Fred didn't reply by as much as a look. He kept on out toward
the thin ice.

Cra-a-ack! Splash! The thin ice had broken. Ripley, moving
backwards, did not realize his fix until his feet; shot into the
water. Down he came on his back, breaking more of the ice.

A yell, and he was gone below the surface.

And now everybody seemed shouting at once. A hundred people ran
to and fro, shouting out what ought to be done.

"Get a rope! Run for a doctor! Bring fence rails! Telephone
for the police!"

That's the usual way with a crowd, to think up things that others
ought to do.

Dick Prescott espied Dave Darrin ahead. Dropping Laura's arm
without a word, Dick skated swiftly up to Dave, called Darrin,
then lightning. As he worked young Prescott shot out a few hurried
orders.

Then another great cry went up. Dick Prescott was sprinting fast
toward the thin ice. Close to where Fred Ripley had gone down
there was another great rent in the ice.

Dick Prescott was "in the freeze," in quest of his enemy!

CHAPTER XIX

DICK & CO. SHOW SOME TEAM WORK

So suddenly and heavily did he break through the thin ice that
Dick went underneath the surface.

"Help!" roared Fred, in a frenzy, as he came to the surface.

The skates on his feet clogged all his movements, and acted like
lead.

"There's Ripley, but where's Prescott?" shouted several.

"A-a-ah!"

That last cry went up as a sound of relief, when Prescott's
brown-haired pate, hatless, bobbed up close to where he had gone down.

"Good boy, Prescott!"

"Go in and get Ripley."

"Save yourself, anyway! Don't be over-foolish!"

A dozen more cries went up from cove and shore.

Yet it is doubtful if Prescott heard any of them.

In the first instant that his eyes came above the level of the
water, Dick took in the details of Ripley's whereabouts.

Dick had to calculate at lightning speed.

"O Prescott," gasped Fred, when he saw his would-be rescuer, "can't
you break the ice between us? I can't keep up much longer."

"Get hold of the edge of the ice, Ripley," called Dick. "Just
rest lightly on it. Don't try to make it bear your weight---it
won't! It'll help hold you up, though, if you keep cool."

"Cool?" groaned Fred. "I'm freezing. In pity's name get to me
quickly."

Fred was so wholly self-centered that it didn't occur to him that
the freshman must be just as chilled as he himself was.

Dick's legs ached with the cold chill of th