Buster’s head did not come to the surface. Instead, he came bobbing up against the ice at a point several feet from the hole. His comrades saw that something must be done without waiting.
“Quick, fellows!” cried Frank. “Get down flat on the ice! We’ve got to crawl there and get him out!”
CHAPTER XIV
CAUGHT IN A MOUNTAIN DEN
It required scarcely a moment of time for these boys, facing danger, seeing one of their number in deadly peril, to carry out their maneuver to save him from a watery grave.
Forgetting everything else, even forgetting much of the “safety first” preachment, they sent Lanky out ahead, flat on his stomach, while Paul came next and Frank Allen anchored on the feet of Paul. Frank stood while the other two tandemmed to the edge of the ice.
In the meanwhile Buster, a good swimmer, dived when he realized that his head was striking the covering of ice on top of the lake, and came up again, this time at the very edge of the break.
In that moment Lanky reached out a long arm and grabbed the boy by the shoulder.
Buster realized at the touch that help was grasping for him, and he made a desperate effort to stroke himself to the hole.
“Hold steady, Frank!” called Paul, but Frank could see easily enough what was being done.
Lanky’s fingers gripped again for the shoulder of Buster just as the boy’s head popped above the surface of the water.