A minute later Neale found something on his hook. It was so large he had to play his catch.

"You win!" cried the lawyer, when the fish was brought on board. And he was right, for it was the largest catch made by any of them.

The fishing party had good luck, and a large enough supply was caught for a meal the next day. Hank cleaned them and put them in the ice box, for a refrigerator was among the fittings on the _Bluebird_.

Then, as night came on, Dot and Tess were put to bed, Dot insisting on having her "Alice-doll" placed near her bunk to dry. Hank retired to his secluded cot on the upper deck, the mules had been tethered in a sheltered grove of trees just off the towpath, and everything was made snug for the night.

"How do you like the trip so far?" asked Mr. Howbridge of Ruth and Agnes, as he sat in the main cabin, talking with them and Neale.

"It's just perfect!" exclaimed Agnes. "And I know we're going to like it more and more each day."

"Yes, it is a most novel way of spending the summer vacation," agreed Ruth, but there was little animation in her voice.

"Are you still mourning the loss of your jewelry?" asked the lawyer, noting her rather serious face.

Ruth nodded. "Mother's wedding ring was in that box," she said softly.

"You must not let it spoil your trip," her guardian continued. "I think there is a good chance of getting it back."

"Do you mean you think the police will catch those rough men who robbed us?" asked Ruth.

"Yes," answered the lawyer. "I told them they must spare no effort to locate the ruffians, and they have sent an alarm to all the neighboring towns and cities. Men of that type will not find it easy to dispose of the rings and pins, and they may have to carry them around with them for some time. I really believe you will get back your things."

"Oh, I hope so!" exclaimed Ruth. "It has been an awful shock."

"I would rather they had taken a much larger amount of jewelry than have harmed either you or Agnes," went on the guardian. "They were ruffians of the worst type, and would not have stopped at injuring a person to get what they wanted. But don't worry, we shall hear good news from the police, I am sure."

"I believe that, too," put in Neale. "I wish I was as sure of hearing good news of my father."

"That is going to be a little harder problem," said Mr. Howbridge.

"However, we are doing all we can. I am hoping your Uncle Bill will have had definite news of your father and of where he has settled since he came back from the Klondike. Your father would be most likely to communicate with your uncle first."

"I suppose so," agreed Neale. "But when shall we see Uncle Bill?"

"As I told you," went on the lawyer, "his circus will soon show at a town near which we shall pa.s.s in the boat. The younger children will probably want to go to the circus, and that will give me a good excuse for attending myself," the lawyer went on with a laugh, in which Ruth joined.

The night pa.s.sed quietly, though about twelve o'clock another boat came along and had to pa.s.s the _Bluebird_. As there is but one towpath along a ca.n.a.l, it is necessary when two boats meet, or when one pa.s.ses the other, for the tow-line of one to go under or over the tow-line of the second boat.

As the _Bluebird_ was tied to the sh.o.r.e it was needful, in this case, for the tow-line of the pa.s.sing boat to be lifted up over it, and when this was being done it awakened Ruth and Agnes. At first the girls were startled, but they settled back when the nature of the disturbance was known.

Dot half awakened and murmured something about some one trying to take her "Alice-doll," but Ruth soon quieted her.

Neale was awake early the next morning, and went on the upper deck for a breath of air before breakfast. He saw Hank emerge from the curtained-off place that had been arranged for the sleeping quarters of the mule driver.

"Well, do we start soon?" asked Hank, yawning and stretching.

"I think so," Neale answered, and then he saw Hank make a sudden dart for something that had evidently slipped from a hole in his pocket. It was something that rolled across the deck, something round, and shining like gold.

The mule driver made a dive for the object and caught it before it could roll off the deck, and Neale had a chance to see that it was a gold ring.

Without a word Hank picked it up and put it back in his pocket. Then, without a glance at the boy, he turned aside, and, making his way to the towpath, he began carrying the mules their morning feed.

Neale stood staring after him, and at the memory of the ring he became possessed of strange thoughts and wonderings.

CHAPTER XIII

THE TRICK MULE

Neale O'Neil was wiser than most boys of his age. Perhaps having once lived in a circus had something to do with it. At any rate, among the things he had learned was to think first and speak afterward. And he decided to put this into practice now. He was doing a deal of thinking about the ring he had seen roll over the deck to be so quickly, almost secretively, picked up by Hank Dayton. But of it Neale said nothing to the mule driver nor to those aboard the _Bluebird_.

Walking about on the upper deck and looking down the towpath toward Hank, who was bringing the mules from their sylvan stable to feed them, Neale heard Ruth call:

"How's the weather up there?"

"Glorious!" cried the boy. "It's going to be a dandy day."

"That's great!" exclaimed Ruth. "Come on, children!" she called.

"Everybody up! The mules are up and we must be up too," she went on, paraphrasing a little verse in the school reader.

"Did any of the mules fall into the ca.n.a.l?" asked Dot, as she made haste to look at her "Alice-doll," who had dried satisfactorily during the night.

"'Course not! Why should a mule fall into the ca.n.a.l?" asked Tess.

"Well, they might. My doll did," went on the smallest Corner House girl.

"But, anyhow, I'm glad they didn't."

"Yes, so am I," remarked Mr. Howbridge, as they all gathered around the breakfast table, which Mrs. MacCall had set, singing the while some Scotch song containing many new and strange words.

"Well, shall we travel on?" asked the lawyer, when the meal was over and Hank was. .h.i.tching the mules to the tow-rope, the animals and their driver having had a satisfying meal.

"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 ca.n.a.l 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!" t.i.ttered 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."