of grass, as they were when he had come down the
canal, and the horse strained along the path, sticking his toes into it
just as he had done ten years ago; and when they came to a dangerous
place Ulick saw the man who was driving the horse take hold of his
tail, just as he had seen him do ten years ago.

"I think those are the rushes, only there are no trees, and the bank
does not seem so high." And then he said as the bargeman was going to
stop his horse, "No, I am wrong. It isn't there."

They went on a few miles further, and the same thing happened again. At
last he said, "Now I am sure it is there."

And the bargeman called to the man who was driving the horse and
stopped him, and Ulick jumped from the boat to the bank.

"That was a big leap you took," said a small boy who was standing on
the bank. "It is well you didn't fall in."

"Why did you say that?" said Ulick, "is your mother telling you not to
go down to the canal?"

"Look at the frog! he's going to jump into the water," said the little
boy.

He was the same age as Ulick was when Ulick ran away, and he was
dressed in the same little trousers and little boots and socks, and he
had a little grey cap. Ulick's hair had grown darker now, but it had
been as fair and as curly as this little boy's, and he asked him if his
mother forbade him to go down to the canal.

"Are you a bargeman? Do you steer the barge or do you drive the horse?"

"I'll tell you about the barge if you'll tell me about your mother.
Does she tell you not to come down to the canal?"

The boy turned away his head and nodded it.

"Does she beat you if she catches you here?"

"Oh, no, mother never beats me."

"Is she kind to you?"

"Yes, she's very kind, she lives up there, and there's a garden to our
cottage, and the name 'Hill Cottage' is painted up on the gate post."

"Now," said Ulick, "tell me your name."

"My name is Ulick."

"Ulick! And what's your other name?"

"Ulick Burke."

"Ulick Burke!" said the big Ulick. "Well, my name is the same. And I
used to live at Hill Cottage too."

The boy did not answer.

"Whom do you live with?"

"I live with mother."

"And what's her name?"

"Well, Burke is her name," said the boy.

"But her front name?"

"Catherine."

"And where's your father?"

"Oh, father's a soldier; he's away."

"But my father was a soldier too, and I used to live in that cottage."

"And where have you been ever since?"

"Oh," he said, "I've