“Hello! Are you down there, Barney?”

Again and again the hail went down. Then something like a gasp and a sob came up.

A voice muttered:

“Phwere the divil am I? Shure, it’s kilt I am, an’ this is purgatory!”

“No, it isn’t!” shouted Frank. “It’s only a hole in the ice. Lively now, old fellow. How is the other fellow?”

“Misther Frank?” shouted Barney.

“Yes, it’s me!”

“Shure, what’s the matter?”

“Oh, you fell into a hole in the ice, that’s all!”

“Och, shure; I remember now. An’ the other feller—Mither of Moses! I belave he’s dead!”