her long voyage.

"Are you going to keep her going like this all the time?" demanded John
as the swift little boat steadily continued on her way.

"She doesn't like to slow up," replied Fred glancing behind him as he
spoke.

"She had better slow up than blow up," retorted John.

"No danger of that," laughed Fred. "The first thing you know we'll be
in the canal."

"I hope not," laughed Grant. "It will be a great day when the Go Ahead
boys learn how to use the English language. You don't mean 'in' the
canal, you mean 'on' the canal."

"Perhaps he means what my grandfather used to call the 'ragin'
canawl'," suggested Grant.

"Maybe we'll be both IN it and ON it," laughed Fred. "If we should
happen to strike a rock or bump into another boat it wouldn't be very
hard to understand what would follow."

"That makes me think," said Grant solemnly. "Are you sure that you know
how to steer? If we were traveling on the Erie Canal as they used to go
soon after it was opened--"

"When was that?" broke in George.

"1825. The Erie Canal extended from Albany to Lake Erie and was
constructed chiefly because DeWitt Clinton worked for it with might and
main from 1817 to 1825."

"Good for you!" laughed George, "It's pretty hard to trip up old Soc
when it comes to figures. Now, I myself happen to know how long the
canal is and so I shall be able to tell whether you reeled off your
figures, depending upon our ignorance or whether you gave them because
you knew what they are. How long is the Erie Canal?" he added slowly.

"Three hundred and fifty and one-half miles, though I find some
authorities give it as three hundred and fifty-two miles," laughed
Grant.

"Splendid! Splendid!" retorted George solemnly. "I suppose you know all
about all the other great canals too."

"I have looked them up," replied Grant simply. "I don't believe in
starting off on a trip like ours without finding out some of the facts
connected with it."

"Don't ask me! Don't ask me!" protested John quickly. "I haven't been
looking them up, so I don't know."

"I didn't say I was going to ask you," retorted Grant. "I told you I
was going to inform you. I looked them up for the benefit of my
benighted companions. Now there's the Cape Cod Canal," he added. "I
don't believe there's one of you that knows anything about it."

"If we don't stop you, there won't be one of us that doesn't know ALL
about it," said John, pretending to be discouraged by the attitu