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 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.