Tavia groaned and wrung her hands. Jennie burst out crying. Dorothy knew she could not help, yet she staggered after Ned and Nat, unable to remain inactive like the other girls.
Ned recovered himself from the slippery edge of the bank; but by a hair’s breadth only was he saved from being thrown to the bottom of the gully. He crossed the slide in a bound and whirled swiftly, gesturing to his brother to stay back. Nat understood and stopped abruptly.
“You grab Roger—I’ll take Joe!” panted Ned.
Just then the smaller boys on the sled rushed down upon them. Fortunately, the steeper part of the hill ended some rods back from the gully’s edge. But the momentum the coaster had gained brought it and its burden of surprised and yelling boys at a very swift pace, indeed, down to the point where Ned and Nat stood bracing themselves upon the icy ground.
“Oh, boys!” shrieked Tavia, without understanding what Ned and Nat hoped to accomplish. “Do something!”
And the very next instant they did!
The coaster came shooting down to the verge of the gully bank. Joe Dale saw that the bank had given way and he could not stop the sled. Nor did he dare try to swerve it to one side.
Ned and Nat, staring at the imperilled coasters, saw the look of fear come into Joe’s face. Ned shouted:
“Let go all holds! We’ll grab you! Quick!”
Joe was a quick-minded boy after all. He was holding the steering lines. Roger was clinging to his shoulders. If Joe dropped the lines, both boys would be free of the sled.