THIN ICE 



year. The embossing it is, I think, that 

 largely gives it its strength, and though 

 it may crack and sag beneath you as you 

 strike out, you know that its black tex- 

 ture is made up of interlacing crystals 

 that slip by one another in the bending, 

 but take a new grip and hold until your 

 weight fairly tears them apart. 



The small boy knows this instinctively 

 and applies it as he successfully runs 

 " teetley-bendoes " to the amazement and 

 terror of the uninitiated grown-ups. If 

 you have the heart of the small boy still, 

 though with an added hundred pounds in 

 weight, you may yet dare as he does and 

 add to the exhilaration born of the wine- 

 sweet air the spice of audacity. An inch 

 or so of transparent ice lies between you 

 and a ducking among the fishes which 

 dart through the clear depths, fleeing be- 

 fore the under water roar of your ad- 

 53 



