"Captain!" Kate caught up the word, and made a funny girlish imitation of an officer's salute. "Not till you give the order, sir!"
"Oho!" laughed Aleck. "That's election by acclamation, I should say! All right; only, if I'm to be Captain, remember you must do as I say at once, and save any arguing about it until afterwards. When you get tired you can vote me out as you voted me in. Will you agree?"
"Yes—agreed!" cried all three.
"Then my first order is 'Forward!'" and so saying he seized a drag-rope and sent the sledge-boat spinning out upon the smooth ice far from under the shadow of the wharf, showing how easily it could be run in spite of its weight, which was not less than five hundred pounds.
"A MOMENT LATER THEY WERE OFF."
A moment later they were off on the first strokes of a trip that proved far more eventful than any of them anticipated—Aleck with the drag-rope, Tug by his side, Jim pulling his sled, Rex leaping and barking, and Kate bringing up the rear with her hands on the stern-rail of the boat. Two or three boys and men called after them, and one followed a little way, but he was sent back with short answers, and in a few moments the church spires, the big, bell-crowned cupola of the High School, and the lofty spans of the railway bridge had been left far behind. Not much was said, for even heedless Jim felt that this was a serious undertaking, and the pleasant scenes they had known so long might never be revisited.