Across the fields they went, and in a little while they came to a place where was a pond, in which they used to fish during the summer. But now as they looked down on the water, from the top of a small hill, they saw that the pond was all frozen over. A sheet of ice covered it from edge to edge.
"Oh, now we can skate!" cried Hal in delight, "Now we can try our new skates."
CHAPTER V
POOR ROLY-POLY
"Come on!" cried Mab, as she started to run down the slope of the hill toward the frozen pond. "Come on, Hal!"
"Hold on!" called Daddy Blake. "Wait a minute, Mab! Don't go on the ice yet!"
Mab stopped at once. So did Hal, who had just begun to run. You see the children had gotten into the habit of stopping when their uncle called: "Wait a minute and I'll give you a penny," so it was not hard for them to do so when their father called.
"Why can't I go on the ice?" asked Mab,
"I must first see how thick it is," answered Daddy Blake.
"What difference does that make?" Hal wanted to know.