“Josh wouldn’t mind,” put in Neale. “I used to ride him in the circus. Look!”
With a spring he reached the mule’s back, and then, at the word of command, Josh trotted up and down the towpath.
“Oh, do let me try!” begged Tess.
“Shall I put her on?” Neale asked, and, at a nod from Ruth, he lifted the little girl up on the mule’s back, and the delighted Tess was given a ride.
“Oh, it’s ever so much nicer’n Scalawag!” she cried as she was lifted down. “Try it, Dot!” Scalawag was the circus pony that Neale’s uncle had given to Tess and Dot.
“I will if I can hold my Alice-doll!” stipulated the youngest Kenway.
“Sure!” assented Neale, and the fun was continued.
“I wish I dared to do it!” exclaimed Agnes, with a look at Ruth. But Ruth shook her head, and Agnes, after a moment’s hesitation, yielded to Ruth’s sense of the fitness of things.
“Well, the question now arises,” said Mr. Howbridge, “what shall we do with this mule, which seems to have been stolen?”
“I say take him along with us,” answered Hank. “One of our critters might get hurt, and we’d have to lay up if we didn’t have an extra one.”