Daddy Takes Us Skating | Page 8

first simple rules of
skating. It was not as easy as they had thought--nor was it the same as
roller skating. The ice was so slippery.
"Oh, look at Roly!" cried Hal, when they had stopped for a rest. "He's
skating, too."
A boy who had no skates had come down to the frozen pond, and,
seeing the poodle dog, and knowing him to be Hal's pet, this boy
wanted to have some fun. He would throw a stick on the ice, sliding it
along, and Roly would race after it. He would go so fast, Roly would,
that he could not stop when he reached the stick, and along he would
slide, almost as if he were skating.
Just as Hal called to Mab to look, Roly cook a long run and a slide.
Then, all of a sudden, there was a cracking sound in the ice. A hole
seemed to open, close to where the poodle dog was, and, a moment
later, Roly-Poly went down, out of sight, into the cold, black water.
"Poor Roly-Poly!" cried Mab. "He's drowned!"
Roly-Poly had gone under the ice. Hal and Mab were ready to cry. But
listen. This is a secret. Roly-Poly was not drowned! A wonderful thing
happened to him, but I can not tell you about it until the end of the
book. And mind, you're not to turn over the pages to find out, either.

That would not be fair. Just wait, and I'll tell you when the times
comes.

CHAPTER VI
FISHING THROUGH THE ICE
"Come on, Mab," cried Hal, to his sister. "We've got to get him out!
We've got to save Roly-Poly!"
Letting go his father's hand, Hal started to skate toward the place where
the little poodle dog had last been seen.
"Wait--don't go," said Mr. Blake quickly, but there was no need. For, as
soon as Hal let go of his Daddy's hands, his feet, on which were still the
slippery skates, slid out from under him, and down he went again.
"Oh dear!" cried Mab. "Everything is happening! Can't we save Roly,
Daddy?"
"Yes, perhaps," he said slowly. "But we must not go too near. Roly
went down through an air hole in the ice. The ice is thin near there. It
might break with us. I will go up carefully and look."
Telling Hal and Mab to stay together, in a spot where he knew the ice
was thick, Mr. Blake skated slowly toward the place where poor
Roly-Poly had gone under. As he came near the ice began to crack
again. Mr. Blake skated back.
"It would be dangerous to go on," he said. "I am sorry for Roly-Poly,
but it would not be wise for us to risk our lives for him. It would not be
right, however much you love him."
"Oh, we do love him so much!" sobbed Mab.
"I'll get you another dog," said Mr. Blake, and then he had to blow his
nose very hard. Maybe he was crying too, for all I know. Mind, I'm not

saying for sure.
"No other dog will be like Roly-Poly," said Hal, who was trying not to
cry.
"I'm awful sorry I threw the sticks for him to chase after," said Charlie
Anderson, the boy who had been playing with the poodle dog while
Hal and Mab were learning to skate.
"Oh, it wasn't your fault," said Daddy Blake. "Poor Roly! I will see if I
can break the ice around the hole. Maybe he is caught fast, and I can
loosen the ice so he can get out." Daddy Blake took off his skates, and
then, with a long piece of fence rail, while he stood on the bank, the
children's papa broke the ice around the edges of the air hole. But no
Roly-Poly could be seen.
"Oh dear" cried Mab. "He is gone forever!"
"Yes," spoke Hal, quietly, and then he put his arms around his little
sister.
But don't you feel badly, children. We know something Hal and Mab
do not know, and we'll keep it a secret from them until it is time for the
surprise.
The two Blake children were so sorry their doggie had been lost
through the ice, that their father thought it best to take them home.
"We will have another skating lesson to-morrow," he said. "But this
shows you how dangerous air holes are."
"What is an air hole in the ice, Daddy?" asked Hal.
"I'll tell you," said Mr. Blake. This interested Mab, and she stopped
crying. Besides, if you cry when it's cold, the tears may freeze on your
cheeks, like little pearls, and fall off."
"An air hole," said Mr. Blake, as he walked on home with the children,
"is a place where the ice has