ople, and your skates are as well put on. Look at Buttar,
and Bouldon, and me. You will be able to skate as easily as any of us
with a little practice. There is no necessity why you should tumble
down. You can balance yourself off the ice perfectly, on the gymnastic
poles, and in other ways. Now, hurra!--off you go!"

Ernest knew that Ellis required all sorts of encouragement, so he said
more to him than he would to any other boy. Ellis at last got up; his
ankles slipped about a little, but he was anxious to follow his friend's
advice. In a short time he felt that he could stand firmly on the ice;
then he slipped about, pushing one skate before the other. First he
helped himself on with his stick, and then he balanced himself with it,
and in an incredibly short time could move about so as to feel little
fear of falling.

"Now," exclaimed Ernest, "I have set you on your feet, I'll go and take
a skim over the surface. Remember, the more you practise, and the
faster you throw away fear, the sooner you will be able to do the same.
Good-bye!"

Away went Ernest, fleet as the wind, holding his right hand up before
him to balance himself, and disdaining any stick for the purpose. He
did not stop to hear Ellis utter his thanks and regrets at having kept
him so long from commencing the graceful exercise in which he so much
delighted. Ernest certainly did not enjoy it the less from having first
performed a good-natured action for his friend. He, and Bouldon, and
Frank looked on with admiration as he went gliding away over the ice; so
easily, so gracefully he moved, now inclining to one side, now to the
other, moving on apparently without the slightest exertion.

"There is not another fellow like him in the universe," exclaimed
Bouldon, enthusiastically. "It will be a happy day when he is the cock
of our school; and that he soon will be, for he could, if he chose,
thrash many fellows twice his size already."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," answered Frank, not less warmly.
"Ernest was always a pet of mine; we never quarrelled when we were
together. I wish that I could have him to go to sea with me. He's just
the fellow to be a general favourite in the navy, and to get on in it,
too. He must do that."

Ellis could scarcely trust himself to speak, but he was not the less
pleased to hear his friend thus eulogised. He knew that he thought him
superior to anybody else, but he was not aware that he was held in suc