The Curlytops and Their Playmates Part 25

"Hay! Hay! Hay!"

"Oh, it's a blue jay!" exclaimed Janet, as she ran to the top of the hill to see what had happened to William. It was nothing serious. He had merely slid down on the smooth brown pine needles which covered the ground and made it almost as slippery as a coasting hill. Perhaps the sudden cry of the blue jay had made Trouble give a nervous jump and this had thrown him off his balance, causing him to fall.

"Was that bird chase me?" he asked, as he heard the blue one cry and saw it flitting about.

"Oh, no," answered Lola. "You chased yourself, I guess. Are you hurt?"

"I--I'm all--b.u.mped," explained Trouble.

And this, really, was all that had happened to him. The pine hill was so smooth that no one could have been hurt on it. The girls found it so slippery that they could hardly stand up on it while helping Trouble up.

"Let's try--" began Mary. She was about to say "try a slide," when her feet suddenly went from under her and she did as Trouble had done. She burst out laughing, as did William and the other two girls, and the woods echoed to the merry sound, bringing the boys over on the run. They had not seen the rabbit after the first fleeting glimpse.

"What's the matter?" asked Ted.

"We've found a slippery place," answered his sister.

"Come on, let's try it!" suggested Tom.

They all did, making efforts to go down the slippery pine-needle hill standing up. But every one toppled before reaching the bottom of the hill. However, this was part of the fun, and Trouble enjoyed it with the others.

Now and then the blue jay would flit to and fro, alighting on the trees or bushes, and shrilly cry:

"Hay! Hay! Hay!"

"Maybe he wants to play, too," suggested Mary, who liked to look at one of our most brilliantly colored winter birds.

"He's making enough fuss about it, anyhow," said Tom.

The children had lots of fun in the woods that day and the next. No more tappings on the window were heard, and the Curlytops and their playmates forgot all about the little scare. The weather grew colder and colder.

One morning Uncle Toby came in from the barn. He rubbed his red hands before the fire and said:

"Lake's frozen over! Now you can go skating!"

CHAPTER XVI

A REAL TOBOGGAN

"Let's have a race!" cried Ted, as soon as his skates were fastened on his shoes, for as soon as breakfast was over the children had gone out on the ice with their skates.

"All right!" shouted Tom, who was quite ready for this sort of fun. "I can beat you, Ted Martin!"

"And I can beat you, Tom Taylor!" exclaimed Lola, his sister, who was a very good skater.

"Oh, wouldn't it be fun if we two could beat them?" suggested Jan to Lola.

"We'll try," was the answer.

Meanwhile, though Mary and Harry had put on their skates, they took no part in this talk and stood about on the ice as if they hardly knew what to do.

"Will you join in the race?" asked Lola of Mary. "We three girls against the boys."

"I don't believe I can skate well enough to race," Mary answered, and her brother joined in with:

"You see we never had much chance to skate, and about all we can do is to move along in a straight line." He laughed good-naturedly over his own lack of skill.

"Oh, that's all right!" cried Ted, in jolly fas.h.i.+on. "We won't have any race then--that is, until after you two get more used to your skates."

"Oh, don't let us stop you from having fun!" exclaimed Mary.

"We can have just as much fun not racing. I don't care much for it, anyhow, do you, Jan?" said Lola.

"No, indeed!" answered the Curlytop girl. Thus did they try to make Mary and Harry feel happier, and they succeeded.

"I tell you what we can do," suggested Tom Taylor. "Ted and I can show you a few easy tricks on skates, Harry, and Jan and Lola can do the same with Mary."

"That will be fine!" exclaimed Harry. "Then, when we know more about it, we can have a race."

So it was decided, and then and there began lessons for the two poor children whom Uncle Toby had brought to Crystal Lake so they might have a good time over the holidays. Harry and Mary were quick to learn, and though it would be some time before they could beat any of the other four children in a race, they did very well for beginners.

"See if you can do this!" cried Ted, after having shown Harry how to "grind the bar" backward, a trick Harry soon learned.

"Watch me!" cried Ted, as he began doing what he called a grapevine twist. To do it he darted farther out from sh.o.r.e than any of them had yet gone, and just as he was dong some fancy skating there was a loud booming, cracking sound that sent a s.h.i.+ver all through the ice on which the others were standing.

"Oh, come! Come back!" cried Jan to her brother. "The ice is going to break! We'll fall in!"

"That's right!" yelled Tom. "Come on back, Ted!"

Ted needed no urging, but skated as fast as he could toward sh.o.r.e, whither the others were fleeing as fast as they could strike out on their skates. They reached land safely, and, to their surprise, no big cracks or holes appeared in the ice. It seemed as solid as ever.

"I wonder what made that?" asked Janet, whose heart was beating fast.

"The ice broke somewhere," declared Lola.

"We'd better not go on it any more," said Mary.

"Well go up and ask Uncle Toby about it," suggested Ted. "I don't want to stop skating."

As the children were about to take off their skates to go back to the cabin, Aunt Sallie was seen coming down, dragging Trouble on a sled.

There were patches of snow here and there so it was not hard to pull the sled along. And Trouble was not very heavy.

"Oh, Aunt Sallie, you ought to hear the ice crack!" called the children in a chorus.

"Is it dangerous?" asked Mary.