erchiefs with her, and, tying three or four of these
together, she made a noose, which she threw over Ebony's head. Thus she
held him, so that he could pull her on her skates over the ice.

"Now, Ebony, let us see how fast you can go," said Lucy. Ebony started
at a full gallop; and she began to sing,--

"We issue no tickets, we close no gate,
We blow no whistle, and nobody's late;
Our train is off as soon as we're in it;
We go at the rate of ten miles a minute,
(And that is six hundred miles an hour!)--
For ours is an engine of one-dog power;
But that dog's Ebony, bold and fleet,
A dog, you'll find, that is hard to beat:
So look out, stragglers and tramps! I guess
You'd better not trifle with our express!"

Hardly had Lucy finished her song, when Ebony, who had been going at
great speed for some distance, slipped on his haunches, where the ice
was very smooth, and, sliding along, fell over on his side.

Lucy fell too, but she was not hurt. "You good Ebony," said she. "You
have done well. But it is too bad to make you play the part of a
locomotive engine. And so, old fellow, I will take off your harness, and
let you go free."

Then Lucy took the scarf from the dog's neck, and darted off alone on
her skates to a part of the pond where her brother Felix had just had a
tumble on the ice.

But Ebony would not forsake her. He kept close at her heels; for he knew
there was water underneath the ice, and he meant to be near at hand,
should any accident happen. I am glad to say, that, after a good frolic
on the ice, they reached home safely in time for dinner.

UNCLE CHARLES.

[Illustration]

THE TERRIBLE TRIO.

THESE are the robbers,--the terrible three!
In showing no mercy they all agree;
They fill the woods with their war-whoops dire:
Policemen and soldiers, beware, retire!

Rinaldo's the name of the captain: you learn
His rank from his cap, and his frown so stern.
The next is Grimaldi, a desperate fellow!
His eyes they are blue, and his hair it is yellow.

The youngest but dreadfulest of them all
Has a terrible name that I cannot recall:
'Tis hard to pronounce; and it's well, perhaps,
That memory here has suffered a lapse.