Free Elisabeth Kidd by The Rival Earls

their arrival. Ahead Sabina saw a hill sloping downwards from them, studded with a “staircase” consisting of two sets of five interconnecting locks. She could not imagine how the narrowboat would be maneuvered down this incline, but George, having been displaced by his son at the rudder, came to stand by her and explain what was going on and point out the essential features.
    “There’s two sets, see, so boats can go up and down at the same time. Traffic’s light today, so we’ll have the lock to ourselves, soon as yon barge clears the pond at the bottom. It’s seventy-five feet down.”
    When their turn came to descend the staircase, both Bill and James sprang into action, James jumping onto the grassy verge of the lock and Bill taking the rudder to keep the boat steady as they entered the first lock.
    “I taught the boys to steer,” George said, unruffled by the excitement. “They know that if they scrape the boat, they have to repair it.”
    Sabina smiled at his calm confidence in his teachings, but Bill did indeed keep the narrowboat on an even keel within the lock as James heaved on the beam that closed the gate behind them. Then James cranked the handle that opened a part of the lock gate through which the water flowed from one level to the next.
    “You’ll see better when the water goes down a bit more,” George said. “See there? Them panels at the bottom of the gates is called paddles. They let the water out.”
    When they were fully inside the lock, with the wet wooden gates towering over them, Sabina felt the water level lowering under them.
    “Now I know what a ‘sinking sensation’ really is,” she said, laughing but holding firmly on to the deck railing.
    Then James worked the next gate and she saw it begin to open. The boat passed through to the next lock, where the water was at the same level as in the lock behind them.
    “The most important thing to remember is to close everything behind you,” George told her as the water in the second lock began slowly falling under them. “Like closing gates to a field when you ride through—you don’t want anything that don’t belong there getting in or out of the field—or the lock. Leave a lock open, you can drain a whole section of canal.”
    The whole operation was repeated four more times until they finally emerged into the pool at the bottom of the staircase. Bill gave the rudder back to George and climbed onto the towpath, hitched up the horses for the next stage. James, panting from exertion, reboarded the boat, doused his head with a handy pail of water, and sat down beside Rose and Sabina with a sigh.
    “Well, Miranda, are you impressed?”
    “I certainly am. Good heavens, I had no idea boating was such hard work!”
    He laughed. “Admittedly, locks like this are few and far between.” He ran his hands back over his damp hair and heaved a sigh. “And a good thing, too.”
    “Six miles now to Market Harborough,” George called from the stern.
    Following this excitement, the Market Harborough arm seemed very tame, flowing much like a river through a variety of rural scenes. At times, woods or hills coming down abruptly to the canal hid the landscape from view, but elsewhere the fields fell away from the canal, leaving open vistas.
    Sabina settled herself in a chair and soon found herself nodding off from the effects of sun and excitement. She was awakened suddenly from a nap she had not intended to take by the hail of a passing boatman. She sat up and saw that they were nearing Market Harborough, a bustling little market town dominated by a tall church spire.
    She looked around for James and saw him at the bow of the boat, looking ahead for their landing place. There was a great deal of activity near the basin, so she did not dare distract him.
    When they were safely tied up, however, he turned and looked for her.
    “Did you have a pleasant nap, Miranda?”
    “Why did you let me nod off like that? Such disgraceful