If my mother knew, as I suppose she did, what sort
of occupation I had entered upon, I do not see how she could have been
anything but miserable as she thought of me--though she realized keenly
from what I had escaped.
Back on the tow-path, I was earning the contempt of Ace by dodging every
issue, like a candidate for office. I learned quickly to snub the boat
by means of a rope and the numerous snubbing-posts along the canal. This
was necessary in stopping, in entering locks, and in rounding some
curves; and my first glimmer of courage came from the fact that I seemed
to know at once how this was to be done--the line to be passed twice
about the post, and so managed as to slip around it with a great deal of
friction so as to bring her to.
4
I was afraid of the other drivers, however, and I was afraid of Ace. He
drove me like a Simon Legree. He ordered me to fight other drivers, and
when I refused, he took the fights off my hands or avoided them as the
case might require. He flicked at my bare feet with his whip. When we
were delayed by taking on or discharging freight, he would try to corner
me and throw me into the canal. He made me do all the work of taking
care of our bunks, and cuffed my ears whenever he got a chance. He made
me do his share as well as my own of the labor of cleaning the stables,
and feeding and caring for the horses, sitting by and giving orders with
a comical exaggeration of the manner of Captain Sproule.
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