"I wish we could have won," sighed Mollie. "Yes, we'll never hear the last of it from Kittie and Alice," declared Betty. "They'll crow over us every chance they get." "Let them," said Grace, speaking rather indistinctly on account of a chocolate in her mouth. "Some day you can come out, Allen--just you boys--and have another race with them--a regular race." "We might win then," agreed the young lawyer, "but I doubt it. Theirs is a racer all right, and ours is built more for pleasure. It's a safer boat too, the _Spider_ is. Once or twice they came near having a spill in wind that didn't faze us a bit. I'm glad we didn't have any accidents like the last time we met Alice." "That's right," said Betty, recalling the two upsets. "Let them wait," remarked Will mysteriously. "I'll soon have a boat that will beat anything on the river." "Oh, is papa going to let you get an ice boat?" cried Grace. "I don't care! I don't think it's fair! You get anything you want. You had a new horse and----" "And wasn't it on your account that dad let you girls come to this camp?" demanded Will. "Talk about me getting all the favors----" "Children! Children!" admonished Betty with a smile. "And besides, this has nothing to do with dad," went on Will. "This is something I'm getting up on my own account." "Oh, tell us!" begged Mollie. "Nope. It's a secret. You'll see it as soon as it comes." "Give you a chocolate if you tell," bribed Grace. "Nope." "Two." "Nope!" "Oh, let him alone," advised Betty. "What are we going to do next?" "Oh, just sail on--sail on," answered Allen with a laugh. "We won't try any more races though." They proceeded up the river another mile or so, and had a distant glimpse of their rivals scudding about. Then something else claimed their attention. This was a sight of some men fishing through the ice for pickerel, and the girls at once evinced an appetite for fresh fish. "Why, we can do that ourselves," declared Will. "We'll try it when we get back." "Oh, see if you can't get them to sell you some," begged Grace. "They will be fine for supper." The men were very willing to dispose of some of their catch. They were lumbermen from a distant camp, which fact becoming known, Grace insisted on her brother inquiring if they knew anything of Paddy Malone. "I used to know him," said one burly fisherman, "but he hasn't been around for a year or so." "Guess he don't dast come," put in another. "Why?" asked Will curiously. "He got into trouble, I hear, and the authorities want him." "Nothing of the sort," the first man declared. "Paddy is as straight as a fish pole. More likely it's the other way round and he's staying away so as not to make trouble for some one else." "Maybe," agreed the second man. "Anyhow he isn't around." "That's true enough." With their fish the young people started back in the ice boat, Will finding out, by talking with the other lumbermen, that Paddy Malone had not been seen in some time.