Bradley slept long. Early in the afternoon a barge came down. Other barges had passed through, both ways, before it; but the lock-keeper hailed only this particular barge, for news, as if he had made a time calculation with some nicety. The men on board told him a piece of news, and there was a lingering on their part to enlarge upon it.

Twelve hours had intervened since Bradley’s lying down, when he got up. “Not that I swaller it,” said Riderhood, squinting at his lock, when he saw Bradley coming out of the house, “as you’ve been a sleeping all the time, old boy!”

Bradley came to him, sitting on his wooden lever, and asked what o’clock it was? Riderhood told him it was between two and three.

“When are you relieved?” asked Bradley.

“Day arter tomorrow, governor.”

“Not sooner?”