Royal found, that although it had been so difficult for his father to push the boat by the head, yet that he himself could draw it pretty easily with the chain. So he walked along through the water towards the shore, drawing the boat after him. In a few minutes, he had the bows safely drawn up upon the sand.
His father then stepped out upon the beach, telling Lucy to sit still. He took his stand back a little, where the gravel was dry, while Royal remained just in the edge of the water.
“Now, Royal,” said his father, “you may see if you can draw Lucy up the river. Keep just far enough from the shore to make the water half knee deep.”
Royal was much pleased with this arrangement; and as for Lucy, she was delighted. She sat upon the middle seat, balancing herself exactly, so as not to upset the boat; while Royal waded along, drawing her through the water, which curled and rippled on each side.
“O Lucy,” said Royal, stopping to look round, “we can play this is a canal-boat, and that I am the horse.”
“So we can,” said Lucy; and she began immediately to chirup to him, to make him go faster.
Royal dragged the boat along, while his father walked upon the shore. Presently they came to a place where the water began to be deeper, and the bottom more sandy; and Royal perceived that the current was not nearly as rapid. He looked up to see how the water appeared before him, and he found that it was smooth and glassy, instead of being rippled and rough, as it had been below. His father noticed this difference in the appearance of the water too; and he told Royal that it was a sign that there was no current there. So he directed Royal to come in to the shore, and they would all get in again.
Royal accordingly drew the boat up to the shore, and they all got in. Now they found that they could paddle the boat very easily. It glided over the smooth water with a very gentle and pleasant motion. Lucy looked over the side, and watched the change in the sandy bottom far below. Sometimes she saw a great log lying across the bed of the stream, then a rock, half imbedded in the sand, and next a school of little fishes. The land, too, looked beautiful on each side, as they passed along. There were willows here lining the bank, and now and then a great elm, with branches drooping over almost into the water.
After sailing about in this smooth water a little while, their father said that it was time for them to go home; and so he brought the boat round, turning her head down the stream. After going down in that direction for a little while, Royal said,
“Why, father, you are going right upon the ripples again.”