Vaneyke was about to carry out this order when the ice suddenly began to crack and snap under the boat like a volley of artillery.
Then it broke in.
Down sank the Ranger in the midst of the smashing ice, and a tremendous upheaval of the water.
There was a lake beneath the thin ice which emptied into the sea.
She had gone into this.
It was low tide, and much of the water had run out from under the sheet of ice, so that when the boat broke through she went down five feet before she touched the water.
The ice over a large area had split and caved in all around the Ranger.
It was to go around the lake that the deer had been going in a circle was now very evident.
A cake of the ice struck Frank a violent blow and knocked him overboard into the freezing water.
Scarcely had he landed in the brine when down came the ice upon his head, and he was buried out of sight.