their clothes or anything.

After they had eaten their dinner, and the dogs were rested and
Grandfather had smoked his pipe he said,

"Kit, if you think you can mind, I will take you and Kat both
home in the dog cart." Kit and Kat both nodded their heads very
hard. "Only, I'll do the driving myself," said Grandfather
Winkle. And he did.

He put Kit and Kat both on the seat, and he walked slowly beside
the cart. They went out on the road beside the canal toward home.
They got there just as the sun was getting low in the west, and
Vrouw Vedder was going out to feed her chickens.



VI

THE DAY THEY GOT THEIR SKATES

One morning, when Kit and Kat ran out early to feed their
ducklings, the frost nipped their noses and ears.

"It's getting colder every day. Very soon winter will come," Kat
said.

They ran down to the canal. The old goose and the gander and the
goslings--now half grown--were standing on the bank, looking
unhappy: there was a thin sheet of ice all over the canal, and