our way, Roly!" called Mr. Blake with a laugh, "or we
might skate right over you!"

"Bow-wow!" barked the little poodle dog. And I suppose that was his
way of saying:

"No, I won't! I'll be good."

Hal and Mab were beginning to understand the first simple rules of
skating. It was not as easy as they had thought--nor was it the same
as roller skating. The ice was so slippery.

"Oh, look at Roly!" cried Hal, when they had stopped for a rest. "He's
skating, too."

A boy who had no skates had come down to the frozen pond, and, seeing
the poodle dog, and knowing him to be Hal's pet, this boy wanted to
have some fun. He would throw a stick on the ice, sliding it along,
and Roly would race after it. He would go so fast, Roly would, that he
could not stop when he reached the stick, and along he would slide,
almost as if he were skating.

Just as Hal called to Mab to look, Roly cook a long run and a slide.
Then, all of a sudden, there was a cracking sound in the ice. A hole
seemed to open, close to where the poodle dog was, and, a moment
later, Roly-Poly went down, out of sight, into the cold, black water.

"Poor Roly-Poly!" cried Mab. "He's drowned!"

Roly-Poly had gone under the ice. Hal and Mab were ready to cry. But
listen. This is a secret. Roly-Poly was not drowned! A wonderful thing
happened to him, but I can not tell you about it until the end of the
book. And mind, you're not to turn over the pages to find out, either.
That would not be fair. Just wait, and I'll tell you when the times
comes.

CHAPTER VI

FISHING THROUGH THE ICE

"Come on, Mab," cried Hal, to his sister. "We've got to get him out!
We've got to save Roly-Poly!"

Letting go his father's hand, Hal started to skate toward the place
where the little poodle dog had last been seen.

"Wait--don't go," said Mr. Blake quickly, but there was no need. For,
as soon as Hal let go of his Daddy's hands, his feet, on which were
still the slippery skates, slid out from under him, and down he went
again.

"Oh dear!" cried Mab. "Everything is happening! Can't we save Roly,
Daddy?"

"Yes, perhaps," he said slowly. "But we must not go too near. Roly
went down through an air hole in the ice. The ice is thin near there.
It might break with us. I will go up carefully and look."

Telling Hal and Mab to stay together, in a spot where he knew the
ice was thick, Mr. Blake skated slowly toward the place where poor
Roly-Poly had gone under. As he came n