James did not have to wait long after his engagement before he was put on duty.  With boyish pride he mounted one of the mules and led the other.  A line connected the mules with the boat, which was drawn slowly and steadily through the water.  James felt the responsibility of his situation.  It was like going to sea on a small scale, though the sea was but a canal.  At all events, he felt that he had more important work to do than if he were employed as a boy on one of the lake schooners.

James was at this time fifteen; a strong, sturdy boy, with a mass of auburn hair, partly covered by a loose-fitting hat.  He had a bright, intelligent face, and an earnest look that attracted general attention.  Yet, to one who saw the boy guiding the patient mule along the tow-path, it would have seemed a most improbable prediction, that one day the same hand would guide the ship of State, a vessel of much more consequence than the humble canal-boat.

There was one comfort, at any rate.  Though in his rustic garb he was not well enough dressed to act as clerk in a Cleveland store, no one complained that he was not well enough attired for a canal-boy.

It will occur to my young reader that, though the work was rather monotonous, there was not much difficulty or danger connected with it.  But even the guidance of a canal-boat has its perplexities, and James was not long in his new position before he realized it.

It often happened that a canal-boat going up encountered another going down, and vice versa.  Then care has to be exercised by the respective drivers lest their lines get entangled.

All had been going on smoothly till James saw another boat coming.  It might have been his inexperience, or it might have been the carelessness of the other driver, but at any rate the lines got entangled.  Meanwhile the boat, under the impetus that had been given it, kept on its way until it was even with the horses, and seemed likely to tow them along.

“Whip up your team, Jim, or your line will ketch on the bridge!” called out the steersman.

The bridge was built over a waste-way which occurred just ahead, and it was necessary for James to drive over it.

The caution was heeded, but too late.  James whipped up his mules, but when he had reached the middle of the bridge the rope tightened, and before the young driver fairly understood what awaited him, he and his team were jerked into the canal.  Of course he was thrown off the animal he was riding, and found himself struggling in the water side by side with the astonished mules.  The situation was a ludicrous one, but it was also attended with some danger.  Even if he did not drown, and the canal was probably deep enough for that, he stood in some danger of being kicked by the terrified mules.

The boy, however, preserved his presence of mind, and managed, with help, to get out himself and to get his team out.