The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat

  CHAPTER V

  THE HOUSEBOAT

  Ruth stole a quick glance at the face of her guardian. There was asilence between them for a moment, broken only by the purr of thepowerful machine and the suction of the rubber tires on the street.Agnes, Dot and Tess were having a gay time behind the two figures on thefront seat.

  "A canal boat?" murmured Ruth, as if she had not heard aright.

  "Perhaps I had better qualify that statement," went on Mr. Howbridge inhis courtroom voice, "by saying that it is, at present, Minerva, on thecanal. And a boat on the canal is a canal boat, is it not? I ask for aruling," and he laughed as he slowed down to round a corner.

  "I don't know anything about your legal phraseology," answered Ruth,entering into the bantering spirit of the occasion, "but I don't see whya boat on the canal becomes a canal boat any more than a cottage puddingbecomes a house. The pudding has no cottage in it any more than a clubsandwich has a club in it and--"

  "I am completely at your mercy," Mr. Howbridge broke in with. "But,speaking seriously, this boat is on the canal, though strictly it is nota canal boat. You know what they are, I dare say?"

  "I used to have to take Tess and Dot down to the towpath to let themwatch them often enough when we first came here," said Ruth, with alaugh. "They used to think canal boats were the most wonderful objectsin the world."

  "Are we going on a canal boat?" asked Tess, overhearing some of the talkon the front seat. "Oh, are we?"

  "Oh, I hope we are!" added Dot. "My Alice-doll just loves canal boats.And wouldn't it be splendiferous, Tess, if we could have a little oneall to ourselves and Scalawag or maybe Billy Bumps to pull it instead ofa mule?"

  "That would be a sight on the towpath!" cried Agnes. "But what is thisabout canal boats, Mr. Howbridge?"

  "Has some one opened a soda water store on board one?" asked Dotsuddenly.

  "Not exactly. You'll see, presently. But I do want your opinion," hewent on, speaking directly to Ruth now, "and it has to do with a boat ona canal."

  "I still think you are joking," she told him. "And except for the factthat we have a canal here in Milton I should think you were trying tofool me."

  "Impossible, Minerva," he replied, soberly enough.

  As Ruth had said, Milton was located on both the canal and a river, thetwo streams, if a canal can be called a stream, joining at a certainpoint, so that boats could go from one to the other. Gentory River,which acted as a feeder to one section of the canal, also connected withLake Macopic, a large body of water. The lake contained many islands.

  The automobile skirted the canal by a street running parallel to it, andthen Mr. Howbridge turned down a rather narrow street, on which weresituated several stores that sold supplies to the canal boats, andbrought his machine to a stop on the bank of the waterway beside thetowpath, as it is called from the fact that the mules or horses towingthe boats walk along that level stretch of highway bordering the canaland forming part of the canal property.

  At this part of the canal, the stream widened and formed a sort ofharbor for boats of various kinds. It was also a refitting station; aplace where a captain might secure new mules, hire helpers, buy grainfor his animals and also victuals for himself and family; for the ownersof the canal boats often lived aboard them. This place, known locally as"Henderson's Cove," was headquarters for all the canal boatmen of thevicinity.

  "Here is where we disembark, to use a nautical term," said Mr.Howbridge, with a smile at the younger children.

  "Is this where we take the boat?" asked Dot eagerly.

  "You might call it that," said Mr. Howbridge, with another genial smile."And now, Martha, to show that I was in earnest, there is the craft inquestion," and he pointed to an old hulk of a canal boat, which had seenits best days.

  "That! You want my opinion on _that_?" cried the girl, turning to herguardian in some surprise.

  "Oh, no, the one next to it. The _Bluebird_."

  Ruth changed her view, and saw a craft which brought to her lipsexclamations of delight, no less than to the lips of her sisters. For itwas not a "rusty canaler" they beheld, but a trim craft, a typicalhouseboat, with a deck covered with a green striped awning and set withwillow chairs, and a cabin, the windows of which, through their drapedcurtains, gave hint of delights within.

  "Oh, how lovely!" murmured Agnes.

  "A dream!" whispered Ruth. "But why do you bring us here to show usthis?" she asked with much interest.

  "Because," began Mr. Howbridge, "I want to know if you would like--"

  Just then an excited voice behind the little party burst out with:

  "Oh, Mr. Howbridge, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Neale O'Neilcame hurrying along the towpath, seemingly much excited.

  "I hope that Supreme Court decision hasn't gone against me," Ruth heardher guardian murmur. "If that case is lost--"

  And then Neale began to talk excitedly.