For a time Dorothy and Nan enjoyed the skating very much, and it was a
welcome change from sitting still on the ice-boat. Then the wind
sprang up again, and Harry and Bert got so far ahead that the two
girls thought they should never be able to skate to them.

"Oh, I wish they'd wait," said Dorothy. "I'm getting tired."

"I'll wave to them--maybe they'll see my handkerchief," said Nan.

Bert and Harry did see the girls, and, guessing what the white signal
meant, they lowered the sail of the ice-boat and waited for the two to
come up. And the girls were glad enough now to sit amid the
comfortable robes and blankets.

"Skating such a long distance is harder than I thought it would be,"
confessed Nan, with a sigh.

"Yes, the ice-boat is good enough for me," agreed Dorothy. "But when
we get to Snow Lodge we'll do some skating."

"That's what we will," said Nan.

Mile after mile was covered by the _Ice Bird_. They passed small towns
and villages on the shore of the frozen lake. Many of the places were
known to Nan and Bert, who had often visited them in the summer time,
rowing to them in their boat, or sailing to them with the older folks.

"Isn't it almost time to eat?" asked Bert after a bit. "That sun looks
as if it were noon, Nan."