s over the ice, in a great circle,
and made the farmer's wife very much afraid that she should be upset. It
seemed as if the sleigh was trying to get before the horse.

However, Amos, who was driving, contrived to get the horse ahead again,
and then they went on with great speed. It was a mile across to the end
of the point of land; but Kate carried them over this space in a very
few minutes. As they drew near to the point, they watched the light. It
did not rise at all.

"It cannot be the moon," said Jonas, "for it is now full a quarter of an
hour since we first saw it."

"Yes," said the farmer's wife, "I knew it couldn't be the moon."

Just at this moment, the sleigh came around the point with great speed,
and brought into view a very bright but distant fire, far before them.

"It is a fire!" they all exclaimed.

"But it isn't in the direction of the village," said Jonas.

"It must be some farm-house," said the farmer's wife, "on the shore."

"No," said Jonas, "I think it is on the ice."

It very soon became evident that the fire was upon the ice. It was
plainly a large fire, though the distance made it look rather small. It
was very bright, and it flashed up high; and a cloud of illuminated
smoke arose from it, and floated off to the northward. The party in the
sleigh could soon perceive, also, a number of small, bright spots near
it, which seemed to be in motion about the fire. They looked like the
moons about the planet Jupiter, seen through a telescope.

"I wonder what it is," said Isabella.

"I presume," said Jonas, "that the boys are out skating, and this is a
fire on the ice, which they have built."

"And are those the boys moving about?" asked Oliver.

"Yes," said Jonas. "When they are near the fire, the light shines upon
their faces."

As they rode on, it became gradually more and more evident that Jonas
was right. The forms of the skaters, as they stood before the fire, or
came wheeling up to it, became more and more distinct, and, in fact, the
ringing sound of the skates soon became audible. The horse, in the mean
time, went on, with great speed, directly towards the fire. When they
arrived near the fire, the skaters came around them in great numbers,
wondering who could have come. Jonas asked them where they got the wood
to build their fire.

"All along the shore," said a large boy, with a long stick in his hand.
"Let's go and get some more, boys," he added, "and brighten up our
fire."