Still he preferred his application.

“Do you want a new hand?” asked James.

His answer was a volley of oaths and curses that made James turn pale, for he had never uttered an oath in his life, and had never listened to anything so disgusting as the tirade to which he was forced to listen.

[Illustration:  The canal boy]

He sensibly concluded that nothing was to be gained by continuing the conversation with such a man.  He left the schooner’s deck with a feeling of discomfiture.  He had never suspected that sailors talked or acted like the men he saw.

Still he clung to the idea that all sailors were not like this captain.  Perhaps again the rebuff he received was in consequence of his rustic appearance.  The captain might be prejudiced against him, just as the shop-keepers had been, though the latter certainly had not expressed themselves in such rude and profane language.  He might not be fit for a sailor yet, but he could prepare himself.

He bethought himself of a cousin of his, by name Amos Letcher, who had not indeed arrived at the exalted position of captain of a schooner, but was content with the humbler position of captain of a canal-boat on the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal.

This seemed to James a lucky thought.

“I will go to Amos Letcher,” he said to himself.  “Perhaps he can find me a situation on a canal-boat, and that will be the next thing to being on board a ship.”

This thought put fresh courage into the boy, and he straightway inquired for the Evening Star, which was the name of the boat commanded by his cousin.

CHAPTER IV.

On the tow-path.

Captain Letcher regarded his young cousin in surprise.

“Well, Jimmy, what brings you to Cleveland?” he asked.

“I came here to ship on the lake,” the boy answered.  “I tried first to get a place in a store, as I promised mother, but I found no opening.  I would rather be a sailor.”

“I am afraid your choice is not a good one; a good place on land is much better than going to sea.  Have you tried to get a berth?”

“Yes, I applied to the captain of a schooner, but he swore at me and called me a land-lubber.”

“So you are,” returned his cousin smiling “Well, what are your plans now?”

“Can’t you give me a place?”

“What, on the canal?”

“Yes cousin.”

“I suppose you think that would be the next thing to going to sea?”

“It might prepare me for it.”

“Well,” said Captain Letcher, good-naturedly, “I will see what I can do for you.  Can you drive a pair of horses?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Then I will engage you.  The pay is not very large, but you will live on the boat.”

“How much do you pay?” asked James, who was naturally interested in the answer to this question.