| 304 | 305 | 306 | 307 | 308 |
| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
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for consideration, she and her grandfather were on board, and gliding
smoothly down the canal.
The sun shone pleasantly on the bright water, which was sometimes
shaded by trees, and sometimes open to a wide extent of country,
intersected by running streams, and rich with wooded hills, cultivated
land, and sheltered farms. Now and then, a village with its modest
spire, thatched roofs, and gable-ends, would peep out from among the
trees; and, more than once, a distant town, with great church towers
looming through its smoke, and high factories or workshops rising
above the mass of houses, would come in view, and, by the length of
time it lingered in the distance, show them how slowly they travelled.
Their way lay, for the most part, through the low grounds, and open
plains; and except these distant places, and occasionally some men
working in the fields, or lounging on the bridges under which they
passed, to see them creep along, nothing encroached on their
monotonous and secluded track.
Nell was rather disheartened, when they stopped at a kind of wharf
late in the afternoon, to learn from one of the men that they would not
reach their place of destination until next day, and that, if she had no
provision with her, she had better buy it there. She had but a few
pence, having already bargained with them for some bread, but even
of these it was necessary to be very careful, as they were on their way
to an utterly strange place, with no resource whatever. A small loaf
and a morsel of cheese, therefore, were all she could afford, and with
these she took her place in the boat again, and, after half an hour's
delay during which the men were drinking at the public-house,
proceeded on the journey.
They brought some beer and spirits into the boat with them, and what
with drinking freely before, and again now, were soon in a fair way of
being quarrelsome and intoxicated. Avoiding the small cabin,
therefore, which was very dark and filthy, and to which they often
invited both her and her grandfather, Nell sat in the open air with the
old man by her side: listening to their boisterous hosts with a
palpitating heart, and almost wishing herself safe on shore again
though she should have to walk all night.
They were, in truth, very rugged, noisy fellows, and quite brutal
among themselves, though civil enough to their two passengers. Thus,
when a quarrel arose between the man who was steering and his
friend in the cabin, upon the question who had first suggested the
propriety of offering Nell some beer, and when the quarrel led to a
scuffle in which they beat each other fearfully, to her inexpressible
terror, neither visited his displeasure upon her, but each contented
himself with venting it on his adversary, on whom, in addition to
blows, he bestowed a variety of compliments, which, happily for the
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