You can easily imagine what the six little Bunkers said when d.i.c.k asked this question about his ice boat.

"I want to come!" cried Russ.

"I want a ride!" shouted Laddie.

"Shall we get wet?" asked Rose.

"Oh, no, not in an ice boat," said Grandpa Ford. "I've seen d.i.c.k sail one before. An ice boat is like a big skate, you know. It just slides over the ice. You may take some of the little Bunkers for a ride in your ice boat, d.i.c.k, if you'll be careful of them."

"I'll be very careful," promised d.i.c.k. "Come along!"

With shouts and laughter the six little Bunkers got ready to go down to the pond with d.i.c.k, and ride in his ice boat.

I presume that not many of you have seen ice boats, so I will tell you a little about them. Those of you who know all about them need not read this part.

As Grandpa Ford had said, an ice boat, in a way, is like a big skate or sled. It slides over the frozen ice of a pond, lake or river instead of sailing through the water, as another boat does. And an ice boat really has something like skates on it, only they are called runners. Perhaps I might say they are more like the runners of a sled.

If you will take two long, strong, heavy pieces of wood and fasten them together like a cross, or as you fasten kite sticks, you will see how the frame of an ice boat is built. On the ends of the shorter cross-piece are fastened the runners that slide over the ice. On the end of the longer cross-piece is another runner, but this one turns about from side to side with a tiller, like the tiller of a boat that goes in water, and by this the ice boat is steered.

Where the two sticks cross the mast is set up, and on this is fastened the sail, and between the sail and the tiller is a sort of shallow box.

This is the cabin of the ice boat, where the people sit when they are sailing over the frozen pond.

"My ice boat is only a small home-made one," said d.i.c.k, "and I can't take you all at one time. But I'll give you each some turns, and I hope you'll like it."

Down to the edge of the pond went the six little Bunkers with d.i.c.k.

Grandpa Ford and Daddy Bunker went, too, to see the ice boat.

d.i.c.k's ice boat was large enough to hold him and two little Bunkers at a time, and first he said he would take Russ and Mun Bun, for Russ could hold on to his little brother.

"I have to manage the sail and steer the boat," explained the hired man, "and sometimes we go pretty fast. Then you have to hold on as tight as you can. But you'll not spill out, for the ice is smooth."

Russ and Mun Bun took their places on some pieces of old carpet that d.i.c.k had put in the cabin of his boat. It was not like the cabin of any other boat, for it was open on all sides. Really all it could be called was a shallow box.

"All ready?" asked d.i.c.k.

"All ready!" answered Russ, holding tightly to Mun Bun.

Away they sailed over the ice, turning this way and that, and they went so fast that, at times, it almost took away the breath of Mun Bun and Russ. But they liked it, and laughed so gleefully about it that Laddie and Violet were eager to have their turn.

They, too, liked the ride on the ice boat, as it glided across the frozen pond. The wind blew on the sail, and made the ice boat go fast.

Then came the turn of Rose and Margy. At first Margy thought she would not go, but when they told her how much Mun Bun had liked it, and when Mun Bun himself had said he wanted to go again, Margy let Rose lift her in.

"Here we go!" cried d.i.c.k, and away glided the boat. Back and forth across the pond it went, and Rose laughed, and so did Margy. She found she liked it very much.

"Could I have another ride?" asked Russ after a bit.

"I guess so," agreed d.i.c.k. "I'll take you and Laddie this time. The wind is stronger now, and we'll go faster--too fast for the smallest ones, maybe."

"I like to go fast!" exclaimed Russ. But he went even faster than he expected to.

As d.i.c.k had said, the wind was blowing very strong now, and it stretched the sail of the ice boat away out. d.i.c.k had all he could do to hold it while Russ and Laddie got on board.

"All ready?"

"All ready!" answered Russ.

The boat swung around and away it whizzed over the ice. Russ and Laddie clung to the sides of the box-like cabin, and Russ had fairly to shout to make himself heard above the whistling of the wind.

"This is fast!" he called in Laddie's ear.

"Yes, but I like it," said the smaller boy. "I'm going to make up a riddle about the ice boat but it goes so fast as soon as I think of anything in my head I forget it."

"It's fun!" exclaimed Russ. "When I get bigger I'm going to make an ice boat that goes----"

But what Russ intended to do he never finished telling for, just then, there came a stronger puff of wind than before, and d.i.c.k cried:

"Lookout!"

Just what they were to look out for Russ and Laddie did not know, but they soon discovered.

The ice boat seemed to tilt up on one side, "as if it wanted to stand on its ear," Grandpa Ford said afterward, and out spilled Russ, out spilled Laddie, and d.i.c.k, himself, almost spilled out. But he managed to hold fast, which the two boys could not do.

Out of the ice boat the lads tumbled. But as they had on thick coats, and as they did not fall very far but went spinning over the frozen pond, they thought it was fun.

Over the ice they slid, just as a skater slides when he falls down, and finally they stopped and sat up.

"Huh!" grunted Russ.

"That--that was fun, wasn't it?" asked Laddie.

"Lots of fun!" agreed Russ. "I wonder if he did it on purpose?"

"Let's ask him to do it again," suggested Laddie.

But the spill was an accident. d.i.c.k had not meant that it should happen.

"As for giving you more rides," he said, when he had brought the boat back to sh.o.r.e, "I don't believe I'd better. The wind is getting stronger, and there might be a real accident next time. Some other day I'll give you more rides."

"Oh, d.i.c.k, please!" pleaded Violet. But d.i.c.k said he was sorry, but they would all have to wait for a calmer day.

So the little Bunkers had to be satisfied with this, and really they had had fine fun, and all agreed that d.i.c.k's ice boat was just grand.

Back to the house they went, and, as it was nearly time to eat, they did not come out again until after the meal. Then there was more skating, and some fun on the ice with sleds, until it was time to come in for the day.

"What'll we do to-morrow?" asked Rose, as she and the other little Bunkers were getting ready for bed.