would most surely break in. But Fred did not mean to take any more
chances than necessity demanded; and Bristles, though commonly known as
a reckless fellow, had promised to steer clear of any spot which his
companion told him was unsafe.

Both of the boys were very fond of this sort of sport. It was a delight
to them to feel themselves being carried along over the ice at a merry
clip, with the steel runners singing a sweet tune, and the wind humming
through the dangling ropes.

The shore fairly flew past them, once the iceboat got fairly started; and
it seemed almost no time before they glimpsed the smoke from the
factories of Mechanicsburg, which was just three miles above their home
town, and on the same bank of the frozen Modunk.

"Keep a bright outlook while we're passing!" called out Fred; "they may
have been cutting ice up here, as they were early in the Winter, though
the openings froze over again."

"Looks a bit suspicious over to the right, and I'll hug this shore. Give
me a call if you see any hole ahead, so I can sheer off, Fred."

"That's what I will, Bristles, you can depend on it!"

Already they had come abreast the lower houses. The breeze had even
freshened a little, or else the bank was somewhat lower, so they caught
its full force. At any rate, they fairly rushed past the busy
manufacturing town, where there were a number of big mills and factories,
giving employment to hundreds of hands.

"Somebody's waving his hat to us on the bank up there, and shouting in
the bargain," called Bristles, who was too busily engaged in looking
straight ahead to turn his eyes aslant.

"Yes, and I think it's Felix Wagner," admitted Fred. "Looked like his
figure, but I can't squirm around so as to see again. Doesn't matter
much anyway. Hi! there, turn out a little more, Bristles; you're heading
for a hole! Not too far, because there's another just as bad stretching
out from the other side. Careful now, boy; a little too much either way,
and we're in for a ducking!"

"Just room enough to get through, I reckon, Fred. Whee! that's going to
be a tight hole for us. I hope we can make the riffle, all right!"

"Steady, a little bit more to the left; now a quick swing the other way,
and we're over safely enough. Say, that was as pretty handling of an
ice-boat as I ever saw done. You deserve a heap of credit for that job,
Bristles, and that's straight!"

"Thanks, awfully, Fred," said the other, in rat