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sure that the lady lock tender needed one, too.
    As they continued on their way, Elias found himself beginning to relax. He felt more at peace than he had in a very long time.
    “I think I’m going to enjoy running this boat up and down the canal,” he said to Ned, who’d pulled a piece of chewing tobacco from his shirt pocket.
    “Are ya sure ya won’t miss workin’ in the office at your daddy’s newspaper business?”
    “I don’t think so,” Elias said with a shake of his head. “Running a newspaper is nothing like this—especially one in a busy town like Easton.” The truth was, having his father scrutinize everything he did had made Elias feel insecure and inferior, like he could never measure up. He’d tried for a good many years to make Father proud, but all Father ever did was find fault. Well, maybe after Elias proved he could run this canal boat, Father would finally take notice and say a few kind words about Elias’s accomplishment. Then again, by taking over Grandpa’s boat, Elias may have ruined all chances of him and Father ever making peace.

Chapter 3

    W
hat’s wrong with the mules? Why aren’t they moving?” Elias called over to his young driver.
    “Don’t know!” Bobby pushed a lock of sandy brown hair away from his face and grunted. “They was movin’ just fine a few minutes ago.” He motioned to Daisy and then Dolly. “All of a sudden, they both just stopped dead in their tracks.”
    “That’s ‘cause there’s a huge puddle in the middle of the towpath,” Ned said as he joined Elias at the bow of the boat. “Mules hate water, and Dolly and Daisy ain’t no exception. They’ll do anything to avoid walkin’ through water—even a puddle.”
    “Oh yeah, that’s right.” Elias thumped the side of his head. He glanced over his shoulder. Another boat was coming up behind them. “What shall we do to get the mules moving?” he asked Ned.
    “Gotta take ‘em around the water.” Ned leaned over the bow of the boat and shouted to Bobby, “Lead the mules around the puddle! Take ‘em through the tall grass!”
    “Haw!” Bobby shouted at the mules.
    “Not
haw
!” Ned bellowed. “
Haw
means to the left.
Gee
means to the right!” He looked at Elias and groaned. “Ya should’ve hired a driver with more experience.”
    “Bobby was the only boy I could find on such short notice,” Elias said. “Besides, the poor kid’s folks are in need of money, and I thought I could help by giving him a job.”
    “Humph!” Ned snorted. “Then he’d better be a quick learner, or it’ll take us a week instead of a few days to get up the canal to Mauch Chunk!”
    Ignoring Ned’s tirade, Elias turned his attention back to the mules. “Lead them to the right, Bobby. Lead them to the right!”
    “Gee!” Bobby yelled.
    When the mules didn’t budge, he grabbed hold of their bridles and had just started moving them toward the thick grass when a deep voice hollered from behind Elias’s boat, “Get outa my way; my boat’s comin’ through!”
    “We can’t do nothin’ about movin’ the boat to one side until that stupid boy gets them mules walkin’ again,” Ned muttered, shaking his head. He cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered at the other boat captain, “Just hold your boat back a minute, Bart, and we’ll let ya pass!”
    Elias was tempted to climb out of the boat and swim to shore so he could see if he might be able to help Bobby get Dolly and Daisy moving faster, but he quickly dismissed that dumb idea. It would be foolish to get his clothes wet for no good reason, because Bobby seemed to be managing okay. It was just taking much longer than Elias would have liked; especially with the burly, dark-haired fellow in the boat behind them, waving his hands and hollering, “Get that boat outa my way!”
    If I’m gong to make it as a canal boat captain, I’ll need to pay closer attention to things
, Elias told himself.
And I’ll have to try harder to remember more of