CHAPTER XX
TO THE RESCUE
"Oh--oh!" gasped Grace, when she saw the dark and seething water allaround them. "Oh, we're--afloat!"
"And it's a good thing, too!" exclaimed Betty quickly, as she squaredthe rudder-runner. "If we weren't afloat we'd be sinking, and I don'twant to do that--it's too cold!"
Thus spoke the practical Little Captain, for she realized that now wasthe time to gain control over the nerves of her chums. Once they becamehysterical there would be no managing them. And, as she spoke sheglanced sharply at Mollie, who had opened her mouth to say something,but had thought better of it.
"But we're on a cake of--ice!" cried Amy.
"And, as the old wolf said to Little Red Riding Hood, so much the betterto keep afloat with, my dear!" went on Betty gaily, a condition whichshe was far from feeling.
"WE ARE ON A CAKE OF ICE, AND WE ARE FLOATING AWAY!"
_The Outdoor Girls in a Winter Camp._ _Page 160._]
"Yes, it's a nice big cake, too!" declared Mollie, recognizing thatBetty would need help--"backing-up"--in her efforts to calm the twomore timid girls. "It's a lovely large cake," Mollie added. "The largestaround of any. Just suppose we were on--that?" and she pointed to oneabout as large as a "five cent piece the ice man brings in on a hotday," to quote Betty's later characterization.
"Oh, how can you make fun, when we may--when we may--may slip off anyminute?" protested Grace, half tearfully. "Oh, why did we come out inthis ice boat?"
"Now look here!" and Betty spoke sharply. "Isn't it a good deal betterto be jolly than glum? Of course it is. And we're in no immediatedanger. As Mollie says, we may be thankful we are not on a small cake ofice. This will hold us nicely."
"But we're floating down the stream," said Amy.
"Of course we are," agreed Betty cheerfully. "A river never standsstill, you know. We are floating down with the rest of the cakes. Prettysoon there will be an ice jam, and----"
"Oh, don't say that!" begged Grace. "An ice jam! That's one of thoseterrible things where so many persons are killed."
"Nonsense! You're thinking of an avalanche!" declared Mollie. "Bettymeans that the cakes of ice will all jam together pretty soon, when theriver narrows, and we can walk ashore as nicely as you please, haulingthe ice boat after us."
"Why can't we go ashore in that?" asked Amy, her face brightening.
"Because it will be so--humpy!" explained Betty. "We could not run theauto ice boat over the bumps. But really it might be worse; I'm notfooling."
Their situation was indeed peculiarly fortunate considering what hadhappened. The warm weather had softened the ice, and the melting of muchsnow had caused the river to rise. This had had the effect of crackingthe covering of ice, and it had broken up. The ice boat got on a certainlarge section that split off and went floating down stream.
"Well, let's get out and see what we can do," proposed Mollie, as sheleft her place near the motor.
"Don't you dare leave this boat!" commanded Betty, a bit sternly.
"Why not?" asked Mollie, curiously.
"I'll tell you why. Though the cake we are on seems solid, there may becracks in it, and it might separate if we stepped out on it. You seeour weight would come in a comparatively small space, whereas in theboat it is distributed over a large surface."
"My? Where did you learn that?" asked Mollie, admiringly.
"In our physics class. It's true, too. We must stay here."
"How, long?" queried Grace. "It will soon be late, and----"
"You have some chocolates; haven't you?" demanded Betty, quickly.
"Yes, but----"
"Then save them. We may be here for some time, but we are bound to betaken off--sooner or later."
"And if it's later, and the cake of ice goes to pieces, no matterwhether we get out on it or not, what will happen?" Amy wanted to know.
"Well, the boat contains a lot of wood, and it will float for sometime--especially this cockpit part," said Betty. "Then, too, some one issure to see us when we get down a little further. Or the boys will missthe ice boat, and, knowing that we have it out, they'll hunt for us.Especially when they see the ice breaking up."
They were slowly floating down stream--slowly because of the number oflarge and small cakes their own encountered. After the first alarm thegirls felt more at ease, especially Amy and Grace, for, in a largemeasure, they had come to depend on Betty and Mollie. And these twojustified the confidence reposed in them.
Eagerly they all scanned the shore of the river, but they saw no one.
"I'd even be glad to see some of the Jallows!" exclaimed Grace, after abit. "They couldn't refuse to rescue us. Oh, I do hope papa will have nofurther trouble with that man! If we could only help him to straightenout the tangle!"
"We'll have to straighten out our own first," said Mollie, with a tensesmile. "Do you think we are getting nearer shore, Betty?"
Betty was about to reply, when, with a sharp report, a large piece brokeoff their cake of ice. This left one of the runners on the forwardcross-piece close to the lapping water.
"Oh dear!" cried Amy. "If this keeps up----"
"Isn't that a man over there?" suddenly cried Betty, pointing towardshore. "Yes, girls, it is. A man! Oh, shout to him! Call for help!"
The next instant there went echoing over the expanse of ice-strewn waterfour young voices, uniting in a call for aid.
Fortunately the wind was right, and the man heard. He had been walkingalong the river shore, and now, looking up and across, he saw the girlsin the ice boat in their perilous position. It needed but an instant forhim to sense the situation, and he acted promptly.
He waved his hand as a sign of encouragement, and his voice came faintlyto the girls, but they could not make out what he said. The man ran backup the shore a little way.
"Where's he going?" asked Amy. "Oh, he's going to leave us!"
"No, he's probably gone for help!" said Betty. "Oh, there goes anotherpiece of our floe!"
"Help! Help! Hurry!" shouted Mollie, the others joining their voices tohers.
Presently the man was seen to be pushing something down to the river.
"It's a boat!" cried Betty. "Now we're all right!" And it did seem to besome sort of boat in which the man was coming to the rescue.