Just then Old Hans the Grenadier stood by Viggo's side. When he had gained his breath after his hurried run, the old man cried very angrily, "If I did what you deserve I should have to whip you, you little cub. Shame on you! Do you think it fit for a youngster like you to rush against a pack of wolves? If they had eaten you up alive before you had a chance to make a sound, what would you have said then?"
"Then I would have said, 'One thing is a shame, and that is to turn your back before "retreat" is called,'" said Viggo, and looked sharply at the Grenadier.
"Well said, my boy! The nose has not quite the right curve yet, but the eyes are there, and I do believe the heart too," said Old Hans. He took the dog from Viggo and went home with both of them.
Part Six
[The Black Pond]
"Hurrah, the Black Pond is frozen. The ice is more than an inch thick, and there's a crowd of boys down there!" shouted one of Viggo's classmates one Sunday morning, as he thrust his frost covered head through the door and swung his skates. I dare say it didn't take Viggo long before he got his skates down from the nail, and as soon as he had got permission from his father, he ran off with his friend. And what do you think, he was so anxious to get down to the lake, that he forgot to whistle for Allarm.
But Allarm had a fine nose. Just as soon as he had swallowed his breakfast he understood that Viggo was gone. Then he ran out switching his tail and hunting through the yard for Viggo's trail, and when he noticed that it didn't lead to the school he knew he might follow. Then he rushed madly after him over the fields, and had caught up with him long before Viggo had reached the cottage of Hans the Grenadier, which lay close by the lake.
One thing Viggo had promised his father before he got permission to go, and that was that he should be very careful and not skate far out from the shore. His father knew that the ice was safe along the shore, but that near the middle of the lake there was an air hole through which warm air rose to the surface, and there the ice was never thick.