POOR ROLY-POLY"Come on!" cried Mab, as she started to run down the slope of the hill toward¹ the frozen² pond. "Come on, Hal!"

 

"Hold on!" called Daddy Blake. "Wait a minute, Mab! Don't go on the ice yet!"

 

Mab stopped at once. So did Hal, who had just begun to run. You see the children had gotten into the habit of stopping when their uncle called: "Wait a minute and I'll give you a penny," so it was not hard for them to do so when their father called.

 

"Why can't I go on the ice?" asked Mab,

 

"I must first see how thick it is," answered Daddy Blake.

 

"What difference does that make?" Hal wanted to know.

 

"Oh, a whole lot," said Mr. Blake. "If the ice is too thin you will break through, and go into the cold water. We must be very careful, I will see if it is thick enough."

 

Mab waited for her father and Hal to come to where she was standing³.

Roly-Poly did not wait, however. Down he rushed to the frozen pond.

"Oh, come back! Come back!" cried Mab. "You'll go through the ice,

Roly!"

But Roly-Poly paid no attention. Out on the slippery⁴ ice he ran, and then he turned around and, looking at Daddy Blake and the two children, he barked as loudly as he could.

 

Roly-Poly was a queer⁵ dog that way. Sometimes he would mind Mab, and then, again, he would not.

 

"I guess the ice is thick enough to hold up Roly," said Mr. Blake. "It doesn't need to be very strong for that, as Roly is so little."

 

"How thick must it be to hold us up?" Hal wanted to know.

 

"Well, on a small pond, ice an inch thick might hold up a little boy or girl," explained Mr. Blake. "But not very many children at a time. On a large pond the ice should be from six to eight inches thick to hold up a crowd of skaters."

 

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