The wedding had been fixed for the end of
March.
It was a winter of early and unseasonable thaws, and the far end of the
local lake, at a spot where swift currents flowed into it, was decorated
with notices, written in three languages, warning skaters not to venture
over certain unsafe patches. The folly of approaching too near these
danger spots seemed to have a natural fascination for the Sheep.
"I don't see what possible danger there can be," he protested, with his
inevitable smile, when Rupert beckoned him away from the proscribed area;
"the milk that I put out on my window-sill last night was frozen an inch
deep."
"It hadn't got a strong current flowing through it," said Rupert; "in any
case, there is not much sense in hovering round a doubtful piece of ice
when there are acres of good ice to skate over. The secretary of the ice-
committee has warned you once already."
A few minutes later Rupert heard a loud squeal of fear, and saw a dark
spot blotting the smoothness of the lake's frozen surface. The Sheep was
struggling helplessly in an ice-hole of his own making. Rupert gave one
loud curse, and then dashed full tilt for the shore; outside a low stable
building on the lake's edge he remembered having seen a ladder.
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