Page:Boys of Columbia High on the Ice.djvu/111

Rh ability to tell the strong and weak points in a boy's character, from the bumps on his head.

Frank turned aside after looking out on the ice, and walking some little distance up the shore, came to a cove where, just as he anticipated, he found Lanky busily engaged in making the needed repairs to his ice-boat.

"Hello! Frank, I was wondering whether you mightn't drift along," remarked the worker, as he looked up to greet his chum.

"How's that stump of a mast going to serve?" asked Frank.

"Prime. Just the thing to a dot. To tell the truth I was a little suspicious of the way my mast was stepped. Now it's firmer than ever," came the reply.

"That's the way things go, sometimes; they say there isn't a single evil that happens to us but what we can get good out of it, Lanky."

"Hey! what's that you're giving me? How about that crack you got this morning? I'd like to know where you're going to get any profit out of that," and Lanky shook his head vigorously to emphasize his dissent.

"Oh! well, in the first place I learned my lesson for keeps. It's been a long time coming, but after this I'm never going to trust that sneak behind me."

"Hear! hear! I thought you'd have to come to