"He led so cleverly that we crossed without once sounding the ice. It was a zigzag way—a long, winding course—and I knew the day after, though I was too intent upon the matter in hand to perceive it at the moment, that only his experience and acquaintance with the condition of the ice made the passage possible. After midnight, when my situation was one of extreme peril, I realized that the way had been neither safe for me, who followed, nor easy for the man who led.
"'My boy is dying, doctor!' said the mother, when we entered the house. 'Oh, save him!'
"My sympathy for the child and his parents,—they loved that lad—no less than a certain professional interest which takes hold of a young physician in such cases, kept me at Billy's bedside until long, long after dark. I need not have stayed so long—ought not to have stayed—for the lad was safe and out of pain; but in this far-away place a man must be both nurse and doctor, and there I found myself, at eleven o'clock of a dark night, worn out, and anxious only to reach my bed by the shortest way.
"'I thinks, sir,' said Billy's father, when I made ready to go, 'that I wouldn't go back by the ice.'
"'Oh, nonsense!' said I. 'We came over without any trouble, and I'll find my way back, never fear.'
"'I wisht you'd stay here the night,' said the mother. 'If you'll bide, sir, we'll make you comfortable.'
"'No, no,' said I. 'I must get to my own bed.'
"'If you'll not go round by the shore, sir,' said the man, 'leave me pilot you across.'
"'Stay with your lad,' said I, somewhat testily. 'I'll cross by the ice.'