Page:The practical joke, or, The Christmas story of Uncle Ned.djvu/13

Rh pond-lilies, with their broad leaves of tender green, mingled with rushes and long grass, while the little fish danced like beams of silver-light in the clear water. The pond was of no great extent, but toward the middle it was quite deep, and formed a fine broad sheet of ice for skating.

"I remembered having seen the day before an air-hole near a rock on the opposite shore. I had tried the ice near it, and found it strong enough to bear my weight; and concluding that by this time it was quite thick enough to bear two or three, I determined to play a trick upon Jack, who was exceedingly good natured, but a great brag. Nobody could outwit him, he thought. 'Come, Jack,' said I, 'follow me, and I will take you where you are afraid to go.'—'I afraid!' said he, 'catch me afraid—I can go anywhere you can—go ahead!' Away we shot, like swallows, toward the fatal air