"This way for your tickets!"

"The ice-boat _Bird_ makes no stops this side of the lake! All aboard!"

Bert Bobbsey and Tommy Todd thus were calling at the end of one of the
lumberyard docks one day about a week after Nan had seen her brother
building the ice-boat. Coming down the dock were Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey,
with Nan, Flossie and Freddie. Snap, the big dog, was bounding on ahead
through the snow, barking joyously. He enjoyed fun as much as any one.

"All aboard! Please hurry up!" cried Bert.

"Why, I thought this was a _special_ trip you were giving us, and we
didn't have to hurry," laughed his mother.

"It is," Bert said. "But you see you can't sail an ice-boat if you haven't
any wind, and I want you to have a ride before the wind dies away, as it
might. So come on, get on board!"

"I want to steer!" cried Freddie.

"No, you must not," said Nan.

"Yes, I must. I know how to steer a motor boat, and I can steer an
ice-boat, I guess," and Freddie was very sure about it.

"After a while, maybe," agreed Bert. "But an ice-boat is different to
steer from a motor boat. I'll show you how, though."