e shouted. "I'll help you!"

Timing his start, as best he was able, to land him on the pan in the
middle of the lane when it lay in the trough, Tommy Lark set out to
the rescue. It will be recalled that the pan would not support two
men. Two men could not accurately adjust their weight. Both would
strive for the center. They would grapple there; and, in the end, when
the pan jumped on edge both would be thrown off.

Tommy Lark was aware of the capacity of the pan. Had that capacity
been equal to the weight of two men, it would have been a simple
matter for him to run out, grasp Sandy Rowl by the collar, and drag
him from the water. In the circumstances, however, what help he could
give Sandy Rowl must be applied in the moment through which he would
remain on the ice before it sank; and enough of the brief interval
must be saved wherein to escape either onward or back.

Rowl did not need much help. With one knee on the ice, lifting himself
with all his might, a strong, quick pull would assist him over the
edge. But Rowl was not ready. When Tommy Lark landed on the pan,
Sandy was deep in the water, his hands gripping the ice, his face
upturned, his shoulders submerged. Tommy did not even pause. He ran on
to the other side of the lane. When he turned, Rowl had an elbow and
foot on the pan and was waiting for help; but Tommy Lark hesitated,
disheartened--the pan would support less weight than he had thought.

The second trial failed. Rowl was ready. It was not that. Tommy Lark
landed awkwardly on the pan from the fifth cake of ice. He consumed
the interval of his stay in regaining his feet. He did not dare
remain. Before he could stretch a hand toward Rowl, the pan was
submerged, and he must leap on in haste to the opposite shore of the
lane; and the escape had been narrow--almost he had been caught.

Returning, then, to try for the third time, he caught Rowl by the
collar, jerked him, felt him rise, dropped him, sure that he had
contributed the needed impulse, and ran on. But when he turned,
confident that he would find Rowl sprawling on the pan, Rowl had
failed and dropped back in the water.

For the fourth time Tommy essayed the crossing, with Rowl waiting, as
before, foot and elbow on the ice; and he was determined to leap more
cautiously from the fifth cake of ice and to risk more on the pan that
he might gain more--to land more circumspectly, opposing his weight
to Rowl's weight, and to pause until the pan was f