"Don't think so," replied Leslie.
At a sign from their leader, Rogers and Payne assisted Leslie in setting Guy on his feet. Even then the lad showed a decided disinclination to budge.
Ranworth saw that it was a case for stern measures.
Raising his gloved hand, he gave Guy a smart blow on his face.
"Step out there!" he shouted roughly. "What do you mean by acting the goat?"
The action and the words had the desired effect. Roused by the sting of the blow, and dimly conscious that he was receiving an order, Guy stumbled forward. Leslie seized one arm, Payne took the other, and the tedious journey was resumed.
Of how long the weary tramp lasted Leslie had no idea. Suddenly he was aware that Ranworth held up one arm as a warning, and promptly sat down in the snow drift. It was the only way of checking his forward motion, so strong was the wind. At his feet was a chasm, too wide to leap across and too deep and steep to descend and climb the farthermost side.
Following their leader's example, the others threw themselves flat upon the snow. Even as they did so they saw the ice at the other side of the crevasse rock violently. Then, with a series of awe-inspiring crashes, the huge floe drifted farther away, causing the intervening abyss to increase in width.
Ten seconds later the mass of ice was lost to sight in the blizzard, while in its place was the open sea, sheltered for a short distance by the still intact part of the floe.
Beyond that space the surface of the water was lashed into a cauldron of foam by the wind and the driving, bullet-like flakes of snow.