[CHAPTER IV.]
CAPTAIN BILL BUYS A HORSE.
It was a cold, rainy, and impenetrably dark night on the tow-path. Here and there was a lantern, which, when passed, seemed only to deepen the darkness.
Now and then the swish of a tow-line in the water was heard, or the harsh scraping of a boat against another boat or against the timbers of the wharf. Men shouted hoarsely to one another or to their beasts.
Along the muddy tow-path a pair of drenched and miserable horses were urged by a drenched and miserable boy. To this boy, who was Joe Gaston, it was all like some hideous dream.
He moved under a constant strain of fear upon nerves already overwrought, and with incessant physical effort on the part of a body already worn to the verge of exhaustion.
He found relief for a few moments while he ate his supper. The boat was waiting below a lock. The captain, who had already eaten, went out on the tow-path, and Joe’s only companion at the table was Blixey.
When the two had eaten all that was before them, Blixey said: “Well, young un, had enough, eh?”
“No,” replied Joe, “I haven’t. I’m hungry yet.”
Blixey rose, and climbed far enough up the cabin stairs to put his head out and make sure that Captain Bill was not on deck. Then he came back, and opening a little cupboard under the dish shelves, took out half a loaf of bread and some cold ham, and set it before the boy.