eir friend the schoolmaster dwelt, as being less likely to be known
to the men or to provoke further inquiry.

'I thought somebody had been robbing and ill-using you, might be,' said
the man. 'That's all. Good day.'

Returning his salute and feeling greatly relieved by his departure,
Nell looked after him as he mounted one of the horses, and the boat
went on. It had not gone very far, when it stopped again, and she saw
the men beckoning to her.

'Did you call to me?' said Nell, running up to them.

'You may go with us if you like,' replied one of those in the boat.
'We're going to the same place.'

The child hesitated for a moment. Thinking, as she had thought with
great trepidation more than once before, that the men whom she had seen
with her grandfather might, perhaps, in their eagerness for the booty,
follow them, and regaining their influence over him, set hers at
nought; and that if they went with these men, all traces of them must
surely be lost at that spot; determined to accept the offer. The boat
came close to the bank again, and before she had had any more time for
consideration, she and her grandfather were on board, and gliding
smoothly down the canal.

The sun shone pleasantly on the bright water, which was sometimes
shaded by trees, and sometimes open to a wide extent of country,
intersected by running streams, and rich with wooded hills, cultivated
land, and sheltered farms. Now and then, a village with its modest
spire, thatched roofs, and gable-ends, would peep out from among the
trees; and, more than once, a distant town, with great church towers
looming through its smoke, and high factories or workshops rising above
the mass of houses, would come in view, and, by the length of time it
lingered in the distance, show them how slowly they travelled. Their
way lay, for the most part, through the low grounds, and open plains;
and except these distant places, and occasionally some men working in
the fields, or lounging on the bridges under which they passed, to see
them creep along, nothing encroached on their monotonous and secluded
track.

Nell was rather disheartened, when they stopped at a kind of wharf late
in the afternoon, to learn from one of the men that they would not
reach their place of destination until next day, and that, if she had
no provision with her, she had better buy it there. She had but a few
pence, having already bargained with them for some bread, but even of
these