"Good for you!" laughed George, "It's pretty hard to trip up old
Soc when it comes to figures. Now, I myself happen to know how
long the canal is and so I shall be able to tell whether you
reeled off your figures, depending upon our ignorance or whether
you gave them because you knew what they are. How long is the
Erie Canal?" he added slowly. 

"Three hundred and fifty and one-half miles, though I find some
authorities give it as three hundred and fifty-two miles,"
laughed Grant.

"Splendid! Splendid!" retorted George solemnly. "I suppose you
know all about all the other great canals too."

"I have looked them up," replied Grant simply. "I don't believe
in starting off on a trip like ours without finding out some of
the facts connected with it."

"Don't ask me! Don't ask me!" protested John quickly. "I haven't
been looking them up, so I don't know."

"I didn't say I was going to ask you," retorted Grant. "I told
you I was going to inform you. I looked them up for the benefit
of my benighted companions. Now there's the Cape Cod Canal," he
added. "I don't believe there's one of you that knows anything
about it."

"If we don't stop you, there won't be one of us that doesn't know
ALL about it," said John, pretending to be discouraged by the
attitude of his friend. "I suppose we'll have to have it," he
added solemnly, "so the sooner we get it out of the way the
better. Tell us and have it over with."

"The Cape Cod Canal," said Grant as he looked sternly at John,
"is eight miles long, it is twenty-five feet deep and one hundred
feet wide."

"My, now I am almost ready to go back home!" said George
solemnly. "I cannot imagine finding out anything more important
than that. Have you noticed these Palisades we have been passing?
Did you ever see anything more beautiful than the river? Pretty
soon we'll come to the Highlands and to West Point and I want to
say to you right now, Soc, that I would rather know about these
things than I would to hear about a ditch that is one hundred
feet wide and twenty-five feet deep and eight miles long. What's
the good of knowing that anyway?"

"I shall try to improve your mind before we come back home," said
Grant, shaking his head.

"You don't expect to accomplish much in just a month, do you?"
interposed George.

"Not much more than to get ready to prepare to begin to start to
commence on the contract."

"My, what a fluent talker my friend is!" said George. "He never
is at a loss for a word. It doesn't make any difference to him
whether he knows what it means or not."

"Never mind your old facts and figures," spoke up Fred. "I want
you to notice that big! black yacht yonder. Isn't she a beauty?" 

"She is that," replied Grant with enthusiasm. "I can almost make
out her name," he added as he looked through the field-glasses.
"There it is C-a-l-e-Caledonia," he added quickly.

"They have got quite a good many people on board," suggested
George as he noticed a group of boys and girls near the rail, who
apparently were as deeply interested in the motor-boat as the Go
Ahead boys were in the big, black yacht.

"Let's have a race with her," suggested George. "Start her up,
Fred, and see if the yacht will try to keep up with us."

Fred laughingly complied with the request, although neither of
his companions had any suspicion of the many experiences they
were to have with the passengers and crew of the Caledonia before
either vessel returned to New York.

CHAPTER II

ON THE WAY

The proposed race, however, did not take place. The graceful
Caledonia steadily continued on her way without increasing her
speed. There were calls from the deck where the boys noticed
several young people standing near the rail. It was plain that
there was great admiration on each boat for the beauty and speed
of the other. There were calls and cheers, and waving of
handkerchiefs to express their feelings. Perhaps it was in part
due to this fact that the Black Growler soon began to pull away
from the larger boat and not long afterward the Caledonia was
left far behind.

"That's the kind of a boat I'm going to have when I get rich!"
said George enthusiastically. "I should like to spend about four
months a year on board a craft like that."

"That's all right," spoke up Grant, "but I think after about two
months of it you would want something else. You see I know you
better than you know yourself."

"Yes, I see," retorted George sharply. "You make me think of what
Josh Billings said that 'it's a good deal better not to know so
many things than it is to know so many things that ain't so!' "

"Never you mind, fellows," spoke up Fred. "This boat suits me all
right. You wait until you see that cup the Black Growler is going
to win."

"I hope we shan't have to wait too long," said John dryly.

"You'll wait until the race comes off," declared Fred. "I'm not
taking any cups before I win them, but when the time comes you
wait and see me run away from any boat that tries to keep up with
us. I have been on the St. Lawrence before and unless there is
something a good deal better than I have ever seen there, we
shall simply show our heels to any motor-boats on the river. And
they say there are more motor-boats between Clayton and
Ogdensburg than anywhere else in America."

"How many?" inquired John.

"I have been told that there are more than a thousand."

"Well," said George, "I'm deeply impressed by the modesty of
Peewee. He simply thinks this boat will outclass nine hundred and
ninety-nine others that will be madly chasing him all summer
long, trying to keep pace with him."

"But he hasn't won the cup yet," said Grant quietly.

"That's right. That's right," spoke up Fred, pretending to be
annoyed by the bantering of his friends. "There are always some
people that try to take the joy out of life. I heard of an old
man the other day who was so disgruntled that when he met a
friend on the street who saluted him with a hearty 'good morning'
this old man looked all over the sky to make sure he couldn't
find a cloud somewhere and say that it wasn't a 'good' morning."

"What did he do if he didn't find any?" laughed George.

"Why he put his hand on his stomach as if he had a pain and shook
his head and closed his eyes and groaned out, 'Yes, it's a fine
day, but I am sure it is a weather-breeder. We'll have rain
to-morrow.' "

"Do you know there are a lot of people like that?" said George.
"I met an old woman up near our farm one summer who always said
when anybody asked her how she was that she 'enjoyed' poor
health. And I guess she did. I never knew any one who took such
pride in her aches and pains as she did. One day when the doctor
had been to see her she had told him all the pains she suffered
and the poor old doctor had to sit there and listen to her for
almost an hour. Finally, when he left she started out of the
house after him calling to him to come back because she had just
thought of another ache that she hadn't told him about."

The boys laughed and silence for a time rested upon the little
boat. The Black Growler was moving swiftly and still was
attracting attention from every boat she met. Following the
channel they kept well out in the river, but the towering hills
and the attractive shores were all within sight and manifestly
did much to impress the Go Ahead boys.

"Tell me, Fred," spoke up John at last. "Do they have these races
on the St. Lawrence every summer?"

"They have had for the past few years and they have had water
sports too."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, they have swimming, tilting contests, canoe races, diving
and I don't know what all."

"Did you ever go in any of them?" inquired John.

A solemn expression came over Fred's face as he said, "Yes,
once."

"What did you go into?"

"I tried to walk the greased pole. There was a silver cup on the
end of it and the fellow who could walk out and take it could
claim it."

"Did you get the cup?"

"I did not," replied Fred shortly.

"I'm surprised, Peewee. I don't know a fellow in all my
acquaintance that I think could walk better on a greased pole
than you."

"Huh," muttered Fred. "You ought to have seen me. That pole was a
part of a telegraph pole. It stuck out from the dock about
fifteen feet. It was covered with grease and the grease had been