CHAPTER XIII
A SKATING PARTY
The holidays had come and gone, and the pupils of Oakdale High School hadresigned themselves to a period of hard study. The dreaded mid-yearexaminations stared them in the face, and for the time being basketballardor had cooled and a surprising devotion to study had ensued.
Since the day that Grace had refused to give up her captaincy there hadbeen considerable change in the girls' attitude toward her. She had notregained her old-time popularity, but it was evident that her schoolmatesrespected her for her brave decision and treated her with courtesy. Theystill retained a feeling of suspicion toward Anne, however, although theydid not openly manifest it.
Miriam Nesbit had been inwardly furious over the outcome of her plan togain the captaincy, but she was wise enough to assume an air ofindifference over her defeat. Grace's speech had made considerableimpression on the minds of even Miriam's most devoted supporters and sheknew that the slightest slip on her part would turn the tide of opinionagainst her.
Grace was in a more cheerful frame of mind than formerly. She felt thatall would come right some day. "Truth crushed to earth shall rise again,"she told herself, and the familiar saying proved very comforting to her.
Winter had settled down on Oakdale as only a northern winter can do. Therehad been snow on the ground since Thanksgiving, and sleigh rides andskating parties were in order.
Grace awoke one Saturday morning in high good humor.
"To-day's the day," she said to herself. "Hurrah for skating!"
She hurried through her breakfast and was donning her fur cap and sweater,when Anne, Jessica and Nora, accompanied by David, Hippy, Reddy and, toher surprise and delight, Tom Gray, turned in at her gate.
"'Oh, be joyful, oh, be gay, For there's skating on the bay,'"
sang Hippy.
"Meaning pond, I suppose," laughed Grace, as she opened her front door.
"Meaning pond?" answered Hippy, "only pond doesn't rhyme with gay."
"You might say,
"'Oh, be joyful, oh, be fond, For there's skating on the pond,'"
suggested David.
"Fond of what?" demanded Hippy.
"Of the person you've asked to skate with you," replied David, lookingtoward Anne, who stood with a small pair of new skates tucked under herarm.
"I shall be initiated into all the mysteries of the world soon," sheobserved, smiling happily. "Last year it was coasting and football and nowit's dancing and skating. When I once get these things on, David, I'll belike a bird trying its wings, I'll flop about just as helplessly."
"I'm awfully glad to see you, Tom," said Grace, "I did not expect to seeyou until Easter."
"Oh, I couldn't keep away," laughed Tom. "This is the jolliest place Iknow."
"Good reason," said Reddy, "we are the real people."
"Stop praising yourself and listen to me," said Hippy. "Our pond hasfrozen over in the most obliging manner. It's as smooth as glass. Let's gothere to skate. There's a crowd of boys and girls on it already."
The pond on the Wingate estate was really a small lake, a mile or more incircumference. While it froze over every winter, the ice was apt to berough, and there were often dangerous places in it, air-holes and thinspots where several serious accidents had occurred.
Therefore, Wingate's Pond was not used as much as the river for skating;but this winter the ice was as smooth and solid as if it had been frozenartificially, so the High School boys and girls could not resist thetemptation to skim over its surface.
"Isn't it a fine sight?" asked Grace, as they came in view of the skaterswho were circling and gliding over the pond, some by twos and threes,others in long rows, laughing and shouting.
A big fire burned on the bank, rows of new-comers sat near it, fitting ontheir skates.
"Away with dull care!" cried Hippy, as he circled gracefully over the ice;for, with all his weight, Hippy was considered one of the best skaters inOakdale.
"Away with everything but fun," finished Grace who could think of nothingsave the joy of skating. "Come along, Anne. Don't be afraid. David and Iwill keep you up until you learn to use those tiny little feet of yours."
Anne's small feet went almost higher than her head while Grace wasspeaking, and she sat flat down on the ice.
"No harm done," she laughed, "only I didn't know it could possibly be soslippery."
They pulled her up, David and Grace, and put her between them with TomGray on the other side of Grace as additional support, and off they flew,while Anne, keeping her feet together and holding on tightly, sailed alonglike a small ice boat.
"This will give you confidence," explained David, "and later on you canlearn how to use your feet."
But Anne hardly heard him, so thrilled was she by the glorious sensation.As they flew by, followed by Hippy and Nora, with Reddy and Jessica, shecaught glimpses of many people looking strangely unfamiliar on skates.Miriam passed, gliding gracefully over the ice with a troop of sophomoresat her heels. There were many High School boys "cracking the whip" in longrows of eight or more, while there were some older people comfortablyseated in sleigh chairs which were pushed from behind, generally by somepoor boys in Oakdale, who stood on the bank waiting to be hired.
"Now, we'll have a lesson," exclaimed David when they had reached thestarting point again, while the others lost themselves in the crowd. Annewas a good pupil, but she was soon tired and sat down on a bench near thebank.
"Do go and have a good skate yourself, David," she insisted. "I'll restfor awhile and look on."
But it was far too cold to sit still.
"I'll give myself a lesson," she said. "This is a quiet spot. All theothers seem to have skated up to the other end."
As she was carefully taking the strokes David had taught her, with anoccasional struggle to keep her balance, she heard a great shouting behindher. The next instant, some one had seized her by the hand.
"Keep your feet together!" was shouted in her ear, and she found herselfgoing like the wind at the end of a long line of girls. They were juniors,she saw at once, and it was Julia Crosby at the whip end who had seizedher by the hand.
Anne closed her eyes. They were going at a tremendous rate of speed, itseemed to her, like a comet shooting through the air. Then, suddenly, thehead of the comet stood still and the tail swung around it, and Anne, whorepresented the very tip of the tail and who hardly reached to JuliaCrosby's shoulder, felt herself carried along with such velocity that thebreath left her body, her knees gave way and she fell down in a limplittle bundle. Julia Crosby instantly let go her hand and the impetus ofthe rush shot her like a catapult far over the ice into the midst of acrowd of skaters.
But the juniors never stopped to see what damage had been done. Theyquickly joined hands again, and were off on another expedition almostbefore Anne had been picked up by David and Hippy.
"It's that Julia Crosby again," cried David. "I wish she would move toEurope. I'd gladly buy her a ticket. The town of Oakdale isn't big enoughto hold her and other people. She's always trying to knock somebody offthe side of the earth."
Anne went home, tired and bruised. She had had enough of skating for onemorning David returned to join the others; for this was not the last ofthe day's adventures and Julia Crosby, before sunset, was to repent of hercruelty to Anne.
In the meantime Grace and Tom had skated up to the far end of the pond.
"Well, Grace," said Tom, "how has the world been using you? I suppose youhave been adding to your laurels as a basketball captain."
"Far from it," said Grace a trifle sadly. "Miriam Nesbit is star player atpresent."
They skated on for some time in silence. Tom felt there was somethingwrong, so he tactfully changed the subject.
"Who is the girl doing the fancy strokes?" he asked, pointing to JuliaCrosby, who, some distance ahead of them, was giving an exhibition of herpowers as a maker of figure eights and cross-cuts.
"That's the junior captain," answered
Grace. "I hope she won't fall,because she's heavy enough to go right through the ice if she should havea hard tumble."
"Suppose we stop watching her," suggested Tom. "I don't want to see hertake a header, and people who show off on skates always do so, sooner orlater."
They changed their course toward the middle of the pond, while Julia, whowas turning and circling nearer the shore, watched them from one corner ofher eye.
Suddenly Grace stopped.
"Julia! Julia!" she cried. "Miss Crosby!"
"What's the matter?" demanded Tom.
"Don't you see the danger flag over there? She will skate into a hole ifshe keeps on. The ice houses are near here, and I suppose it is where theyhave been cutting ice."
"Hello-o!" cried Tom, straining his lungs to reach the skater, who lookedback, gave her usual tantalizing laugh and skated on.
"You are getting onto thin ice," screamed Grace in despair, beckoningwildly. "Stop! Stop!"
Julia Crosby was skating backwards now, facing the others.
"Catch me if you can," she called, and the wind carried her words to themas they flew after her.
Then Grace, who had been anxiously watching the skater and not the ice,stumbled on a piece of frozen wood and fell headlong. She lay still for aninstant, half stunned by the blow, but even in that distressful moment shecould hear the other girl's derisive laughter.
Tom called again:
"You'll be drowned, if you don't look where you are going."
"Why don't you learn to skate?" was Julia's answer.
"O Tom," exclaimed Grace. "Leave me. I'll soon get my breath. Do go andstop that girl. The pond's awfully deep there."
"Miss Crosby," Tom Gray called, "won't you wait a minute? I have somethingto tell you."
"Catch me first!" she cried.
She turned and began skating for dear life, bending from the waist andgoing like the wind.
"I think I'll try and catch her from the front," he said to himself. "Idon't propose to tumble in, too, and leave poor Grace to fish, us bothout."
With arms swinging freely, he made for the center of the pond. As hewhizzed past the girl, he turned with a wide sweep and came toward her,pointing at the same time to the white flag. But it was too late. In hereffort to outstrip him, Julia slid heavily into the danger zone.
There was a crash and a splash, then down she went into the icy water,followed by Tom, who had seized her arm in a fruitless effort to save her.
For an instant Tom was paralyzed with the coldness of the water. Still,keeping a firm grip on the arm of the girl who had been responsible forhis ice bath, he managed to clutch the ledge of ice made by their fallwith his free hand.
"Take hold of the ice and try to help yourself a little," commanded Tom.
Julia made a half-hearted attempt, and managed to grasp the ledge, but herhold was so feeble that Tom dared not withdraw his support He waspowerless to act, and they would both drown unless help came quickly.