cion of ice along the edge of the pond. I can see him now, up to
his neck, nearly frozen stiff with the chill, and his teeth rattling in
his head as he tried to grin, and called out to the rest of us: 'Come on
in, fellows; the water's fine!' But if my three chums are bent on taking
risks with that old bridge, I reckon I'll have to join the procession,
and go out there along with you. Besides, I've been thinking that we
might have a chance to do some rescue work, because any old time somebody
is apt to come down the swollen river hanging to a floating log or a
frame house. I'm surprised that it hasn't happened before now."

"Well, come on, and don't let's stand around here talking so long," Steve
urged, for he was nearly always in a great hurry, which fact had been the
main cause for his school mates dubbing him "Touch-and-Go-Steve."

As the four boys approached the bridge they must have felt more or less
qualms of nervous apprehension, because the prospect was appalling, with
the river up only a comparatively few feet below the centre of the span.
But each hesitated to let his companions see that he felt timid in the
least; and assuming a carelessness that he was far from feeling, Steve
was the first to set foot on the approach to the bridge that spanned the
Evergreen River.

Several men called out to warn them that it was dangerous, but no one
really attempted to stop them from walking out. As the water was already
commencing to lap the roadway at the end, they had to pick their steps;
but once out toward the middle it seemed as though confidence began to
return.

Pride kept all of the boys from allowing anything like a tremor to appear
in their voices when they exchanged remarks. At the same time all of
them felt the quivering of the structure, and could understand what a
mighty force was commencing to pluck at its supports. When these were
undermined, if such a thing should happen, the whole affair would go with
a rush, and they realized what that would mean.

Steve immediately busied himself in snapping off several pictures, posing
his chums so that they would enter into his views of the flood as seen
from the river bridge. In this interesting work he forgot the peril he
was running; while Max and Toby and Bandy-legs found plenty to do in
looking all around, and watching the strange spectacle of floating trees
or logs wedge up against the bridge at various places until they began to
form quite a barricad