te frightened.

Skyrocket barked and capered about. He did not know whether this was a
game the boys were playing, or whether their cries meant danger. To tell
the truth there was not really much danger, as the brook was not up to
the knees of the boys at this point.

They remained upright, floundering about and struggling in the cold
water amid chunks of thin ice. For the ice was really too thin to hold
them.

"Oh, what are we going to do?" cried Tom.

"I'm nearer shore than you are!" panted Ted. "Grab hold of my hand and
I'll help you out!"

But as the boys were struggling together they heard a voice shouting at
them from the far side of the meadow. They looked and saw a man running
toward them. He reached them before they had gotten to the bank where
Skyrocket was wildly barking, and, reaching his hands out to them, the
man pulled Tom and Ted to safety.

"What in the world are you lads up to?" the man asked.

Something in the voice caused Ted to look up, and he cried.

"Uncle Toby!"

"Yes, Uncle Toby!" admitted the man, with a laugh. "It's a good thing I
happened to take the short cut across lots from the railroad. Now tell
me why you chaps went in swimming on a day like this?" and he looked
first at Ted and then at Tom.

CHAPTER V

OFF TO THE COUNTRY

Skyrocket ran up to Uncle Toby, barking and sniffing around the legs of
the jolly man who had pulled the two boys from the ice-cold brook.

"So you remember me, don't you?" chuckled Uncle Toby, as he watched the
wagging tail of the dog.

"I do, too!" said Tom. "Have you got all your pets still?"

"Most of 'em!" answered Uncle Toby. "But we mustn't stand here talking,
with you boys wet through. Come on to the house. Run! That's the best
way to keep from taking a cold! Run!"

"We--we got--all wet--last night, too," Ted informed Uncle Toby, the
words being jerked out of him because of the jolting effect of the run.

"Were you in swimming last night?" Uncle Toby wanted to know.

"We were making a toboggan slide like those you told about seeing in
Canada," explained Ted.

"And we weren't in swimming now. We were sliding and the ice broke,"
explained Tom.

"Well, never mind about that now," said Uncle Toby. "Come on--run!" And
he ran so fast, half holding up the boys who trotted along on either
side of him, with Skyrocket leaping along behind, that by the time the
house was reached Ted and Tom each felt quite warm in spite of their icy
bath