The boat was leaving one of those long reaches of slack-water which abound in the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal.

He tumbled out of bed in a hurry, but half awake, and, taking his stand on the narrow platform below the bow-deck, he began uncoiling a rope to steady the boat through a lock it was approaching.

Finally it knotted, and caught in a narrow cleft on the edge of the deck.

He gave it a strong pull, then another, till it gave way, sending him over the bow into the water.

Down he went in the dark river, and, rising, was bewildered amid the intense darkness.