Two men, easily recognized as Jay Highland and Winkey, climbed from beneath the long dock. The hunchback was burdened with a suitcase.
“What will we do?” Penny whispered. “We can’t let them escape with the sapphire!”
“Listen!” commanded Jerry. “I have a hunch we won’t need to do anything except wait!”
Even as he spoke, a loud crack not unlike the report of a gun, sounded along the riverfront. The ice was breaking up!
Jay Highland and his companion, well aware of their danger, began to run. Frantically, they sought a place at which to climb up over the high docks. But too late. Already the river ice was clearing away. A great crack appeared directly in front of the two men.
In panic, they started the other way, only to see water on all sides. Then the block on which they stood, began to drift slowly off.
“Help!” shouted Winkey hoarsely. “Help!”
In panic, the hunchback turned his eyes shoreward. Seeing Penny, her father and Jerry on the planking above, he realized that only arrest faced him if he were rescued. Fear gave way to blind rage.
“You’ll never get the sapphire!” he shouted. “I’ll see it in the bottom of the river first!”
Raising the case high over his head, he hurled it into the churning water. The next instant the ice beneath his feet gave way, and both he and his master plunged into the river!