"
Ted's boat was not moving now, for he had stopped paddling.
Still Jan's craft moved on slowly but surely through the water. Then
Ted saw a funny thing and gave a cry of surprise.
CHAPTER XIV
DIGGING FOR GOLD
"What's the matter?" called Jan. Her boat was now quite a little
distance away from her brother's. "Do you see anything, Teddy?"
"I see you are being towed, Janet."
"Being what?"
"Towed--pulled along, you know, just like the mules pull the canal
boats."
Once the Curlytops had visited a cousin who lived in the country near
a canal, and they had seen the mules and horses walking along the
canal towpath pulling the big boats by a long rope.
"Who's towing me, Ted?" asked Jan, trying to look over the side of her
box. But, as she did so it tipped to one side and she was afraid it
would upset, so she quickly sat down again.
"I don't know what it is," her brother answered. "But something has
hold of the rope that's fast to the front part of your box, and it's
as tight as anything--the rope is. Something in the water is pulling
you along."
On each of the box-boats the Curlytops had fastened a piece of
clothesline their mother had given them. This line was to tie fast
their boats to an overhanging tree branch, near the shore of the cove,
when they were done playing.
And, as Ted had said, the rope fast to the end of Jan's box was
stretched out tightly in front, the end being down under water.
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