"Yep," was the answer. "I liked him, and it was fun to see him take big bites."
A snowstorm came a few days later, and, for a time, the Curlytops thought it might be the big one Grandpa Martin's hermit had spoken of. But the snow soon changed to rain and then came a thaw, so that there was not a bit of snow left on the ground, all being washed away.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Jan, as she looked out of the window. "This isn't like winter at all! We can't have any fun!"
"Wait till it freezes," said Ted. "Then we'll have lots of fun skating on the pond."
Two nights later there came a cold spell, and the ice formed on the pond. But, though the Curlytops did not know it, the ice was not as thick as it ought to have been to make it safe.
On the big lake, where the larger boys and girls went skating, a man, sent by the chief of police, always tested the ice after a freeze, to make sure it was thick enough to hold up the crowds of skaters. But on the pond, where the water was not more than knee-deep, no one ever looked at the ice. The little boys and girls went there just as they pleased.
"Come on skating!" cried Ted, after school the first day of this cold weather. "Well have a race on the ice, Jan."
"All right," she answered. "I can skate faster than you if I am a girl!"
"No, you can't!" exclaimed Ted.
"I want to come!" cried Trouble, as he saw his brother and sister starting out with their skates on straps over their shoulders.