Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/336

Rh and harder as Smith ran and shouted, and soon the frightened teamster was out of danger.

We learned next day that the place at which we stopped had been the scene of numerous robberies, and that people disliked it even in the daytime. It was well for us that the scared driver had no gun with him.

We lit our fire and made our beds beside it, just withdrawn from the tow-path, and were soon sleeping soundly. Once, about midnight, we were awakened by a passing canal-boat; but we slept again, with a kindly "Good-night, fellows," from the sleepy child on the back of the hind mule.

The dawn was just creeping over the hill when another sound disturbed us,—a loud, hard, cadenced roar, which was familiar. It was little, red-headed, Calliope-Tom, singing, his matins to the mules. In ten minutes we had all our goods in the boats, and we stalled up the tow-path to meet our friends. Little Calliope-Tom saw us afar off, and welcomed us with a long shout and a loud. Captain Tom Elder greeted us cordially; the serious cook and the runaway carpenter came up and gave a hand with our embarkation; and in a few minutes more we were sound asleep in our blankets on the friendly deck. At Danville, in the morning, we went to the hotel, Captain Tom escorting us. We left our