arm," laughed Mrs. Bobbsey, as
she tucked the robes closer around the two smaller twins.

"All aboard!" called Bert, and then, moving slowly at first, the ice-boat
glided away from the lumber wharf, skimming over the lake with the entire
Bobbsey family, not counting, of course, fat Dinah and her husband, who
stayed at home. Nor was Snoop, the black cat, along. Snap, the dog, ran a
little way, but when he found the ice-boat was going too fast for him, and
when he noticed that he was slipping too much, he gave a sort of good-bye
howl and went slowly back to shore.

"Isn't this great?" cried Bert, as he steered the ice-boat out into the
middle of the lake.

"Wonderful!" cried Nan, her hair flying in the wind and her cheeks almost
as red as roses. "I don't see how you made it, Bert."

"Well, it wasn't easy. How do you like it, Freddie?"

"All right. When can I steer?"

"Oh, maybe after a while," said Bert, with a laugh. "Say, we're going
fast, all right."

"Yes," agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "I think the wind is getting stronger instead
of dying out, Bert."

"It does seem so. Well, all the better. We won't have to walk back if it
keeps on this way. We can sail to the end of the lake and ride back."

"Are you sure you can manage the boat yourself?" asked Bert's father, "She
seems pretty big."

"Oh, Tommy and I sailed her in a stronger wind than this. And we have a
heavier load on now, which makes it all the safer."

Mr. Bobbsey himself knew how to sail an ice-boat, but he wanted to let
Bert do as much alone as he could, for this is a good way for a boy to
learn, if there is not too much danger.

"And the worst that can happen," said Mr. Bobbsey, in a whisper to his
wife, "is that we may upset and spill out."

"Oh! But do you really think there is any danger of _that?_"

"Well, there may be. Ice-boats often upset, but we can't fall very far,"
and he looked down at the ice, which was only a few inches below them.
"And we have so many robes and blankets that falling would be like
tumbling into bed. There is no danger."

The wind was blowing harder and harder. It was sweeping right across the
lake and forcing the boat down. The steel runners clinked on the ice, now
and then scraping up a shower of icy splinters that sparkled in the sun.
On the other side of the lake were other ice-boats, and Bert wished he
could have a race with some of them. But he knew his mother would not like
that now.

"Can't you make it go a lit