The Washington herald., 1915-04-04
Edited by MARY MARSHALL
BY CHARES J. FENTON.

| We were six altogether-two Yankee
boys and four Flemish-and each of
us was seated in a light sleigh. and
clinging for all he was worth. to an
| umbrella. which made the grandest
| sail imaginable.
Oh. it WAS glorious! At times we
! held our breath with excitement. and
we-that is Mackay and myself
thought we were winning. We were
| those Flemings managed the sleighs
better than we could, for they were
used to this sort of thing.
So it happened that they won: but
that was not the cause of the fight.
Collected round our sleiShs and
munching the ginger snaps that Mack
ay had handed round. we discussed the
race. Van Hook, the eldest of the
Flemish boys. was jubilant. and Mack
ay longcd TO take him down peg or
two.
Look here. Van Hook. we'll chol-
lengc you again. and this time wen
push the sleighs."
And against the wind" l suggested
Yes. against the wind" agreed
Mackay. looking at Van Hooks thin
legs.
1t was a struggle. Scratch-scratch
l-swish-swish went the skates and
the critical moment of the race had
come: Van Hook was beginning to lose
ground. 1t was matter of strength
and not of skill in skating.
Mackay was first. just in front of
Van Hoek. and l was on the left of
Mackay. Van Hook saw that we were
| preparing to make the final dash for
ward. and he knew that he had no
strength left to make this dash. he
! saw that he was beaten. So he
swerved close up behind Mackay. then
dashed out at him with one foot. and
the next instant Mackay flew in a
! headlong stumble over the ice with an
ugly cash across his ankle. made by
| Van Hooks long, pointed Dutch skate.
In an instant all was confusion. We
were now a struggling mass-Mackay
| trying to get on to his feet again: his
| sleigh flying off in another direction;
Van Hook colliding with me. and the
others. unable to stop themselves.
crashed like an express train into US
all.
The Flemings scrambled to their
feet and massed themselves together to
show fight. and we made for them:
but somehow Van Hook was not in the
front.
But Van Hook was already making
! a strategic retreat.
Quick" | screamed. They're off,"
But the Flemings were quicker. and
bolted for dear life with their sleighs.
and we let them go. We had no quar-
rel with them. But we picked out Van
Hook
The short winters day was now
drawing to close, and the dreary
| waste of frozen marshland lay like
great graz sheet all around. some
times broken up by a wood. that rose
up in d black mass above the ice.
And across this ice we rushed with
our sleighs before us-for we dared
not leave them behind.
Never for one instant did we take
our eyes of that figure. which few
like a will-o'-the-wisp in front Of US.
Sometimes We seemed to be gaining on
him, but very often he seemed to grow
less; but we still kept on skating. just
three of us on that silent marsh. for
the others had completely vanished.
A little in front of US lay a wood.
and here we tried to so faster. At this
moment Mackay muttered something
that had the word ankle In it, and now,
for the first time, l noticed that he
limped slightly.
Ankle hurt?' l asked.
"A bit; but we can't stop"
You must!' and I whipped out a
handkerchief and tied it round the
place as well as I could. Then we
went on.
Mackay struggled doggedly on. but
the chase seemed hopeless.
Suddenly he cried out. The dyke"
We had both forgotten all about the
dyke until this moment. Van Hook
had stopped.