70 Hans Brinker

Jacob and Ben had obtained permission to go on a long skat-
ing-journey ; no less a one than from Broek to the Hague, the
capital of Holland, — a distance of nearly fifty miles. ?

“ And now, boys,” added Jacob when he had told the plan,
“who will go with us? ”

“ T will, I will!” cried the boys, eagerly.

“¢ And so will I,” ventured little Voostenwalbert.

“Ha, ha!” laughed Jacob, holding his fat sides, and
shaking his puffy cheeks. “You go? Such a little fellow
as you! Why, youngster, you haven’t left off your pads
yet!”

Now, in Holland, very young children wear a thin, padded
cushion around their heads, surmounted with a framework of
whalebone and ribbon, to protect them in
case of a fall; and it is the dividing-line
between babyhood and childhood when
they leave it off. Voost had arrived at
this dignity several years before; conse-
quently Jacob’s insult was rather too
great for endurance.

“Look out what you say!” he
squeaked. ‘Lucky for you when you
can leave off your pads. “You ’re padded

 

all over!”
READY FOR A TUMBLE. ¢ H{a, ha!” roared all the boys except
Master Dobbs, who could not under-
stand. ‘Ha, ha!” and the good-natured Jacob laughed more
than any.
1 Throughout this narrative, distances are given according to our

standard, —the English statute mile of 5,280 feet. The Dutch mile is

more than four times as long as ours.