He shook them wildly. They sat braced against each other, their heads bent on their breast, and slumbering profoundly!
Will groaned in spirit as he dragged Willis Moore to his feet.
He succeeded in arousing him, and finally got him to comprehend the dangers of their position.
Willis groped his way backward and forward along the ice, leaning against the frozen wall for support.
Tom was more difficult to arouse, but Will almost carried him around to make him move.
The fatal somnolence, however, would return almost immediately. He would get Willis started, when, looking around, he would find Tom sunk to the ice again.
At last he despaired utterly. His exertion had almost exhausted him. He took off the heavy coats the boys wore and spread them on the ice.
Then he carried Willis and Tom in turn to them and covered them up in them as tightly as he could.
He even took off his own coat and spread it over his sleeping companions.
For over half an hour Will kept running to and fro trying to fight off the intense cold that had attacked them.