Of course you might have known I
should use an icicle."
"But oh, Mr. Frost," objected Lionel, "I never saw an icicle with a
wheel in my life, and I never saw one go either."
"That's because you have n't seen me on one; and even if you had seen
me on one, you wouldn't have known it,--we travel so fast. Did you
ever notice that when things are going at the very rapidest rate
possible, they seem to be standing perfectly still? That's the way
with icicles. They have tremendous speed in them. They go so fast you
can't realize it, and then when they are slowing up they don't do it
with a clumsy jerk as bicycles do; they just gradually melt out of
sight."
"Yes, I 've seen them do that. I 've seen them go that way," admitted
Lionel. "But will you take me to the beggar? I'm 'fraid I sha'n't be
able to give him his rule if I don't hurry up."
"But do you know in what direction he went?" asked Jack Frost. "If one
wants to catch up with any one, one needs to have _some_ idea of the
direction he took. It's quite a _desideratum_,--when you get home,
look that up."
Then Lionel felt deeply mortified. "What a silly I was!" he said.
"Perhaps I was going just the opposite way from the one he went. Oh,
dear! how can I ever give him back his rule? It is such a beauty. If
it had been mine, I 'd just hate to lose it."
"Let us examine it," suggested Jack Frost, "and see if there is any
sign upon it that would help to discover its owner;" and without a
moment's doubt or hesitation Lionel drew it from his pocket and held it
up for Jack Frost to see.
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