"We'll try it!"

Mukoki shook his head.

But for a second time that day Wabigoon persisted in acting against
the old pathfinder's judgment, something that Rod had never known him
to be guilty of before. Foot by foot he broke the ice ahead of the
canoe, until the frail craft had thrust its length into the rotten
field. Then, steadying himself on the bow, he stepped out cautiously
upon the ice.

"There!" he cried triumphantly. "You next, Rod! Steady!"

In a moment Rod had joined him. What happened after that seemed to
pass like a terrible nightmare. First there came a light cracking in
the ice under their feet, but it was over in an instant. Wabi was
laughing at him for the fear that had come into his face, and calling
his name, when with a thunderous, crash the whole mass gave way under
them, and they plunged down into the black depths of the lake. The
last that Rod saw was his friend's horror-stricken face sinking in the
crumbling ice; he heard a sharp, terrible cry from Mukoki, and then he
knew that the cold waters had engulfed him, and that he was battling
for his life under the surface.

Fiercely he struck out with arms and legs in an effort to rise, and in
that moment of terror he thought of the great sheet of ice. What if he
should come up under it? In which direction should he strike out?
He opened his eyes but all was a black chaos about him. The seconds
seemed like ages. There came a splitting, rending sensation in his