mile course which had been laid out. Messmer and Henshaw were on the Snowbird, which speedily took the second place, one of the town boats, named the Whistler, leading.
"Hurrah! they are off!"
"What's the matter with the Military Academy boat? She's a tail-ender."
"The Lark is third!"
So the cries ran on, as the ice-boats skimmed along over the smooth ice, swept clear of nearly all the snow by the wind. Dave and his chums skated some distance after the boats and then halted, to await their return.
"Hurrah, the Snowbird is crawling up on the Whistler!" cried Buster Beggs.
"They are neck and neck!" said Luke Watson.
"Yes, but the Venus is coming up, too," answered Phil. "Gracious, but I'll wager those Rockville fellows would like to win!"
"The Venus must be a new boat," said Ben Basswood. "I never saw her before."
"She is new—some of the Military Academy fellows purchased her last week," answered another boy.
The crowd moved on, Dave stopping to fix one of his skates, which had become loose. As he straightened up, a girl brushed past him and looked him full in the face. He saw that she was one of the two who had been on the ice-boat at the time of
