"now we'll bait our hooks," said mr. blake, when he had put the lunch, which they had brought along, safely away in a sheltered place. "and after that we will have a little skate practice to get warmed up, for it is colder than i thought."

"but if we bait our hooks, and leave them in the water, won't the fish run away with our lines if we are not here to watch them?" asked mab.

"we'll fix the lines so the fish that bite will ring a little bell, to tell us to come and take them off the hook!" replied daddy blake with a laugh.

"oh, now i know you're fooling us!" said hal.

"no, really i am not," replied his father, but mr. blake could not keep the funny twinkle out of his eyes, and hal was sure there was some joke.

from a small satchel, in which he had put the things for fishing, mr. blake took several pieces of wire. on the ends were some bits of red cloth, and also, on each wire, a little brass bell, that went "tinkle-tinkle."

"oh, they are really bells!" cried mab, as she heard them jingle.

"of course they are" said her father. "now i'll tell you what we'll do. we'll bait our hook, and lower it into the water through a hole in the ice. then, close to the hole, we'll fasten one of these pieces of wire each one of which has, on the upper end, a bell and a bit of red cloth.

"when the wires are stuck in the ice we'll fasten our lines to them, and then, when the fish, down in the cold water, pulls on the baited hook he will make the piece of red cloth flutter, and he will also ring the bell."

"oh, now i see!" cried hal. "and if we are off skating we can look over here, and if we see the red rag fluttering we'll know we have a bite, and can come and pull up the fish."

"that's it," said daddy blake, smiling.

"and if we don't happen to see the red rag fluttering, we will hear the bell ring," added mab, clapping her hands. "how nice it is to fish this way!"

the hooks were soon baited, and lowered into the water through the holes in the ice then the other end of each fish line was made fast to a wire sticking up, with its bit of red rag, and the little brass bell.

"now we'll go skating," said daddy blake. "the fish themselves will tell us when they are caught. come along."

hal and mab had, by this time, learned to put on their own skates, though of course hal helped his sister with the straps.

"you must begin to learn to skate by yourselves," said daddy blake, after he had held the hands of the children for a time. "don't be afraid, strike out for yourselves."

"but s'pose we fall?" asked mab.

"that won't hurt you very much," her father said. "be careful, of course, not to double your legs up under you, and when you tumble don't hit your head on your own skates, or any one's else. but when you feel that you are going to fall, just let yourself go naturally. if you strain, and try not to fall, you may sprain and hurt yourself more than if you fall easily. now strike out!"

hal and mab tried it. at first they were timid, and only took little strokes, but, after a while, they grew bolder, and did very well. they were really learning to skate.

"oh, look!" suddenly cried hal. "my red rag is bobbing; i must have a bite!"

he started in such a hurry toward the ice-hole where his line was set that he fell down. but he did not mind that, and was soon up again. however, mab, who did not stumble, teached her line first.

"oh dear! i haven't a bite!" she sighed, for her bell was not jingling.

"but i have!" cried hal, pulling his line in. "a big one, too!"

"i'll help you," said daddy blake, as he skated up to his little son, and when daddy had felt of the tugging line he remarked:

"yes, that is a large fish! up he comes!" and he pulled up hal's fish.

just as the big, flopping pickerel was hauled out on the ice, mab cried:

"my bell is tinkling! my bell is tinkling! i've got a fish, too!" and indeed her piece of wire was moving to and fro where it was stuck up in the ice, and the bell was jingling merrily.

"wait, mab, i'll help you!" called daddy blake, and, leaving hal to take care of his own fish, the children's papa went to pull in mab's catch.

her fish was not quite as large as was hal's, but it was a very nice one. then mr. blake called out:

"oh ho! now there's a bite on my line!"

his bell jingled quite loudly, and when the string was pulled up through the hole there was a fine, large pickerel on the hook. the fish were placed in a basket to be taken home, after having been mercifully put out of pain by a blow on the head. then the hooks were baited again.

in a little while each one had caught another fish and then daddy

blake said:

"now we have all the fish we can use, so there is no need of catching any more. we will practice our skating a little longer, and then go home. for i am sure you children must be cold."

"oh, but aren't we going to eat the lunch we brought, before we go home?" cried hal.

"i was just wondering if you would think of that!" laughed daddy blake. "yes, we will eat lunch as soon as we get a little warm by skating around, or by running."