him, the cold water was round his
feet, and in an instant he would have been underneath it altogether but
for the tub, to which he clung with all his might. There was a
dreadful moment while Nancy screamed at the top of her voice and
Godfrey's knees and feet battered the tub in the cold black water, then
with the triumphant exclamation, 'I've boarded her,' he tumbled over
into it.

Luckily the tub, though old, was fairly water-tight, and bobbed up and
down with Godfrey inside it in the big hole which he had made, and
though a wide space of cracked ice and dark water lay between him and
the shore, he seemed to be safe for the present. As for Nancy, she did
the wisest thing she could and rushed down the lane calling for help.
She did not have to run far. Almost directly she heard steps on the
frosty road, quickened at the sound of her screams, and a gentleman
came round the bend of the lane, sending his voice before him as he
shouted: 'What's the matter?'

His own eyes told him quicker than Nancy's breathless explanation.

'All right,' he exclaimed, 'he's safe while he keeps still. Don't cry,
little woman, and I'll tow him ashore.'

The next minute he had dragged a rail from a broken fence close by and
held it out to Godfrey.

'Hold tight,' he said; 'stand in the middle so that you balance your
craft. Now then, a long pull and a strong pull,' and in another minute
he had dragged the tub through the drifting ice to the bank and was
lifting Godfrey out.

'There, young man,' he said as he set him on his feet, 'lucky for you
you're safe ashore, for this pond's deep enough to cover half-a-dozen
giants of your height. How came you cruising among the ice in a leaky
craft, I should like to know?'

'I boarded her because the ice broke,' said Godfrey frankly; 'I didn't
know it was going to break.'

'No, I don't suppose you did. Lucky for you that you had her to board,
young gentleman. Now then, right about face, and put your best foot
foremost, and home as fast as you can before you get cold. Where do
you live?'

'At Oakfield,' said Godfrey, picking up the _Victory_.

'At Oakfield, do you? Then we shall have the pleasure of each other's
company, for I am going that way. Let's see how fast you can walk.'

Godfrey and Nancy trotted beside him as he strode along the frosty road.

'Now what put it into your head to come and look for frozen-up craft in
the pond here?' he asked.

'I didn't,' said Godfrey. 'I