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Carnages lined the banks on either side for a considerable distance, and as usual the doctor's party assembled in great force on Willow Point. The towing-path was jealously kept clear for the schoolboys, who trooped down in force the moment after lunch, and took possession of their places along the course. Some crowded at the starting-point.
It stands high, and from it the undulating country may be seen stretching away into the gray of distance, with hills and woods, and stains of smoke which mark the sites of villages. Every now and then a horse comes staggering along the towing-path, trailing a sleepy barge filled with merchandise. A quiet, indolent life these bargemen lead in the summer days.
The fast, brisk walk upon the towing-path, between that time and breakfast, when every vein and artery seemed to tingle with health; the exquisite beauty of the opening day, when light came gleaming off from everything; the lazy motion of the boat, when one lay idly on the deck, looking through, rather than at, the deep blue sky; the gliding on at night, so noiselessly, past frowning hills, sullen with dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red, burning spot high up, where unseen men lay crouching round a fire; the shining out of the bright stars undisturbed by noise of wheels or steam, or any other sound than the limpid rippling of the water as the boat went on: all these were pure delights.
The river, deep and sluggish for the most part, was fringed with willows on the side opposite the towing-path. At the bridge, just where the ford used to be, it was broken into shallows, over which the stream slipped faster, and here and there there were not above two or three feet of water, so that sometimes the barges were almost aground. The farmhouse was not quite ideal.
Ahead of them, the river was landlocked by a wooded hill; and, also facing them, was an old round tower on the towing-path, above which the round moon shown in an empty indigo sky. "Stop a minute, Israfil," said the Boy, "and turn your head, Who does it make you think of?" "Old Chrome," the Tenor answered, looking over his shoulder. "It is perfect."
At once the other men ran to his assistance, and, when James and his mules were placed safely on the towing-path, he had to stand a considerable amount of good-humoured chaffing. Amos had been engaged in teaching before he became the captain of a canal boat, and when he found how much James knew, he spoke very seriously to him about his future prospects.
She had something of the utmost importance to tell him. A matter of life and death. With one awful thought in his mind, he placed his time at her disposal. For what romantic, desperate or tragic reason she appointed the night meeting at the end of the chestnut avenue where the towing-path turns into regions of desolate quietude, he could not tell.
She was apparently floating down with the stream, and the fact that a horse was proceeding along the towing-path a little way ahead was not noticed, as the rope was slack and was trailing under water. The boys, therefore, as they were rowing against stream, steered their boat to pass inside of her.
One May evening he was wandering by himself along the towing-path which skirts the upper river, a prey to many thoughts, to forebodings about the schools which were to begin in three weeks, and to speculations as to how his mother would take the news of the second class, which he himself felt to be inevitable.
"What's more, if anyone comes an' arsks a question, you ha'n't seen us." "Neither fur nor feather of ye," said the young man, and grinned. She cast a look at the boy; another up and down the towing-path. "Got such a thing as a cake o' soap hereabouts? You wouldn', I suppose " and here she sighed impatiently. "I 'ave, though. Always keeps a bit in my trouser pocket." He produced it with pride.
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