The policeman did not return, and the boys slept until an hour after
sunrise. They then rowed down the river to the steamboat landing,
where they left their boat in charge of a boatman and went to a hotel
for breakfast. The waiters were rather astonished at the tremendous
appetites displayed by the four sunburnt boys, and there is no doubt
that the landlord lost money that morning. After breakfast Harry went
to the express office, where he found a large water-proof India-rubber
bag, which the Department had sent in answer to his letter. At the
post-office were letters from home for all the boys, and a postal order
for ten dollars from Uncle John for the use of the expedition. Harry
had no idea that this money would be needed, but it subsequently proved
to be very useful.
Quite a quantity of stores were bought at Albany, for the voyage up
the Hudson had lasted longer than any one had supposed it would, and
the provisions were getting low. No unnecessary time was spent in
buying these stores, for a fair wind was blowing, and all the boys were
anxious to take advantage of it. By ten o’clock they were again afloat;
and soon after noon they reached Troy and entered the canal.
The canal basin was crowded with canal-boats, and to avoid accidents
the _Whitewing’s_ mast was taken down, and the oars were got out. Harry
knew that, in order to pass through the locks, it would be necessary to
pay toll, and to procure an order from the canal authorities directing
the lockmen to permit the _Whitewing_ to pass. The canal-boatmen, of
whom he made inquiries, told him where to find the office, which was
some little distance up the canal. When the office was reached, an
officer came and inspected the boat, asked a great many questions about
the cruise up the Hudson, and seemed to be very much interested in the
expedition. He told the boys that the water was low in the Champlain
Canal, and that the lockmen might not be willing to open the locks for
so small a boat; but that they could avoid all dispute by entering the
locks at the same time with some one of the many canal-boats that were
on their way north. He charged the _Whitewing_ the enormous sum of
twenty-five cents for tolls, and gave Harry an important-looking order
by which the lockmen were directed to allow the skiff _Whitewing_,
Captain Harry Wilson, to pass through all the locks on the canal.
[Illustration: GOING THROUGH THE LOCK.]
Thanking the pleasant officer, the boys pushed off. After they had
passed the place where the Champlain Canal branches off from the Erie
Canal, they were no longer troubled by a crowd of canal-boats, and were
able to set the sail again. Unluckily, the mast was just a little too
high to pass under the bridges, and at the first bridge which they met
they narrowly escaped a capsize--Jim succeeding in getting the mast
down only just in time to save it from striking the bridge. They had
hardly set sail again when another bridge came in sight, and they could
see just beyond it a third bridge. It would never do to stop at every
bridge and unship the mast; so Harry went on shore, borrowed a saw from
a cooper’s shop, and sawed six inches off from the top of the mast,
after which the bridges gave them no more trouble.
The boys were very much interested in passing the first lock. They
slipped into the lock behind a big canal-boat, which left just room
enough between its rudder and the gate for the _Whitewing_. When the
lockmen shut the gate behind the boat, and opened the sluices in the
upper gate, the water rose slowly and steadily. The sides of the lock
were so steep and black that the boys felt very much as if they were at
the bottom of a well; but it was not many minutes before the water had
risen so high that the upper gates were opened, and the big canal-boat
and its little follower were released.
Passing through a lock in a small boat, and in company with a
canal-boat, is not a perfectly safe thing to do; for if the ropes which
fasten the canal-boat should break--which they sometimes do--the water
rushing in through the sluices would force the canal-boat against the
lower gate, and crush the small boat like an egg-shell. It is therefore
best always to pass through a lock alone, or in company with other
small boats. The danger, however, is in reality very slight, and very
few accidents occur in canal locks.
The wind died away before sunset; and the boys having had only a light
lunch, which they ate on the boat, were glad to go ashore for supper.
They bought some corn from a farmer, and roasted it before the fire,
while some nice slices of ham were frying, and the coffee-pot was
boiling, and so prepared a supper which they greatly enjoyed. The moon
came up before they had finished the meal, and they felt strongly
tempted to make another attempt at night-work.
“I’ll tell you what we can do,” exclaimed Harry. “Instead of rowing,
let’s tow the boat. One fellow can tow while another steers, and the
rest can sleep in the boat.”
“All right,” said Joe. “I’m willing to be a mule. Only I’d like to know
where my harness is coming from.”
“We’ve got rope enough for that,” replied Harry. “I’ll take the first
turn, and tow for an hour, while Joe steers; then I’ll steer for an
hour, while Joe tows. Then the other watch will take charge of the boat
for two hours, and Joe and I will sleep.”
“If I’m to sleep on the bottom of that boat,” said Joe, “I want some
nice sharp stones to sleep on. I’m tired of sleeping on coffee-pots,
and want a change.”
A long tow-line was soon rigged on Harry’s shoulders in such a way that
it did not chafe him; a space in the bottom of the boat was cleared of
coffee-pots and other uncomfortable articles, and a pair of blankets
was spread on the bottom board, so as to make a comfortable bed,
which Tom and Jim hastened to occupy. Joe took the yoke-lines in his
hand, and called to Harry to go ahead. When Harry first tugged at the
tow-line, the boat seemed very heavy; but as soon as she was in motion,
Harry found that he could tow her as fast as he could walk, and without
any difficulty.
Had the locks been open and the canal-boats been out of the way, the
experiment of towing the _Whitewing_ at night would have been very
successful. As it happened, the locks were kept closed during the
night, because the water was low; and the canal-boats, not being able
to pass the locks, were moored to the tow-path. These boats gave Harry
and Joe a great deal of trouble. When one of them was met, Harry had to
unharness himself and toss the rope into the boat, and Joe had to get
out an oar and scull around the obstacle. This happened so often that
Tom and Jim got very little sleep; and long before it was time for them
to resume duty, a lock was reached, and Harry had to call all hands to
drag the boat around it.
This was a hard piece of work. First, all the heavy things had to be
taken out of the boat and carried around the lock. Then the boat had
to be dragged out of the canal on to the tow-path; hauled up a steep
ascent, and launched above the upper gate. It took a good half-hour to
pass the first of these closed locks, and when the boat was again ready
to start, it was time to change the watch.
Tom and Jim had managed to get only a few minutes’ sleep, but Harry and
Joe could not sleep a single wink. They had not “turned in” for more
than ten minutes, when another lock was reached. This involved a second
half-hour of hard work by all hands, and twenty minutes later three
more locks close together blocked the way. It was foolish to persevere
in dragging the boat around locks all night long; so, after getting her
out of the canal on the side opposite to the tow-path, the boys dragged
her behind some bushes, where the canal-boatmen could not see her at
daylight. They then spread their rubber blankets on the ground, and
prepared to sleep through the remaining four or five hours of darkness.
“Boys,” said Joe, suddenly, “does it hurt a fat woman to jump on her?”
“Don’t know,” answered Harry. “What do you ask for?”
“Oh, nothing,” said Joe. “Only when I was jumping from one canal-boat
to another while I was a mule, I landed awfully heavy on a fat woman
who was sleeping on deck.”
“What did she do?” asked Harry.
“She didn’t do anything. She just said ‘Go way wid you now, Pathrick,’
as if she was half asleep and dreaming. Pathrick must be in the habit
of jumping on her.”
“Well, if she likes it, that’s her business, not yours,” suggested
Harry. “Go to sleep, do!”
“I am going to sleep; but I don’t think we ought to spend our nights in
getting run down by steamboats and jumping on strange fat women. I’m
sure it isn’t right. There, you needn’t throw any more shoes at me! I
won’t say another word.”