Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/160

140 bean-poles, crossed and re-crossed, bearing a red and yellow horse-blanket, spread as a sail. Seated in state on the four corners of this platform, each waving a diminutive flag, sat Rob, Ted, Bert, and Phil, while on an inverted keg  in the middle stood Sam, blowing on a tin horn  with such energy that his crimson cheeks  looked ready to pop, like an overheated kernel  of corn. There was no way to guide or stop this unwieldy ice-boat, when once it was well  under way. For a moment, Bess watched it in amusement, until her friend suddenly exclaimed,—

“The dam! They don’t think of it!”

True enough! They were rapidly approaching the edge of the ice; beyond lay a strip of still, green water, before it took its final plunge  down on the rocks thirty feet below. The two women looked up the pond. There was no one near to help, and, besides, what could any one  do? The boys were rushing to certain death; could it be that in the twilight they did not  see their danger? But at that moment Bess saw them spring up, run to their improvised  sail and try to pull it down, as if hoping in