Page:Fairview Boys at Camp.djvu/57

Rh the buckled straps. "I'm going to work my way to the solid ice, and you two fellows follow. Can you do it?"

"We've got to!" cried Jim, desperately.

"Go ahead—I'm with you!" exclaimed Hank.

Slowly Jed edged his way to where the stern of the iceboat rested on the solid, frozen surface. In a few seconds he was in safety, though he was wet and shivering, and his clothes were beginning to freeze to him.

"Come on!" he called to Hank and Jim, and they followed, but more slowly, for they were quite exhausted. But soon they, too, were safe.

"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Sammy Brown.

"So am I!" echoed his two chums.

"And maybe we aren't also, youngsters!" chattered Jed "We won't forget this on your part!"

"I should s-s-s-say n-n-n-not!" stammered Hank. "Those straps saved our lives!"

"Well, you'd better run home as soon as you can," advised Frank, "or you'll catch your death of cold."

"That's good advice," said Jed. "Come on. We can leave the ice-boat where it is for a while. I'm going to run and see if I can get warmed up. See you later, Sammy!"

He set off on a trot toward shore, his two soaked friends following. Sammy and his chums remained to look at the iceboat. Some men and boys came up then, too late, however, to help in the rescue. Then the men got ropes and pulled the ice-boat up on the hard surface, whence it was hauled to where it was kept tied up. Some of the ropes had broken, so that it could not be sailed.

"Sort of a queer accident," remarked Jerry Grow, who, with his dog Prince, had come up with the crowd. "Those fellows could have sailed almost anywhere else on Rainbow Lake and not gone through. But they had to pick out a spot