"Perhaps I had better qualify that statement," went on Mr. Howbridge in his courtroom voice, "by saying that it is, at present, Minerva, on the ca.n.a.l. And a boat on the ca.n.a.l is a ca.n.a.l boat, is it not? I ask for a ruling," and he laughed as he slowed down to round a corner.

"I don't know anything about your legal phraseology," answered Ruth, entering into the bantering spirit of the occasion, "but I don't see why a boat on the ca.n.a.l becomes a ca.n.a.l boat any more than a cottage pudding becomes a house. The pudding has no cottage in it any more than a club sandwich has a club in it and--"

"I am completely at your mercy," Mr. Howbridge broke in with. "But, speaking seriously, this boat is on the ca.n.a.l, though strictly it is not a ca.n.a.l boat. You know what they are, I dare say?"

"I used to have to take Tess and Dot down to the towpath to let them watch them often enough when we first came here," said Ruth, with a laugh. "They used to think ca.n.a.l boats were the most wonderful objects in the world."

"Are we going on a ca.n.a.l boat?" asked Tess, overhearing some of the talk on the front seat. "Oh, are we?"

"Oh, I hope we are!" added Dot. "My Alice-doll just loves ca.n.a.l boats.

And wouldn't it be splendiferous, Tess, if we could have a little one all to ourselves and Scalawag or maybe Billy b.u.mps to pull it instead of a mule?"

"That would be a sight on the towpath!" cried Agnes. "But what is this about ca.n.a.l boats, Mr. Howbridge?"

"Has some one opened a soda water store on board one?" asked Dot suddenly.

"Not exactly. You'll see, presently. But I do want your opinion," he went on, speaking directly to Ruth now, "and it has to do with a boat on a ca.n.a.l."

"I still think you are joking," she told him. "And except for the fact that we have a ca.n.a.l here in Milton I should think you were trying to fool me."

"Impossible, Minerva," he replied, soberly enough.

As Ruth had said, Milton was located on both the ca.n.a.l and a river, the two streams, if a ca.n.a.l can be called a stream, joining at a certain point, so that boats could go from one to the other. Gentory River, which acted as a feeder to one section of the ca.n.a.l, also connected with Lake Macopic, a large body of water. The lake contained many islands.

The automobile skirted the ca.n.a.l by a street running parallel to it, and then Mr. Howbridge turned down a rather narrow street, on which were situated several stores that sold supplies to the ca.n.a.l boats, and brought his machine to a stop on the bank of the waterway beside the towpath, as it is called from the fact that the mules or horses towing the boats walk along that level stretch of highway bordering the ca.n.a.l and forming part of the ca.n.a.l property.

At this part of the ca.n.a.l, the stream widened and formed a sort of harbor for boats of various kinds. It was also a refitting station; a place where a captain might secure new mules, hire helpers, buy grain for his animals and also victuals for himself and family; for the owners of the ca.n.a.l boats often lived aboard them. This place, known locally as "Henderson's Cove," was headquarters for all the ca.n.a.l boatmen of the vicinity.

"Here is where we disembark, to use a nautical term," said Mr.

Howbridge, with a smile at the younger children.

"Is this where we take the boat?" asked Dot eagerly.

"You might call it that," said Mr. Howbridge, with another genial smile.

"And now, Martha, to show that I was in earnest, there is the craft in question," and he pointed to an old hulk of a ca.n.a.l boat, which had seen its best days.

"That! You want my opinion on _that_?" cried the girl, turning to her guardian in some surprise.

"Oh, no, the one next to it. The _Bluebird_."

Ruth changed her view, and saw a craft which brought to her lips exclamations of delight, no less than to the lips of her sisters. For it was not a "rusty ca.n.a.ler" they beheld, but a trim craft, a typical houseboat, with a deck covered with a green striped awning and set with willow chairs, and a cabin, the windows of which, through their draped curtains, gave hint of delights within.

"Oh, how lovely!" murmured Agnes.

"A dream!" whispered Ruth. "But why do you bring us here to show us this?" she asked with much interest.

"Because," began Mr. Howbridge, "I want to know if you would like--"

Just then an excited voice behind the little party burst out with:

"Oh, Mr. Howbridge, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Neale O'Neil came hurrying along the towpath, seemingly much excited.

"I hope that Supreme Court decision hasn't gone against me," Ruth heard her guardian murmur. "If that case is lost--"

And then Neale began to talk excitedly.

CHAPTER VI

MORE NEWS

"They told me at your office you had come here, Mr. Howbridge," said Neale. "And I hurried on as fast as I could."

"Did they send you here to find me?" asked the lawyer.

"Yes, sir."

"With any message?" As Mr. Howbridge asked this Ruth noticed that her guardian seemed very anxious about something.

"Yes, I have a message," went on Neale. "It's about--"

"The Jackson case?" interrupted the lawyer. "Is there a decision from the court and--"

"Oh, no, this isn't anything about the Jackson case or any other," Neale hastened to say. "It's about my father. And--"

Ruth and Agnes could not help gasping in surprise. As for the two smaller Kenway children all they had eyes for was the houseboat.

"Oh, your father!" repeated Mr. Howbridge. "Have you found him, Neale?"

There was very evident relief in the lawyer's tone.

"No, sir, I haven't found him. But you know you told me to come to you as soon as I had found that tramp mule driver again, and he's back in town once more. He just arrived at the lower lock with a grain boat, and I hurried to tell you."

"Yes, that was right, Neale," said Mr. Howbridge. "Excuse me, Miss Ruth," he went on, turning to the girl, "but I happen to be this young man's legal adviser, and while I planned this for a pleasure trip, it seems that business can not be kept out of it."

"Oh, we don't mind!" exclaimed Ruth, with a smile at Neale. "Of course we know about this, and we'd be so glad if you could help find Mr.

O'Neil."

"All right then, if the young ladies have no objection," said the lawyer, "we'll combine business with pleasure. Suppose we go aboard the _Bluebird_. I want Miss Ruth's opinion of her and--"

"I don't see why in the world you want _my_ opinion about this boat,"

said the puzzled girl. "I'm almost sure there's a joke in it, somewhere."

"No, Martha, no joke at all, I do a.s.sure you," answered her guardian.

"You'll understand presently. Now, Neale, you say this mule driver has come back?"

"Yes, sir. You know I went to you as soon as he gave me a hint that my father might have returned from Alaska, and you said to keep my eyes open for this man."