"Come on, Russ! Let's have a race! Let's see who can skate all the way across the pond first!"
"Oh, you mustn't skate across the pond!" exclaimed Rose. "Daddy said we must stay near the edge."
"But the ice is smoother out in the middle," said Russ. "It's all humpy and rough here, and you can't skate fast. I want to go out in the middle!"
"So do I," added Laddie. "Come on, Russ. I'll race you, but you ought to give me a head-start 'cause you're older than I am and you can skate better."
"All right, I will," said Russ. "I'll let you go first, Laddie."
"Oh, I'm going to tell Daddy you're going out in the middle and across the lake!" cried Rose. "He said you mustn't!"
"All right, go on and be a tattle-tale if you want to!" exclaimed Russ.
Now, of course, it wasn't nice of him to speak to his sister that way, and it wasn't right for him to go where his father had told him not to go. Of course Rose didn't want to be a tattle-tale, but still it was better to be that than to let her brother do what he intended. So, while Russ and Laddie got ready for their race, Rose skated, as quickly as she could, to the other end of the pond, where her father was giving Violet, Mun Bun and Margy some of Grandma's cookies, which they had brought along.
"Come on, now! One, two, three! Race!" cried Russ, after he had let Laddie get a little start of him.
Away the boys skated, toward the middle of the pond. At first Laddie was ahead, but Russ was the better skater and soon passed him. Russ was near the middle of the pond when suddenly there was a loud crack.