“Come on, now!  One, two, three!  Race!” cried Russ, after he had let Laddie get a little start of him.

Away the boys skated, toward the middle of the pond.  At first Laddie was ahead, but Russ was the better skater and soon passed him.  Russ was near the middle of the pond when suddenly there was a loud crack.

Russ heard it and tried to stop himself and turn back.  But he was going quite fast, and before he could slow up the ice in front of him cracked open.  He saw a stretch of black water, and then, with a yell, into it splashed poor Russ.

  [Illustration:  BEFORE RUSS COULD SLOW UP, THE ICE IN FRONT OF HIM
  CRACKED OPEN.
    Six Little Bunkers at Grandpa Ford’s. —­Page 188]

“Oh, he’s fallen in!  Russ has fallen in!” shouted Laddie, who had seen what had happened.  And he suddenly tripped and sat down, sliding slowly along, or he, too, might have gone through the hole in the ice.

It was a good thing Rose had run and told her father what her brothers were going to do, for Mr. Bunker was already half-way to Russ when the ice broke.

“I’ll get you!  I’ll get you!” called Mr. Bunker to Russ.  “Rose, you look after the others, and I’ll get Russ out.  The pond is not very deep, and I’ll soon have him out!”

Mr. Bunker ran out on the ice right toward the hole where the black water was.  Russ had not fallen in head first, luckily, and now stood with the water about up to his waist.

The ice broke under the weight of Mr. Bunker, and into the water he splashed, but he did not mind.  Laddie had quickly crawled away from the vicinity of the hole, and he now went back to where Rose was looking after Margy, Mun Bun and Violet.

“I’ve got you, Russ!” cried Mr. Bunker, as he caught the scared boy in his arms.  And then, wet as both of them were, Mr. Bunker managed to get up on ice that was firm enough to hold him, and hurried to the bank, carrying Russ with him.

“I must get you home as soon as I can, and take off your wet clothes,” he said.  “You must be terribly cold.  Laddie and Rose, take off your skates and follow after me.  Bring Mun Bun and Margy, and tell Vi to come.  Hurry now.  Russ, I told you not to go out in the middle, where the ice might break.”

“I—­I’m sorry, Daddy!” shivered Russ.  “I won’t do it any more.”

And I am glad to say he did not.

Of course Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford were excited when Daddy Bunker came racing in, all dripping wet, with Russ, also soaked through, in his arms.  But Grandmother Ford and Mother Bunker were used to accidents.  Dry clothes were put on, the two shivering ones sat by the fire and drank hot milk, and soon they were all right again.

The hole in the ice froze over in a little while, and the ice became so thick that even the grown men could go out in the middle of the pond.  Then there was no danger of the children’s tumbling in, and they were told they might play wherever they liked.