So saying, he wheeled round and skated away, the whole crowd of skaters,
small and great, following him at full speed. As they swept round by the
fire, the light glared brightly upon their faces and forms, but they
soon disappeared from view in the darkness beyond; only Jonas could
hear the sound of their skates, ringing over the ice, as they receded.

"What a great, hot fire!" said Oliver.

"Yes," said Isabella, "I never saw such a large fire on the ice. I don't
see how they got all the wood."

"I suppose," said Jonas, "that they got out the wood from the forest,
along the shore, and threw it out upon the ice, before they put on their
skates, and then they could easily bring it to the fire. But hark! they
are coming back again."

The fire was so bright where they were, and it flashed so strongly upon
the ice around, that they could not see the skaters until they came
pretty near. The dark figures, however, soon began to appear. The
foremost was a tall young man, who came forward with great speed,
pushing before him a long and slender log, half decayed and dry. One end
he held before him in his hands, and the other glided along upon the
smooth ice towards the fire.

There followed close behind him another skater, with the fragment of an
old stump upon his shoulder; then several others, with branches,
sticks, dry bushes, and fragments of every shape and size. These they
piled upon the fire as they swept up alongside of it, and then wheeled
away back from the heat which radiated from it. Two large boys came on,
bringing a long log between them, one at each end. It looked large, but
it was really not very heavy, as it was hollow and decayed. They hove it
up, with great effort, upon the fire, and its fall upon the heap threw
up a large, bright column of sparks and flame. Another boy had the top
of a young spruce, which he had cut off with his knife, by dint of great
labor; it made a great roaring and crackling when it was put upon the
fire. And, finally, behind all the rest, there came a little boy not so
big as Oliver, tugging away at a long branch, which he dragged behind
him, and put it upon the fire too.

"Well," said the farmer's wife, after a little time, "we mustn't stay
here much longer."

"We'll drive around the fire, in one great sweep," said Jonas.

So he started the horse on, and took a great circuit about the fire. The
skaters went with him on each side of the sleigh. Then they turned
their course tow