“I’m with you!” and Tom tossed his book to one side. “Let’s get George, Bert and some of the others.”
Some days before Tom had discovered that the man of whom the lads hired their rowboats, had a couple of ice craft for rent, and he had engaged one for the first good day.
A little later Tom and several of his chums, including Jack, were on their way to the frozen river, lessons being over for the day.
“Well, where are you bound for?” asked Bruce Bennington, as he met Tom and the others near the stream.
“Ice boating. Come along,” invited Tom.
“Thanks. I believe I will. I was going for a skate, but somehow, I don’t feel like exerting myself.”
There was a look of worriment still on the Senior’s face, and he talked as though the trouble that was worrying him had not passed away. Tom wanted to help him, but knew it was best to say nothing.
A part of the river, where the water was not so deep, nor the current under the ice so swift as elsewhere, had been set aside by the school authorities as the place where the students might skate. They were forbidden to use the steel runners elsewhere, as a matter of safety, and, as the skating course was plenty long enough, none of the lads ventured on the part of the river where the ice boats were used. In fact the presence of those craft, of which there were several, made it necessary that the numerous skaters keep clear of them.
The place where Tom hired the iceboat was quite a distance from the skating course, and, in consequence of a bend in the river, none of the other pupils, who were indulging in sports on the steel blades, were in sight. There was one iceboat out on the broad surface of the river as our hero and his chums arrived.