Two sledges had finished unloading and the drivers called out to Mike.
"Comin" back this trip?"
"Nah! we"re going to have a skate on the ice," shouted Paul, waving the men back to the forest.
The boys and Dot put on their skates while Lavinia and Babs sat beside the fire and watched them. Mike had gone on sh.o.r.e to find something.
After the boys were off, Mike returned dragging a long slender birch tree along the ice. He placed it near the raft and sat down on the edge of one of the logs, saying nothing about his errand.
For half an hour, enjoyment of skating made the forest depths echo with laughter from the children. Then they got tired and Paul made a suggestion.
"Let"s go out to that log that sticks end up out of the ice, and starting from that, skate back to see who can win a race."
The idea appealed to the others, but Meredith ordered Dot to go back to the raft.
"I, wa-wa-nt to race too! I do-do-n"t wa-a-nt to g-go back!" chattered Dot, with blue lips.
"You"ve got to! You"re so cold now you can"t talk straight!" exclaimed Meredith.
"Ah, go on, Dot! You"re spoilin" my fun!" cried Don, turning to give Dot a little shove toward the raft.
"No, I won"t," pouted Dot, dropping upon the ice in sheer contrariness.
"All right, sit there, if you want," said Meredith, starting off, followed by the other two boys.
Dot watched them for a while, but feeling too uncomfortably cold she slowly skated back to the raft and crouched near the fire.
Mike heard her telling Lavinia what the boys were going to do, and he jumped up, grabbed the end of the birch tree and ran swiftly across the ice with his sure-footed buck-skins helping him.
"Hi! Hi!" cried Mike, trying to get the boys" attention. But the wind was against him.
"Him channel! Big hole! Water swish!" yelled Mike, in an agony of fear lest the boys reach the channel-mark before he could get there.
Paul and Meredith were swift skaters and soon outstripped Don, but just as they came near the log which was the goal, Paul"s skate loosened and he fell down on the ice. Meredith came over to a.s.sist him, and they found that a screw was loose.
"Don"s got a broken knife blade that we can use for a screw-driver.
We"ll wait for him," said Meredith.
Don soon skated up and produced the knife with the broken blade, and Paul tried to fasten the screw in place again.
So intent were they over the repairing of the skate that neither of them heard an ominous crack along the ice as soon as Don"s extra weight came near the log.
A few more dull cracks sounded as the ice seemed suddenly to become lined with crooked white lines. Before Paul could fasten his skate on again, however, Mike"s voice reached them.
"Back! Back! Big channel by log!"
At the same time, a grinding crack went directly under the boys" feet and Don shot back toward Mike, screaming for Meredith and Paul to come back.
Meredith saw the danger and tried to help Paul up and away, but Paul"s skate was still loose and it made him stumble. As he fell down again, the ice, now all ready to yawn for its victim, slowly sunk down with the weight placed upon it, and Paul was almost submerged before Meredith could drag him over to the piece upon which he clung.
At the same time, Mike ran the birch tree over the ice and advised the boys to cling to it for all they were worth.
Paul had all he could do to cling fast to the trunk, for the suction of the channel waters under his stomach and legs was awful!
After some struggling, however, Mike and Don dragged on their end until the boys were pulled over out of the danger zone of the channel.
During this interval, Lavinia sat spell-bound with fear, but Babs was too busy poking twigs in the embers to notice her sister"s white face.
As Mike drew the two boys over the ice, Lavinia heaved a mighty sigh and started to cry softly.
"Him big hole! Mike know river oop and down. Mike lil" Injun, so big, Mike take canoe oop and down," explained the trapper, holding his hand down to his knees to show the boys how long he had been acquainted with the treacherous channel.
Paul was soaked and Meredith partially wet, so the boys ran over to the raft where a hot fire was soon blazing to dry off their outer clothing.
Mike made the older children sit close together facing the fire, while he took the dry coats of Don, Lavinia and Dot, and spread them over the backs of the five, then he hung the wet coats upon a sapling near the heat to dry.
In half an hour a shout came from the sh.o.r.e and two more sledges were emptied of logs and waiting for the children to go back. In a few moments, they were all sliding and running across the ice and clambered up the bank to get aboard the sleighs.
Dot was eager to tell all about the accident and rescue, but Mike shook his head, and Lavinia placed her hand over her sister"s mouth.
The horses were tired after a long day"s hauling and moved slowly back to the forests where the men were still cutting timber.
From there, Mike hurried all of his party along the road toward camp and told the girls not to speak of the incident then.
Meredith and Paul were taken to Cookee"s cabin and made to sit near the fire while their clothes were hung up to dry. Lavinia went to their bunks and brought clean underclothes to Mike, and so no one knew of it until several days after.
Don and Dot strolled over to the office while the others were in the kitchen, and sat down by the table to have a game of dominoes.
After playing several games, Don made a remark.
"Those rafts will make fine play this spring."
"We won"t be here when the river thaws," replied Dot.
"Maybe--who knows how long Daddum"ll have to stay."
"Well--s"pose we do, what then?" asked Dot, curiously.
"They"re chained fast to the logs--can"t break away. We can have heaps of fun playin" on them and paddlin" them back and forth to the sh.o.r.e."
"Ye"es, I s"pose so! But I won"t play on "em until I see for myself whether the chains are rusty or good," retorted Dot, thinking of all the other sc.r.a.pes her twin had led her into, in which she generally got the worst of the bargain.
CHAPTER VII
CHRISTMAS AT THE LUMBER CAMP