“Don’t jerk it!” cried Sanson, sharply, as the ice creaked and cracked beneath him. “Just hold tight and let me draw you in.”
But Trexler was too far gone to heed. There came another crack more ominous than the others. Even now, by letting go the stick, Frank could have escaped by rolling swiftly to one side or the other. He wanted to–desperately; but something within him stronger even than his fear clenched his fingers around the tape-wound hickory.
In another second the ice on which he lay gave with a crash and plunged him into the icy water.
CHAPTER XV
THE RESCUE
As he went under, Sanson’s first feeling was one of utter panic. The shock and cold, above all the horrible sense of suffocation, started him struggling as madly and ineffectually as Trexler had done a moment before. Then all at once, out of the whirling turmoil of fear which filled his soul, some vague remembrance of the brief lessons last summer stood forth, and he thrust downward with his feet. The motion was almost entirely instinctive, but the result was curiously steadying. The moment that downward movement ceased, his brain seemed to clear and he got a grip on himself.
“I mustn’t come up under the ice,” he found himself thinking, as he pushed vigorously upward again.
Then his head cleaved the water and he gulped in the blessed air in long, deep breaths. An instant later this was cut off by the grip of arms about his neck as Trexler, whom he had momentarily forgotten, clutched at him with all the strength and determination of despair.
That there were approved methods of releasing such grips Frank knew from repeated perusals of the scout handbook, but not a vestige of them stuck in his mind now. Full of wild panic, he struck out blindly with all his power. Trexler’s head went back under the impact; his grasp slackened. Sanson had a momentary glimpse of the white face with half-closed eyes and twisted lips all a-swirl with water, and again that impulse that was stronger than panic made him reach out and catch hold of the boy’s shoulder. At almost the same instant something hard grazed his cheek, and he realized that the force of his blow had sent him against one side of the hole. With a grasp of thankfulness, he caught at it, finding the ice here fairly substantial. He drew Trexler’s body closer to him, and for the first time since the plunge he had a moment in which to think.
“I mustn’t try and climb out or it’ll break,” he muttered. “Why don’t the fellows come? They must have got out by now.” He quite failed to realize how short a space of time it was since he had first started to Trexler’s aid. “I can’t hold on here much longer. I’m freezing now, and–”
His voice broke a little, but he bit his lip and choked back the sob in his throat. Then, summoning all his strength, he tried to shout for help, but the result was a hoarse croak that could not have been heard a hundred feet away. To his utter astonishment it was answered from close at hand.