At last, after many trials, Father managed to hold Jack quiet until Johnnie Jones was seated firmly on the sled, clasping a side with each hand.  Then Father, still keeping a tight hold of Jack, ran with him to the corner and back several times.  At last Jack began to understand what was expected of him.  The next day they tried again, and it was not long before Johnnie Jones could drive the big dog without Father’s help.  After a while Jack would even pull Johnnie Jones’s sled to kindergarten each morning, and then draw the empty sled home, after Johnnie Jones had gone into the house.  He certainly was a clever dog.  It was no wonder Johnnie Jones loved him.

In the winter-time there was an excellent place for coasting in the park very near Johnnie Jones’s house.  There was a long, straight hill, and at the foot of it a long, straight pond, so that, with a good start, a child could coast from the top of the hill to the end of the pond.  That is, of course, when there was snow and the pond was frozen over at the same time.

One afternoon Johnnie Jones started out with his sled and Jack ran along beside him.

“Don’t try to coast across the pond to-day,” called Father.  “When I was passing I noticed that the ice was broken in several places.”

“Then I’ll coast on the other side of the hill,” Johnnie Jones answered.

When he reached the park, however, he found two of the children coasting across the pond as usual.  One of them, whose name was Ned, asked Johnnie Jones:  “What’s the matter with everybody to-day?  Where are the other children?”

“I suppose their fathers wouldn’t let them come,” answered Johnnie Jones; “and you shouldn’t coast across the pond.  My father just told me that it isn’t safe, because the ice is beginning to break.”

“Oh! it is perfectly safe,” Ned replied, “because we have been over it several times.  The coasting is better fun to-day than ever before, and there are no children to block the way.  Come and try it.”

“I wish I might,” Johnnie Jones answered.  He sat on his sled and watched the older boys coast safely across, and run gaily back, waving their hands to him.

“Perhaps my father was mistaken.” he said after a while.  “I think I’ll try it just once.”

“There is one tolerably large hole,” Ned warned him, “but it is on one side, and if you are careful you won’t fall in.”

“I’ll be careful,” answered Johnnie Jones; “you sit here and watch me.”

He placed himself flat on his sled, and Ned gave him a push.  Johnnie Jones was not quite five years old then, two years younger than Ned, and he could not guide his sled very well.  When it went near the big hole, he could not turn it away.  Then splash!  Both Johnnie Jones and the sled plunged into the icy cold water.

The water was not very deep, but as Johnnie Jones struck it head foremost, and as the sled was on top of him, he might have found some trouble in forcing his way out, had it not been for Jack.  That faithful friend was close beside his little master, and in just a few seconds had drawn him out of the water.