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Gentleman's Magazine 1900 part 2 p.364
then the bulk seemed again to increase, but not till I was
within thirty feet did I recognise the outline of a man
kneeling and rebuckling his skate-strap. I hailed him with
relief - a companion under such circumstances could not be
wearisome - and while the ice roared and snapped in peals
like thunder (a common night occurrence on large frozen
sheets) we made for the second crack near Rawlinson's Nab.
To cross this it was necessary to land and walk or slide a
couple of yards. My companion shot round with ease, but my
skates struck a chunk of ice or stone and came off, throwing
me on my head and partially stunning me. Till this I had not
noticed anyone standing by the wood-edge. Two farm servants
picked me up, but I was no worse save for a bruise or two.
The ice was bad here; at many places it was broken through,
so that for a few score yards we had to follow our leader
cautiously. Then we spread out again - the gang was now
eight in number - and made for the row of lights at Bowness.
It became a mad race in, for we were sure of the surface. In
Bowness Bay we found about a hundred persons skating about
in the light of a tall electric standard in front of the Old
English Hotel. It was grand travelling round Belle Isle
where only a few were plying the steel: a concertina
squeaked as one party swept by; an ice-yacht whizzed along,
its sole occupant clinging precariously to the frail
structure; a distant hum of voices crept across the island
from the bay we had just left. A few miinutes more of easy
skating, and, as we landed at the Ferry Hotel, the kennelled
hounds gave out a merry chorus, which echoes along the
fir-covered bluffs, in happy augury of hunting days yet to
come.
WILLIAM T. PALMER.
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