lieve to cry and beg for mercy, like.'

'Ah,' cried Dick, 'but there were real tears streaming down your face,
Chippy. How did you do that?'

'Easy as easy,' replied the Raven. 'Yer just jab yer fingers in the
corner o' yer eyes. I'll show yer.'

'Thanks,' laughed Dick. 'I'll take your word for it, old boy. It
doesn't sound too delightful.'

'I wonder if the old un's out o' the pool yet,' said Chippy, as they
trotted on, and the scouts shouted with laughter as they recalled his
terrific plunge.

'The other can go back and help his friend out when he's got his wind
again,' said Dick.

'Rough on the pool, though,' muttered the Raven; 'that nose o' his wor
enough to mek' the water boil.'

'What luck to lose nothing!' cried Dick.

'Barrin' my stick,' put in Chippy.

'Why, yes,' replied Dick. 'Upon my word, I hadn't noticed that. Of
course, your hands were filled with the haversacks, and your staff has
been left on the bank where we were resting.'

'Ne'er mind,' said the Raven; 'it's wot we could best afford to lose.
Soon cut another.'

The boys did not check their pace until they reached a large village a
mile or more from the bridge, and then they dropped into their usual
scout's stride.

On the other side of the village they came to another bridge, this time
spanning a canal.

'Here we are,' said Dick, for the scouts intended to follow the towpath
into Newminster: it would save them a mile and a half of dusty
high-road.

They went down to the bank and started off along the side of the canal.
It was not a dirty piece of water, malodorous and unsightly, as canals
are in manufacturing centres: it was like a straight stretch of a
clear, beautiful river. There was a towpath only on the one side. The
other was a grassy border, where sedges and bulrushes grew, and cows
came down from the meadows to drink.

The scouts had barely gone half a mile when they came upon a barge
lying beside the bank. They glanced into its cabin as they went by,
and saw that a tiny fire was burning brightly in its stove, and that it
was a very trim, smart little place. But there was no bargeman, no
horse, no one; the barge seemed deserted. The boys went on, and soon
heard cries of anger and distress coming down the breeze. They broke
into the scouts' trot, turned a bend, and saw a stout lady pursuing a
white horse.

Chippy knew all about canals.

'Broke 'is tow-line, an' now he's 'ookin' it,' observed the Raven.
'C