Then, in this manner, holding her helpless, the intoxicated fellow went tearing through the village, yelling like a wild Indian.
Frank was with Walter Burrage when Swift passed the hotel. Merry saw him and dashed out to the street. In front of the hotel a horse was hitched, being harnessed into a sleigh.
Out came Merry’s knife, and with wonderful swiftness he cut that horse clear from the sleigh. Onto its back he flung himself, starting in pursuit of the liquor-maddened kidnaper.
It was a wild race through the village and out into the country beyond. From the top of a hill, Fardale Academy and the buildings surrounding it might have been seen, but neither pursued nor pursuer looked in that direction.
Frank found that Swift was drawing away, the horse on which he was mounted being far superior to the animal Merry had appropriated. In vain Frank urged on the horse he bestrode.
Then he saw the intoxicated kidnaper turn from the regular road into a road that led down to a little lake where some ice-cutters had been at work. They had made the road hauling ice to the village, where it was stored. In his delirium, Swift had mistaken this as the main highway.
When Merry reached that point, the bay horse was tearing down toward the lake. Frank pursued now with a hope that something might happen to baffle Swift.
Out onto the ice-covered lake rode the kidnaper. He did not seem to see the spot where the men had been cutting ice, and dashed straight into it. The thin ice crashed through beneath the feet of the horse, and it plunged into the water.
Then Frank Merriwell madly urged his own horse down the hill. When the lake was reached, he flung himself from the animal’s back and dashed to the edge of the opening in the ice.
Inza was clinging to the horse, which was keeping its head above the surface.