There were only three entries for the final event, the two-mile handicap, Ben Holden, Stanley Pierce and Bert. Holden was placed at scratch, Pierce was given eighty yards and Bert two hundred, more, as subsequent events proved, than his ability entitled him to. The course was up the river for a mile to the upper end of Candle Island, a low sand-bar near the shore, around the island and back to the starting line. This was approximately a mile and the distance was to be skated twice.
Lanny and Nan skated up the river with Bert and Mr. Crane to Bert’s starting mark. Then Mr. Crane returned to post Pierce and give the word.
“Oh, I do hope you’ll win, Bert!” said Nan.
“So do I,” agreed Lanny, “if only to beat Ben. You’d better let him make the pace for you as soon as he catches up with you.”
“Don’t let him catch up,” said Nan. “Skate just as hard and fast as ever you can, Bert! And please be careful at the island. You know Mr. Crane said you must keep above the snag because the ice is weak there.”
“He’s a regular old woman about thin ice,” said Lanny.
“But it’s so, Lanny, and I know it. The ice is always weak at the end of Candle Island. The—the current or something does it. So you must keep beyond the snag, Bert.”
“What sort of a thing is this snag?” asked Bert, taking a tighter hitch in his belt and keeping his eye down river for the signal.
“Why, it’s an old dead tree that sticks up through the ice about—about twenty yards beyond the further end of the island,” explained Nan. “And you must—”
“Get set,” interrupted Lanny. “He’s going to start you.”