"What happened?" cried fully fifty voices, as excitement reigned.
"Lef did it—he threw back his stick over his head, and cracked Frank! It may have been an accident or not; but that ends the game all right," answered Socrates Jones.
CHAPTER IX
THE THREE CHUMS
Angry shouts arose all around. There were few who knew what had happened; only that Frank had been struck in some way. Lef Seller did not have many friends in Columbia High School, or the town itself, for that matter. He had made himself generally disliked; and when the word went around that it was his hockey stick that had, in a backward swing, struck Frank on the head and knocked him down, the murmurs of the crowd began to take on an ugly turn.
Of course the referee immediately ended the game. There was something else at that moment demanding attention.
"Keep back! The ice is cracking! Go back, or we'll all fall in!" shouted Lanky Wallace, waving his hands wildly, as he saw dozens start to leave the bank and hurry toward the group around the fallen lad.
His words were taken up by others.
"Keep away! It's dangerous to crowd on the ice! Frank's all right! He's getting up again! It's nothing serious, only a little accident!" they shouted, starting to hustle the squads of sightseers back.
The alarm having been given, numerous groups immediately turned back to the firm footing of the shore. Harrapin River had a swift current in places, and more than one skater had had a narrow escape from drowning in years gone by.