Russ and Laddie
skated about not far away. Finally Laddie called:

"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.

Russ heard it and tried to stop himself and turn back. But he was going
quite fast, and before he could slow up the ice in front of him cracked
open. He saw a stretch of black water, and then, with a yell, into it
splashed poor Russ.

[Illustration: BEFORE RUSS COULD SLOW UP, THE ICE IN FRONT OF HIM
CRACKED OPEN.
_Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford's._ --_Page 188_]

"Oh, he's fallen in! Russ has fallen in!" shouted Laddie, who had seen
what had happened. And he suddenly tripped and sat down, sliding slowly
along, or he, too, might have gone through the hole in the ice.

It was a good thing Rose had run and told her father what her brothers
were going to do, for Mr. Bunker was already half-way to Russ when the
ice broke.

"I'll get you! I'll get you!" called Mr. Bunker to Russ.