Daddy Takes Us Skating | Page 9

not frozen solidly. Sometimes it may be

because there is a warm spring in that part of the pond, or a spring that
bubbles up, and keeps the water moving. And you know moving or
running water will not freeze, except in very, very cold weather.
"But always be careful of air holes, for the ice around them is easily
broken, and you might go through."
"Poor Roly-Poly!" sighed Mab. "I wish he had been careful."
"So do I," spoke Hal.
"How would you like to go fishing through the ice?" asked Daddy
Blake, so the children would have something new to think about, and
not feel sorry about Roly.
"Fishing through the ice?" cried Hal. "How can we do that? Aren't the
fish frozen in the winter?"
"I saw some frozen ones down at the fish store," Mab said.
"Well, I don't mean that kind," laughed Daddy Blake. "There are live
fish in the waters of the lakes, rivers and ponds, down under the ice.
You can not catch all kinds of fish through the ice in winter, but you
may some sorts--pickeral for instance."
"Oh, Daddy, and will you take us fishing?" asked Mab.
"I think I will, some day soon, if the cold keeps up," he said.
And, surely enough he did.
The weather was still very cold, and the ice froze harder and thicker.
Several times Daddy Blake took the children down to the pond, and
taught them about skating. They were doing very well.
Then, one Saturday, when there was no school, Daddy Blake called
out:
"Now we'll go fishing through the ice. We'll go over to the big lake, so

wrap up well, as it is quite cold. We'll take along some lunch, and we'll
build a fire on the shore and make hot chocolate."
"Hurray!" cried Hal.
"Oh, how lovely!" exclaimed Mab.
Well wrapped up, and carrying with them their fishing things, as well
as lunch, while Mr. Blake had a small axe, the little party set off for a
large lake, about two miles away.
When they reached it, Hal wondered how they could ever get any fish,
as the water was covered with a thick sheet of ice. But Daddy Blake
chopped several holes in the frozen surface, so Hal and Mab could see
the dark water underneath. The holes however, were not large enough
for the children to fall through.
"Now we'll fish through the ice!" said Daddy Blake.
"Oh, I see how it's done!" exclaimed Hal with a laugh.

CHAPTER VII
LEARNING TO SKATE
"Now we'll bait our hooks," said Mr. Blake, when he had put the lunch,
which they had brought along, safely away in a sheltered place. "And
after that we will have a little skate practice to get warmed up, for it is
colder than I thought."
"But if we bait our hooks, and leave them in the water, won't the fish
run away with our lines if we are not here to watch them?" asked Mab.
"We'll fix the lines so the fish that bite will ring a little bell, to tell us to
come and take them off the hook!" replied Daddy Blake with a laugh.
"Oh, now I know you're fooling us!" said Hal.

"No, really I am not," replied his father, but Mr. Blake could not keep
the funny twinkle out of his eyes, and Hal was sure there was some
joke.
From a small satchel, in which he had put the things for fishing, Mr.
Blake took several pieces of wire. On the ends were some bits of red
cloth, and also, on each wire, a little brass bell, that went
"tinkle-tinkle."
"Oh, they are really bells!" cried Mab, as she heard them jingle.
"Of course they are" said her father. "Now I'll tell you what we'll do.
We'll bait our hook, and lower it into the water through a hole in the ice.
Then, close to the hole, we'll fasten one of these pieces of wire each
one of which has, on the upper end, a bell and a bit of red cloth.
"When the wires are stuck in the ice we'll fasten our lines to them, and
then, when the fish, down in the cold water, pulls on the baited hook he
will make the piece of red cloth flutter, and he will also ring the bell."
"Oh, now I see!" cried Hal. "And if we are off skating we can look over
here, and if we see the red rag fluttering we'll know we have a bite, and
can come and pull up the fish."
"That's it," said Daddy Blake, smiling.
"And if we don't happen to see the red rag fluttering, we will hear the
bell ring," added Mab, clapping her hands. "How nice it is to fish this