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Neale steered outside the line of the ice settlement; but once beyond it he brought the scooter up into the wind and yelled at Agnes to let go the sheet and falls. She loosened the lines from the pegs and allowed them to slip. Down came the shaking canvas, the wooden hoops clattering together as they slid down the greased mast. In a moment the speed of the scooter was lost and they were all but smothered in the fallen canvas.
Get out from under! Neales voice shouted.
He dropped off at the stern and ran to the girls aid. He unbuckled the belt that had secured Agnes to her seat on the outrigger all this while, and fairly dragged her from under the flapping sail.
Fine work! Neale shouted, his voice full of laughter. We made record time. But Ill let somebody else furl that sail.
Oh, Neale! gasped the girl, hobbling like a cripple. I ca cant walk. Im frozen stiff!
Come on to the shanties. Well get warm. Take hold here, Aggie. Youll be all right in a few minutes.
Oh, dear! she said. I did not know I was so cold. But what a race it was, Neale! Ruth will give us fits.
Wont she? chuckled Neale.
But what is this place, Neale? Agnes went on. What are these people doing here?
Fishing. Those are frozen fish they are loading on that sledge. Oh! There it goes! We cant get ashore on that, after all.
Fishing?
repeated the amazed girl. How do they fish through the ice? I dont see any holes.
No. The holes wouldnt stay open long, as cold as it is out here. Its about twenty below zero right now, my lady, and Im keeping a sharp eye on your nose.
Oh! Oh! gasped Agnes, putting her mittened hand tentatively to her nose. Is that why you told me to keep my collar up over my mouth and nose?
It is! declared the boy, rubbing his own face vigorously. If you see any white spot on anybodys face up here in this weather, grab a handful of snow and begin rubbing the spot.
Mercy! Agnes murmured, with a gay little laugh. Lucky Trix Severn doesnt come up here. She uses rice powder dreadfully, and folks would think she was being frost-bitten.
Uh-huh! agreed Neale.
But you havent told me how they fish, said the girl, as they approached nearer to the huts and she was able to walk better.
Through the ice of course, he laughed. Only you dont see the holes. They are inside the huts.
You dont mean it, Neale?
To be sure I mean it! Some of those big shanties house whole families. You see there are children and dogs. They have pot stoves which warm the huts to a certain degree, and on which they cook. And they have bunks built against the walls, with plenty of bedding.
Why, I should think they would get their death of cold! gasped the girl.
Thats just what they dont get, Neale rejoined. You can bet there are no white plague patients here. This atmosphere will kill tubercular germs like a hammer kills a flea.
Goodness, Neale! giggled Agnes. Did you ever kill a flea with a hammer?
Yep. Sand-flea, he assured her, grinning. Oh! Im one quick lad, Aggie.
She really thought he was joking, however, until she had looked into two or three of the huts. People really did live in them, as she saw. In the middle of the plank floors was a well, with open water kept clear of frost. The set-lines were fastened to pegs in the planks and the flags announced when a fish was on the hook.
A smiling woman, done up like an Eskimo, invited them into one shack. She had evidently not seen the scooter arrive from down the lake and thought the boy and girl had walked out from Coxford.
Hello! she said. Goin to try your hands at fishin? Youre town folks, aint you?
Yes, said Agnes, politely. We come from Milton.
Lawsy! Thats a fur ways, said the woman. She was peeling potatoes, and a kettle was boiling on the stove at one side. The visitors knew by the odor that there was corned beef in the pot. You goin to try your hands? the woman repeated.
No, said Neale. We are with a party that is going up to Red Deer Lodge.
Oh! Thats the Birdsall place. You cant git up there tonight. Its too fur.
I guess we shall stay in Coxford, admitted Neale.
Didnt know but you an your sister wanted to fish. Old Manny Cox got ketched with rheumatics so that he had to give up fishin this season. I can hire you his shanty.
No, thank you! murmured Agnes, her eyes round with interest.
I let it for a week or more to two gals, said the woman complacently. Got five dollars out of em for Manny. Hell be needin the money. Better stay awhile and try the fishin.
Goodness! Two girls alone? asked Agnes.
Yes. Youngern you are, too. But they knowed their way around, I guess, said the woman. Good lookin gals. Nice cloes. Town folks, I guess. Mebbe they wasnt oldern my Bob, and hes just turned twelve.
Twelve years old! And two girls alone? murmured Agnes.
Oh, there aint nobody to hurt you here. We dont never need no constable out here on the ice. Theres plenty of women folks Miz Ashtable, and Hank Crummets wife, and Mary Boley and her boys. Oh, lots o women here. We can help make money in the winter.