“Take her!” Starbright chattered. “Get her out quick, Merriwell! I thought she was gone!”
“Guess she would have been if you hadn’t plunged in after her as you did,” said Frank.
The ice was solid close to the dangerous spot, so there was little trouble in drawing Inza out, after which Starbright was helped from the water.
Then the girls, wrapped in the coats which the boys stripped off and threw about them, were hurried away to the house, where they were doctored and given warm drinks and placed in bed.
Some hours later, when the boys were all together again, Winnie and Inza appeared and thanked their rescuers. Frank observed that Inza first went straight to Dick, giving him her hand.
“I thought I was gone,” she said. “I was stunned when I went into the water, and I couldn’t seem to do a thing to help myself, though I knew I was sinking. Then I felt a strong hand grasp me, and you pulled me back to the surface. I know I owe my life to you!”
Dick’s face was crimson, and his heart thrilled as she gave his fingers a warm pressure, looking straight into his blue eyes.
“We all did what we could,” he stammered. “Frank was on hand to pull you out.”
“But Starbright was the only one who really saved you,” said Merry, with perfect generosity. “There can be no doubt of that.”
After a little time, he slipped away unobserved and retired to his room, in the solitude of which he sat a long time, pondering over the things that had happened since his arrival at the home of the Starbrights. Once more in his heart throbbed the pain of loneliness that had seized him in his room the night he received the brief message from Elsie.