CHAPTER VIII.
"He it was who sent the snowflakes Sifting, hissing through the forest; Froze the ponds, the lakes, the rivers, * * * * * Shinbegis, the diver, feared not." _The Song of Hiawatha_.
The first day of February was mild, and foggy, and cloudy, and in the night I woke feeling very hot, and threw off my quilt, and heard the dripping of soft rain in the dark outside, and thought, "There goes our skating." Towards morning, however, I woke again, and had to pull the quilt back into its place, and when I started after breakfast to see what the dam looked like, there was a sharpish frost, which, coming after a day of thaw, had given the ice such a fine smooth surface as we had not had for long.
I felt quite sorry for Jem, because he was going in the dog-cart with my father to see a horse, and as I hadn't got him to skate with, I went down to the farm after breakfast, to see what Charlie and the Woods were going to do.

Charlie was not well, but Mr.Wood said he would come to the dam with me after dinner, as he had to go to the next village on business, and the dam lay in his way.
"Keep to the pond this morning, Jack," he added, to my astonishment.
"Remember it thawed all yesterday; and if the wheel was freed and has been turning, it has run water off from under the ice, and all may not be sound that's smooth." The pond was softer than it looked, but the mill-dam was most tempting.
A sheet of "glare ice," as Americans say, smooth and clear as a newly-washed window-pane.

I did not go on it, but I brought Mr.Wood to it early in the afternoon, in the full hope that he would give me leave.
We found several young men on the bank, some fastening their skates and some trying the ice with their heels, and as we stood there the numbers increased, and most of them went on without hesitation; and when they rushed in groups together, I noticed that the ice slightly swayed.
"The ice bends a good deal," said Mr.Wood to a man standing next to us.
"They say it's not so like to break when it bends," was the reply; and the man moved on.
A good many of the elder men from the village had come up, and a group, including John Binder, now stood alongside of us.
"There's a good sup of water atop of it," said the mason; and I noticed then that the ice seemed to look wetter, like newly-washed glass still, but like glass that wants wiping dry.
"I'm afraid the ice is not safe," said the school-master.
"It's a tidy thickness, sir," said John Binder, and a heavy man, with his hands in his pockets and his back turned to us, stepped down and gave two or three jumps, and then got up again, and, with his back still turned towards us, said, "It's reight enough." "It's right enough for one man, but not for a crowd, I'm afraid.

Was the water-wheel freed last night, do you know ?" "It was loosed last night, but it's froz again," said a bystander.
"It's not freezing now," said the school-master, "and you may see how much larger that weak place where the stream is has got since yesterday.
However," he added, good-humouredly, "I suppose you think you know your own mill-dam and its ways better than I can ?" "Well," said the heavy man, still with his back to us, "I reckon we've slid on this dam a many winters afore _you_ come.

No offence, I hope ?" "By no means," said the school-master; "but if you old hands do begin to feel doubtful as the afternoon goes on, call off those lads at the other end in good time.