But the combined strength of both Dick and Sandy was only sufficient to drag the heavy body slowly across the ice.
“He must weigh several hundred pounds,” Dick eyed their kill appraisingly. “I don’t think we’ll ever get him ashore, unless we cut him up and carry him in pieces.”
So intent were the boys on the problem at hand that they had for several minutes lost all thought of their rather dangerous situation. It was Sandy who first discovered something wrong. It seemed to him the ice on which they stood was moving.
“Dick, quick!” his voice was hoarse with fear. “This floe has broken away from the shore ice. What shall we do!”
Dick wheeled toward the shore, taking in their predicament at a glance. “Run for it, Sandy. We may reach the gap before it’s too wide to jump!”
CHAPTER X
ADRIFT ON A FLOE
When Dick and Sandy ran for the edge of the moving floe which was nearest the shore, they realized what might happen to them should they fail to jump the widening stretch of water between them and safety. With the tide going out, they would be carried out into a sea where no ships sailed, and where they could expect no help from any friendly, inhabited shores.
The floe which was carrying them off was fully three hundred yards across, and since they had been tardy in discovering their peril, they found fate against them. Coming to a sudden stop at the edge of the floe, they saw, with sinking hearts, that more than a hundred yards of icy salt water separated them from the floes that still were clinging to the shore.
“Can’t we swim it?” cried Sandy desperately.
“Never!” Dick returned grimly. “Not with these heavy clothes on. We’d drown or freeze before we’d gone a third of the distance. Sandy, we’re trapped!”