or possibly Havens had given notice. Such
contingencies were of course to be deplored but as they could not be
helped, why let them ruin the entire holiday?

Therefore nobody heeded Mr. Tolman's mood which was so well controlled
that his guests were unconscious of it, and the group of skaters swung
along over the frosty fields with undiminished merriment. The Hollow for
which they were bound lay in a deserted stone quarry where a little arm
of the river had penetrated the barrier of rocks and, gradually flooding
the place, made at one end a deep pool; from this point the water spread
itself over the meadows in a large, shallow pond. Had the spot been
nearer the town it would doubtless have been overrun with skaters; but
as it was isolated, and there was a larger lake near the center of the
village, few persons took the trouble to seek out this remote stretch of
ice.

This morning it lay desolate like a gleaming mirror, not a human being
marring its solitude.

"We shall have the place all to ourselves!" exclaimed Mr. Ackerman.
"There will be no spectators to watch me renew my youth, thank
goodness!"

Quickly the skates were strapped on and the young people shot out into
the sunshine and began to circle about. More cautiously Mr. Tolman and
his guest followed.

"I wouldn't go into the quarry," shouted Mr. Tolman, "for I doubt if it
has been cold enough yet to freeze the ice very solidly there. There are
liable to be air holes where the river makes in."

"Oh, we fellows have skated in the quarry millions of times, Dad,"
Stephen protested. "It is perfectly safe."

"There is no way of telling whether it is or not," was the response, "so
suppose for to-day we keep away from it."

"But--"

"Oh, don't argue, Stevie," called Doris. "If Dad doesn't want us to go
there that's enough, isn't it?"

"But half the fun is making that turn around the rocks," grumbled
Stephen, in a lower tone. "I don't see why Dad is such a fraid-cat. I
know this pond better than he does and--"

"If your father says not to skate there that ought to go with you," cut
in Dick. "He doesn't want you to--see? Whether it is safe or not has
nothing to do with it."

"But it's so silly!" went on Stephen. "Why--"

"Oh, cut it out! Can it!" ejaculated the East Side lad. "Your dad says
_No_ and he's the boss."

The ungracious retort Steve offered was lost amid the babel of laughter
that followed, and the skaters darted away up the pond. Indeed, on