“Oh, yes, let’s go on!” urged Agnes. “I’m crazy to go through one of the locks.”
“Will there be any trouble about getting the houseboat through?” asked Ruth of her guardian. “She is a pretty big craft!”
“But not as long as many of the canal boats, though a trifle wider, or ‘of more beam,’ as a sailor would say,” he remarked. “No, the locks are large enough to let us through. But tell me, do you find this method of travel too slow?” he went on. “I know you young folks like rapid motion, and this may bore you,” and he glanced quickly at Ruth.
“Oh, not at all,” she hastened to say. “I love it. The mules are so calm and peaceful.”
Just then one of the animals let out a terrific hee-haw and Agnes, covering her ears with her hands, laughed at her sister.
“That’s just as good as a honk-honk horn on an auto!” exclaimed Tess.
“Calm and peaceful!” tittered Agnes. “How do you like that, Ruth?”
“I don’t mind it at all,” was the calm answer. “It blends in well with the environment, and it’s much better than the shriek of a locomotive whistle.”
“Bravo, Minerva!” cried Mr. Howbridge. “You should have been a lawyer. I shall call you Portia for a change.”
“Don’t, please!” she begged. “You have enough nicknames for me now.”