"I was waiting to see the captain," replied James. "Wall, don't yer know him when yer do see him?" he shouted. "Get off my ship, I tell yer, double quick!" James needed no second invitation. Could this besotted brute be a specimen of the monarchs of the sea? The boy was so shocked and disgusted that he made no further effort to find a place on board ship. He began to think his story-books might be a little different from the reality in other things as well as captains! Wandering through the city, he came to the canal which at that time was a great thoroughfare between Lake Erie and the Ohio river. One of the boats, called the "Evening Star," was tied to the bank, and James was greatly surprised to find that the captain of it was a cousin of his, Amos Letcher. "Well, James, what are you doing here?" said the canal-boat captain. "Hunting for work," replied the boy. "What kind of work do you want?" "Anything to make a living. I came here to ship on the lake, but they bluffed me off and called me a country greenhorn." "You'd better try your hand on smaller waters first," said his cousin; "I should like to have you work for me, but I've nothing better to offer you than a driver's berth at twelve dollars a month." "I must do something," answered James, "and if that is the best you can offer me, I'll take the team." "It was imagination that took me upon the canal," he said, years after; and it is easy to see how fascinating the trips from Cleveland to Pittsburgh seemed at that time to the inquiring boy. The "Evening Star" had a capacity of seventy tons, and it was manned, as most of the canal-boats were, with two steersmen, two drivers, a bowsman, and a cook. The bowsman stood in the forward part of the boat, made ready the locks, and threw the bow-line around the snubbing-post. The drivers had two mules each, which were driven tandem, and, after serving a number of hours on the tow-path, they took turns in going on board with their mules. [Illustration: On the Tow-Path.] James had hardly taken his place behind "Kit and Nance," as his team was called, when he heard the captain call out,-- "Careful, Jim, there's a boat coming." The boy had seen it, and was trying to pass it to the best of his ability. But his inexperience and haste occasioned a sudden tightening of the reins, and, before any one quite knew what had happened, both driver and mules were jerked into the canal. For a few seconds it seemed as if they would go to the bottom, but James was equal to the emergency, and, getting astride the forward mule, kept his head above water until rescue came. This was his initiation in canal-boat driving, and the adventure was a standing joke among his comrades for a long time. When they came to the "Eleven-Mile Lock," the captain ordered a change of teams, and James went on board with his mules. Letcher, who is still living in Bryan, Ohio, gives the following account of his talk with the boy as they were passing the locks: