THE CHILD WANDERS IN THE WOOD. 313 



woman, with a pipe in her mouth, saw some- 

 thing roll over and come up under the rudder: 

 the length of the barge having passed over it. 

 She knew what it was, but she wanted to reach 

 the wharf and go ashore and have a quart of 

 ale. No use picking it up, only make a mess 

 on deck, there was no reward - ' Gee-up ! 

 Neddy/ The barge went on, turning up 

 the mud in the shallow water, sending ripples 

 washing up to the grassy meadow shores, 

 while the moorhens hid in the flags till it was 

 gone. In time a labourer walking on the 

 towing-path saw 'it, 7 and fished it out, and 

 with it a slender ash sapling, with twine and 

 hook, a worm still on it. This was why the 

 dead boy had gone so willingly, thinking to 

 fish in the ' river/ as he called the canal. 

 When his feet slipped and he fell in, his 

 fishing-line somehow became twisted about 

 his arms and legs, else most likely he would 

 have scrambled out, as it was not very deep. 

 This w r as the end ; nor was he even remembered. 

 Does anyone sorrow for the rook, shot, and 

 hung up as a scarecrow? The boy had been 

 talked to, and held up as a scarecrow all his 



