In a little while each one had caught another fish and then Daddy
Blake said:
"Now we have all the fish we can use, so there is no need of catching any more. We will practice our skating a little longer, and then go home. For I am sure you children must be cold."
"Oh, but aren't we going to eat the lunch we brought, before we go home?" cried Hal.
"I was just wondering if you would think of that!" laughed Daddy Blake. "Yes, we will eat lunch as soon as we get a little warm by skating around, or by running."
CHAPTER VIII
THE SKATING RACE
Daddy Blake and the two children glided to and fro over the ice of the frozen lake on their sharp steel skates. Soon all their cheeks were red and rosy, and they felt as warm inside as though they had taken some hot chocolate at the corner drug store.
"Daddy," asked Hal, "what makes you warm when you run fast, or skate?"
"It is because your heart pumps so much more blood up inside your body," explained Daddy Blake. "Our blood is just the same to our bodies as coal is to a steam engine. The more coal the fireman puts under the boiler (that is if it all burn well, and there is a good draft) the hotter the fire is, and the more steam there is made."
"Is our blood like steam?" asked Mab, as she tried to peep down at her red nose and cheeks. But she could not see them very well so she looked at Hal's.