But that was on Monday, and today was only Saturday, and Joe had a whole morning to dispose of as he liked. He had been given a fine new pair of skates Christmas before last and had learned at school that there was fair skating on the river and on one or two ponds around town. After breakfast he got his skating boots and skates out of his trunk and looked them over. The only thing missing was a new lacing, and so he went across to Main Street in search of the article. But the shoe store in which he had purchased the overshoes didn’t have a leather lacing suitable and sent him to Cummings and Wright’s, further down the street. This, he discovered, was the brilliantly-red hardware store he had noticed one day. One side of it was given over to athletic goods and when Joe entered two boys were in conversation across a counter near the door.
“You can’t get to work too early, Sam,” he heard one of them say as he drew near. “Start them going about the middle of February. Of course there isn’t a whole lot to be done in the cage, but you can get in a lot of batting practice, and your pitchers can find themselves, and——”
He broke off and walked along behind the counter to where Joe was standing. “Good morning,” he said cheerfully. “Is there something you want?”
He was a well-built chap of seventeen, with red-brown hair, very blue eyes and a smile that won Joe on the instant.
“I want a lacing for this boot, or a pair of them, please. They told me at Rice and Perry’s that you kept them.”
“We surely do, and you can have one or two, just as you say.” He turned away and pulled a box from the shelves. “There you are. Five cents apiece.”
“I’ll take just the one, I guess.”
“All right. They say the skating’s best at Proctor’s Pond. Have you tried it?”
“No, I haven’t. I was going down to the river, because I thought I could find that. Where is this pond, please?”