t 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 assist 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.