"He's fine, Alex--greatest prize winner at Brookside Farm." "Where have you been, Bob?" asked Alex. "I've been visiting my father and mother," said Bob. "I came over to see about the ice, Joe," said Alex. "I suppose, since you've made the improvements at Brookside, we can't go down to the pond and help ourselves any more." "You had better talk that over with Bob," said his uncle, as the baby began to cry and he left them to see what was happening to it. "That's right," said Bob; "we pay for everything we get and charge for everything that goes off the farm." "You don't mean you're going to charge for ice!" exclaimed Alex almost incredulously. "Well, why not?" said Bob. "It's worth something, isn't it? The pond cost us money and occupies ground that could be used for other purposes." "That's so," said Alex. "I hadn't thought of that." "The pond has to pay rent for the ground, and ice is one of the things it produces." "What does ice bring this winter?" asked Alex. "Fifty cents per ton on the water," said Bob, "and you cut it yourself." "How can you tell how much it takes to make a ton?" asked Alex. "Oh, that's easy," said Bob. "You measure the size of the cakes, and, when you know the thickness, you can refer to a schedule in one of the bulletins and that will tell you exactly how much it weighs." "Well, I don't think my father will be willing to pay for ice," said Alex. "Why not?" said Bob. "It's worth something." "Yes, but nobody charges for ice," said Alex. "Well, of course, if you know of any one who has nice ice to give away, that's the place to get it," said Bob, "but if you want ice from Brookside, you better let us know soon, because three or four people are asking for the full cutting of the pond, and, of course, we want to fill our own icehouse first, and after that--first come, first served." "You had better hold it for us, Bob, until I find out." "You'll have to make up your mind whether you want it or not; there's the telephone--call up your father and see what he says." After a few minutes talk with his father, Alex came out of the office and said: "We'll take it, Bob. Put us down for the first cutting after you get your own off. I think it will take a full cutting of the entire pond to fill our icehouse. There's another thing I was going to ask you about, too. Could we have Tony a while to help us with some concrete work?" "What are you going to build, Alex?" asked Bob. "Oh, we want to make some concrete fence posts, and fence in our property. Since father sold the sixty-acre farm to the First National Bank we thought we'd improve the remaining hundred and forty by putting up a wire fence on concrete posts." "You'd have to put up a shed and get some moulds and all that sort of thing," said Bob. "Why not let us sell you posts?" "Will you sell us some?" asked Alex. "Surely," said Bob. "Tony has been making a lot of fence posts this winter. We're going to make a regular business."