Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/163

Rh this time, I know, but you must never try it again. Will you promise? ”

“It was first-rate fun,” remonstrated Phil, the clearness of his speech rather impaired by his swollen lip.

“Yes, fun in the time of it; but suppose that you had gone into the water, or that Bert had been more than stunned by his fall. Such fun as that would not be worth while, I am sure. I want you to let this be your last ice-boating, until you are older.”

“Yes, I guess we’d better let it alone,” said Bert regretfully. “But you just ought to try it once, Miss Bess, to see how fine it is. Good-night!”

And the boys, glad to have escaped so lightly, were off with a shout, while Bess went in, to be met at the door by Fred.

The lads kept their promise the more easily because a heavy fall of snow, the night after their ice-boating, made the pond useless. But as winter is the boy’s carnival time, and as boy ingenuity is endless as far as ways to tempt Providence are concerned, the quintette soon devised a new method of imperilling their lives.