THE AMMI BREAKING THROUGH THE ICE.
“It doesn’t look as if the water had given out,” growled Pounder, with a savage glance at Oko.
“I wish it had,” observed Oko, as he tried to keep his head above the floating ice.
A great scramble now ensued to regain the land, or a footing on solid ice. Several got to fighting in the water, and there was a great splashing and series of duckings.
Those who got out stood shivering in the snow, and occasionally tried to help out others; but most were afraid to go near the place of danger.
When all had regained solid footing it became their chief care not to break in again. They had evidently met a new danger greater than the Lali. It was the water of the Swamp, which they had shortly before bewailed as having gone forever. They moved more cautiously, therefore, testing the strength of the ice as they proceeded.
Before leaving the scene of the catastrophe, however, Oko, seeking to turn their misfortune to profit, picked up some pieces of floating ice, and proposed to take them along.
“These rocks,” he said, “will make good missiles. By using them on the Lali, we need not throw away our cocoanuts.”
He accordingly filled a skin pouch with them, and carried some in his arms, while others followed his example. They soon found them, however, not only heavy and bulky, but having a new inconvenience. They imparted a sense of discomfort, now know as cold, which, being unknown to them, was dreaded as mysterious, like the effects of fire.