ly," said Uncle Ned, "I don't suppose I look much now as if I
had once been a slender lad, with a soft fair brow, and rosy cheeks; but
I was as full of fun and frolic as the best of you. I will tell you how
I once came near losing my own life and that of a friend and playmate,
by my love of mischief. It was a Christmas night. We were gathered round
the fire just as we now are, cracking nuts, eating apples, and telling
stories, when I proposed to Jack Thornton, and his little brother, that
we should go for a skating frolic to 'the pond,' a beautiful sheet of
water about a quarter of a mile distant. Instantly we were in motion,
looking up our skates and mittens. Off we started, in high glee,
promising ourselves fine fun on the ice. The moon shone
brilliantly--every object could be seen with perfect distinctness. The
little pond, which was supplied with the purest spring water, looked
like a sheet of silver, sparkling in the moonlight. I well remember
looking down through the clear and beautifully transparent ice, and
seeing the pond-lilies, with their broad leaves of tender green,
mingled with rushes and long grass, while the little fish danced like
beams of silver-light in the clear water. The pond was of no great
extent, but toward the middle it was quite deep, and formed a fine broad
sheet of ice for skating.

[Illustration: Ned rescuing Jack from drowning.]

"I remembered having seen the day before an air-hole near a rock on the
opposite shore. I had tried the ice near it, and found it strong enough
to bear my weight; and concluding that by this time it was quite thick
enough to bear two or three, I determined to play a trick upon Jack, who
was exceedingly good natured, but a great brag. Nobody could outwit him,
he thought. 'Come, Jack,' said I, 'follow me, and I will take you where
you are afraid to go.'--'I afraid!' said he, 'catch me afraid--I can go
anywhere you can--go ahead!' Away we shot, like swallows, toward the
fatal air-hole. 'Follow me,' I cried; 'keep up with me if you can.'
Thus stimulated, Jack kept close in my rear. My object was to avoid the
air-hole myself, and just give one of Jack's legs a ducking, without
doing him any further injury. We wheeled in circles round and round,
until, making a quick sweep, and calling upon him to keep close, I
dexterously made a slight curve so as to avoid the hole, but down went
poor Jack, one leg and foot quite buried in the freezing element. It was
a favorite trick