and then poking them with a long pole to make them go faster. My! how
they pulled and tugged on that rope! They had to, for it was a pretty
big load, that boat. And it had a big hole in it laden with black
shiny coal--tons and tons of it!

Just behind the coal was a clothes-line with scores of little skirts
and pairs of pants on it, and behind that, a little house with many
children running in and out of the door. A round fat rosy woman with
great big arms was calling to the children to "take care," and a man
stood at the stern with his hand on the tiller. He had a red shirt on
and in his mouth a pipe which Marmaduke could smell a long way off.

The little boy waited until the stern came by so he could see the name
of the boat. There it was now, painted in big letters, right under the
tiller. He spelled it out, first "Mary," then "Ellen"--"Mary Ellen--"
a pretty name, he thought.

The Man With the Red Shirt and the Pipe, and the Round Fat Rosy Woman
With the Big Arms, and all the children waved their hands to Marmaduke
and he waved back, then hurried ahead, Wienerwurst trotting alongside,
to catch up with the boy who was driving the mules.

"'Llo!" said he to the boy, but the boy paid no attention at all, just
"licked up" his mules. But Marmaduke didn't mind this rudeness. He
thought that probably the boy was too busy to be sociable, and he
trotted along with the mules and watched their long funny ears go
wiggle-waggle when a fly buzzed near them. But they never paused or
stopped, no matter what annoyed them, but just tugged and strained in
their collars, pulling the long rope that pulled the boat that carried
the coal that would make somebody's fire to cook somebody's supper