e 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 muttered something that I could not
understand, and I got away as quickly as possible."

"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."

[TO BE CONTINUED.]