OUT OF PERIL
"Oh look! May and Fred have both gone down!" cried Ruth.
"Yes, and there go Andy and Randy over them!" exclaimed Jack.
"And look, Jack, the ice is cracking everywhere!" continued the
frightened girl. She clutched his arm and looked appealingly into his
face. "Oh! what shall we do?"
"Spread out, you fellows! Spread out!" yelled the oldest Rover boy.
"Spread out! Don't keep together!"
His cry was heard, and an instant later Andy commenced to roll over on
the ice in one direction while his twin rolled in another. In the
meantime, Fred had managed to scramble to his feet, and now he pulled up
May.
"Come on, we'll soon be out of danger," encouraged the youngest Rover;
and, striking out, he pulled May behind him, the girl being too excited
to skate.
In less than a minute the danger, so far as it concerned the Rovers and
the two girls from Clearwater Hall, was past. All reached a point where
the ice was perfectly firm. Here Ruth speedily gained her
self-possession, but May continued to cling closely to Fred's arm.
"I'm going to see how they are making out in front of the boathouse!"
cried Randy. "Some of the skaters must have gotten in."
"I'm with you," returned his twin. He looked back at his cousins. "I
suppose you will look after the girls?"
"Sure!" answered Jack quickly. "Go ahead."
"I don't suppose we can be of any assistance down there?" came from
Fred.
"I don't think so, Fred. There is too much of a crowd as it is; they
will simply be in one another's way."
"Oh! oh! suppose some one should be drowned!" moaned May.
"Let us hope for the best," answered Jack. He did not want to add to the
girls' fright, yet he was decidedly anxious over the outcome of the
unexpected catastrophe.
They skated toward the shore at a point between Colby Hall and the town,
and then they worked their way along shore up to the vicinity of the
military academy. Here men and cadets were rushing hither and thither,
some with planks and others with ropes.
"Six of the cadets broke through," announced Spouter Powell, as he came
up to learn if his cousin was safe.
"They are all out, aren't they?" questioned Jack quickly.
"Yes. But there may have been others that went under the ice. Professor
Brice and Mr. Crews are going to make a thorough search." Crews was the
gymnastic instructor.
The excitement continued for fully half an hour. By that time it was
ascertained that every one had gotten off of the ice or out of the water
in safety. Those who had gone down were rushed to shelter, so that they
might not catch cold. Gradually the crowd dispersed, and then Professor
Brice had danger signs placed at various points on the ice, so that
there should not be a repetition of the accident.
"The thing would not have occurred had not the entire crowd happened to
congregate around the winners of the skating race," explained Professor
Brice to Colonel Colby.
"You think the ice is thick enough for any ordinary crowd?" questioned
the master of the school anxiously.
"Yes, sir. You can test it for yourself."
"Well, we must be more careful in the future, Mr. Brice. We don't want
any of our cadets drowned."
"We won't have any such crowd again if I can avoid it," was the reply.
"It's all nonsense to have such races anyway. It encourages too much
rowdyism," was the comment of Asa Lemm, one of the language professors.
Lemm was the least liked of all the teachers at the Hall. He did not
believe in a boy's having any fun, but expected the cadets to spend
their entire time in studying. He had once been fairly wealthy, and the
loss of his money had made him sour-minded and disagreeable.
"I cannot agree with that opinion," returned Colonel Colby coldly. "The
boys must have some exercise. And to be out in the fresh air is a very
good thing for them. They will study so much the better for it."
"Maybe; but I doubt it," answered Asa Lemm shortly. "You let a boy go
out and carouse around, and the first thing you know he won't care for
anything else," and he strode away with his chin held high in the air
and his lips tightly compressed. He was a man of very positive ideas,
which he tried at every opportunity to impress upon others.
"Aren't your feet wet?" questioned Jack suddenly, as he looked down at
the skating shoes worn by Ruth and May.
"Well, they are rather damp," answered Ruth.
"Mine are both wet and cold," said May. "I shouldn't mind it if I could
dry them off and warm them somewhere."
"Come on up to the Hall," went on Jack. "I'm sure they will let you dry
them in front of the open fire in the big living-room."
"Oh, Jack, we don't want to go there in such a crowd of cadets!"
"Don't worry about the cadets," put in Fred.
When they arrived at the living-room of the military academy, they found
it practically deserted, the great majority of the cadets being at the
lake front or in the big boathouse, where a pot stove was kept going for
the benefit of the skaters.
"My, but this is a cozy place!" remarked Ruth, after she had become
comfortably settled in a big armchair with her feet resting close to the
blaze.
"I wish I was a cadet here," sighed May. "It's more fun being a boy than
being a girl."
"How do you know? You never were a boy," returned Fred, with a grin.
"I know, just the same," May answered. "I'm sure you boys have a much
better time of it than we girls."
This started quite an argument, in which all of the young people,
including Spouter, joined. In the midst of the talk Andy and Randy came
in, having been told where the others had gone.
"It's all over and everybody is safe," announced Randy.
"And the only thing lost, so far as we can find out, was Fatty's skating
cap," put in Andy.
"Well, if that's all, we can chip in and buy him another cap," remarked
Jack, and at this there was a short laugh. Now that the peril was a
thing of the past all felt greatly relieved, and their manner showed it.
Jack and Fred had the pleasure of skating all the way to Clearwater Hall
with Ruth and May. During that time the young folks grew quite
confidential.
"Why don't you get your sister Martha to come to Clearwater Hall?" said
Ruth to Jack. "I'm sure I'd like very much to meet her."
"Yes, and why not have your sister Mary come too?" added May to Fred.
"Say, that's a great idea!" burst out Jack.
"Let's put it up to the folks at home without delay," added his cousin.
"But they might not like to leave the private school they are now
attending," he continued, his face falling.
"That's true, for they are getting along very nicely," said Jack. "Just
the same, we can put it up to the folks at home and let them know all
about what a nice place Clearwater Hall is--and what awfully nice girls
there are here." And at this latter remark Ruth and May blushed.
"I sent a letter to Mary a year or two ago," said May; "but at that time
I wasn't here. I think I'll send her another letter."
"Do, by all means," returned Fred quickly. "And let her know all about
how nice a place it is. That may help."
"It would be a fine thing if they were at this school--it would give us
more chances to call here," remarked Jack to Ruth.
"Last week I met Cousin Dick in town," said May, "and he was telling me
how that Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell had left the Hall. He said the
pair were terribly down on all you Rovers."
"Yes, they were very much enraged over the way we exposed them,"
answered Fred.
"They deserved to be exposed!" cried Ruth. "The idea of their shooting
two of Mr. Lacy's valuable cows and then trying to prove that you did
it! It was shameful!"
"Well, their folks had to pay Lacy for the cows," answered Jack.
"And then to think how they tampered with the chains on that lumber
raft so that the raft went to pieces in that storm on the lake!" added
May. "Oh, I think they must be very wicked boys!"
"They are certainly no angels."
"Jack, if they should come back to Colby Hall, won't you be afraid that
they will try to do something more to get you into trouble?"
"More than likely they will; but I am not afraid of them."
"We intend to keep our eyes wide open, and if Slugger or Nappy try any
funny work, we'll jump on 'em like a ton of bricks," added Fred.
Then the subject was changed, and a few minutes later the cadets bid the
girls good-bye, promising to see them again if possible in the near
future.
"I'll tell you what, Jack, they are a pair of mighty fine girls," was
Fred's comment, as he and his cousin skated back in the direction of the
military academy.
"I agree with you, Fred."
"I wish we could persuade Martha and Mary to go to Clearwater Hall,"
went on the youngest Rover boy, wistfully. "I'd like first rate to have
'em get better acquainted with May and get acquainted with the other
girls there."
"We'll have to be careful how we write home about it," cautioned his
cousin. "If we aren't, they'll think we want them to come just on
account of Ruth and May, and then they'll tease the life out of us."
"Oh, sure, we'll be careful! Just the same, it would be a fine boarding
school for them. I don't think much of that fashionable private school
where they are now going. Most of the girls there think more of how they
are dressed and what dances they are learning than anything else."
"By the way, do you think Spouter knows more about what Slugger and
Nappy intend to do than he told?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why, perhaps he heard something, but didn't want to tell all of it for
fear of alarming us."
"I don't think Spouter would do that. He knows well enough that we
aren't afraid of that pair."
"Just the same, Fred, if they do come back we'll have to keep our eyes
wide open, for they surely will do their best to put one over on us, and
any fellows who would be mean enough to do what they have done, wouldn't
hesitate to do worse."
"I can't understand why Colonel Colby is going to let them come back at
all."
"Oh, I suppose he feels that he ought to give them at least one more
chance. He probably remembers how Dan Baxter acted toward our fathers
and the colonel himself, as well as their chums, and how Baxter
afterwards reformed."
"Yes, that may be true. But when one fellow like Walt Baxter's father
reforms, a dozen others remain as bad as ever, or grow worse. To my
mind, there isn't much in the way of reform in Slugger Brown's make-up,
or in Nappy Martell either."
"Oh, I agree with you there. Slugger Brown is nothing short of a brute,
and Nappy Martell is as sly and vicious as any fellow I ever ran up
against. We'll certainly have to watch them when they get back here."