He was so clumsy-looking that I quite expected him to fall when he walked off on to ice only fit for skaters.

But as I looked closer I saw that the wet on the top was beginning to have a curdled look, and that the glassiness of the mill-dam was much diminished.

The heavy man's heavy boots got good foothold, and several of his friends, seeing this, went after him.

And my promise weighed sorely on me.
The next thing that drew my attention was a lad of about seventeen, who was skating really well.

Indeed, everybody was looking at him, for he was the only one of the villagers who could perform in any but the clumsiest fashion, and, with an active interest that hovered between jeering and applause, his neighbours followed him up and down the dam.
As I might not go on, I wandered up and down the bank too, and occasionally joined in a murmured cheer when he deftly evaded some intentional blunderer, or cut a figure at the request of his particular friends.