it. The mules are so calmand peaceful."
Just then one of the animals let out a terrific hee-haw and Agnes,covering her ears with her hands, laughed at her sister.
"That's just as good as a honk-honk horn on an auto!" exclaimed Tess.
"Calm and peaceful!" tittered Agnes. "How do you like that, Ruth?"
"I don't mind it at all," was the calm answer. "It blends in well withthe environment, and it's much better than the shriek of a locomotivewhistle."
"Bravo, Minerva!" cried Mr. Howbridge. "You should have been a lawyer. Ishall call you Portia for a change."
"Don't, please!" she begged. "You have enough nicknames for me now."
"Very well then, we'll stick to the old ones. And, meanwhile, if you areall ready I'll give the word to Hank to start his mules. There is nohurry on this trip, as the man to whom I am to deliver this boat has nospecial need for it. But we may as well travel on."
"I'll be glad when I can start the gasoline motor," remarked Neale.
"Which will be as soon as we get off the canal and into the river," saidthe lawyer. "I'd use the motor now, only the canal company won't permitit on account of the wash of the propeller tearing away the banks."
The tow-line tauted as the mules leaned forward in their collars, andonce more the _Bluebird_ was under way.
Life aboard the houseboat was simple and easy, as it was intended to be.There was little housework to do, and it was soon over, and all thatremained was to sit on deck and watch the ever-changing scenery. Thechanges were not too rapid, either, for a boat towed on a canal does notprogress very fast.
"It's like a moving picture, isn't it?" remarked Agnes. "It puts me inmind of some scenes in foreign countries--rural scenes, I mean."
"Only the moving pictures move so much faster," returned Ruth, with asmile. "They show you hundreds of miles in a few minutes."
"Gracious, I wouldn't want to ride as fast as that," exclaimed Tess."We'd fall off or blow away sure!"
It just suited the Corner House girls, though, and Neale extracted fullenjoyment from it, though, truth to tell, he was rather worried in hismind. One matter was the finding of his father, and the other was asuspicion concerning Hank and the ring.
This was a suspicion which, as yet, Neale hardly admitted to himselfvery plainly. He wanted to watch the mule driver for a time yet.
"It may not have been one of Ruth's rings, to begin with," reasonedNeale. "And, if it is, I don't believe Hank had anything to do withtaking it, though he may know who did. I've got to keep on the watch!"
His meditations were interrupted, as he sat on the deck of the boat, byhearing Hank cry:
"Lock! Lock!"
That meant the boat was approaching one of the devices by which canalcraft are taken over hills. A canal is, of course, a stream on a level.It does not run like a river. In fact, it is just like a big ditch.
But as a canal winds over the country it comes to hills, and to get upor down these, two methods are employed. One is what is called aninclined plane.
The canal comes to the foot of a hill and stops. There a sort of bigcradle is let down into the water, the boat is floated into the cradle,and then boat, cradle and all are pulled up over the hill on a sort ofrailroad track, a turbine water wheel usually furnishing the power. Onceover the brow of the hill the cradle and boat slide down into the wateragain and the journey is resumed.
The other means of getting a canal boat over a hill is by means of alock. When the waterway is stopped in its level progress by reaching ahill, a square place is excavated and lined with rocks so as to form awater-tight basin, the open end being closed by big, wooden gates.
The _Bluebird_ was now approaching one of these locks, where it was tobe raised from a low to a higher level. While Hank managed the mules,Neale steered the boat into the stone-lined basin. Then the big gateswere closed behind the craft, and the mules, being unhitched, were sentforward to begin towing again when the boat should have been lifted.
"Now we can watch!" said Dot as she and Tess took their places at therailing. Going through canal locks was a novelty for them, as there wereno locks near Milton, though the canal ran through the town.
Once the _Bluebird_ was locked within the small stone-lined basin, waterwas admitted to it through gates at the other and higher end. Thesegates kept the body of water on the higher level from pouring into thelower part of the canal. Faster and faster the water rushed in as thelock keeper opened more valves in the big gates. The water foamed andhissed all around the boat.
"Oh, we're going up!" cried Dot. "Look, we're rising!"
"Just like in an elevator!" added Tess.
And, indeed, that is just what it was like. The water lifted the_Bluebird_ up higher and higher. As soon as the water had raised it tothe upper level, the other gates were opened, and the _Bluebird_ movedslowly out of the lock, having been raised about fifteen feet, from alower to a higher level. Going from a higher to a lower is just thereverse of this. Sometimes a hill is so high that three sets of locksare necessary to get a boat up or down.
Once more the mules were hitched to the tow-line, and started off. Asthe boat left the lock another one came in, which was to be lowered. Thechildren watched this as long as they could, and then turned theirattention to new scenes.
It was toward the close of the afternoon, during which nothing excitinghad happened, except that Tess nearly fell overboard while leaning toofar across the rail to see something in the water, that Neale, lookingforward toward the mules and their driver, saw a man leading a loneanimal come out of a shanty along the towpath and begin to talk to Hank.
Hank halted his team, and the _Bluebird_ slowly came to a stop. Mr.Howbridge, who was talking to Ruth and Agnes, looked up from a book ofaccounts he was going over with them and in
quired:
"What's the matter?"
"Oh, Hank has met a friend, I imagine," ventured Neale. "It's a man witha lone mule."
"Well, he shouldn't stop just to have a friendly talk," objected thelawyer. "We aren't hiring him for that. Give him a call, Neale, and seewhat he means."
But before this could be done Hank turned, and, making a megaphone ofhis hands, called:
"Say, do you folks want to buy a good mule cheap?"
"Buy a mule," repeated the lawyer, somewhat puzzled.
"Yes. This man has one to sell, and it might be a good plan for us tohave an extra one."
"I never thought of that," said the lawyer. "It might be a good plan.Let's go up and see about it, Neale."
"Let's all go," proposed Agnes. "It will rest us to walk along thetowpath."
The _Bluebird_ was near shore and there was no difficulty in getting tothe path. Then all save Mrs. MacCall, who preferred to remain on board,walked up toward the two men and the three mules.
The man who had stopped Hank was a rough-looking character, but manytowpath men were that, and little was thought of it at the time.
"Do you folks want to buy a good mule?" he asked. "I'll sell him cheap,"he went on. "I had a team, but the other died on me."
"I'm not much of an authority on mules," said Mr. Howbridge slowly."What do you say, Neale? Would you advise purchasing this animal if heis a bargain?"
Neale did not answer. He was carefully looking at the mule, which stoodnear the other two.
"Where'd you get this mule?" asked Neale quickly, looking at thestranger.
"Oh, I've had him a good while. He's one of a team, but I sold my boatand--"
"This mule never towed a boat!" said the boy quickly.
"What makes you say that?" demanded the man in an angry voice.
"Because I know," went on Neale. "This is a trick mule, and, unless I'mgreatly mistaken, he used to be in my uncle's circus!"