"Oh, well, if you're afraid, stay where you are, but I'm going," said Jackson. "Stewart, will you come? Tom will, I know."
"Yes, I'm off," said Tom, nodding to me; but I wanted Miss Chandos to see where we were taking her duckling, to give her a fright.
The youngster saw me looking towards his brother, and said, in a whisper, "If we mean to go, Eustace had better not see us. You're sure it's safe?" he added.
"Safe as the schoolroom floor," I said; and then we went after the others; but I kept looking back towards Miss Chandos as we went towards the alder pond.
We got out of sight as soon as we could, and, screened by the close-growing trees, the bitter east wind did not sting us quite so much. Jackson and Tom were soon skimming across the pond.
"I wonder where the holes are they make such a fuss about?" said Tom.
"I don't believe there are any," said Jackson.
"Well, holes or no holes, I think we had better keep near the edge," I said; but young Chandos did not hear me, he says, and went at once towards the trees for shelter from the wind. The ice was very thin there, and the next minute there was a crack, a splash, and a scream, and young Chandos had gone down.
"Run for help!" I called to Tom, and then I skimmed across what I thought was the strongest part of the ice to help Frank. But before I could reach him the ice gave way, and we were both struggling for life.
I don't remember much of what happened beyond telling Frank to catch hold of some of the branches of the trees that were close to the water, and hearing the shouts of the boys when Tom gave the alarm. I could hear them coming, but it would be too late to save me, for my heavy clothes kept me down in the water, and I sank, never to rise again, I thought. I seemed to see my mother at that moment more plainly than I had ever seen her before, and to understand her grief for my death in a way that I could not have thought possible. But still, although I longed to escape for her sake, I seemed bound by invisible fetters that were, in reality, my heavy wet clothes. They have told me since that this probably saved me, although they thought I was dead when they got me out of the water.