ther will be killed!" cried Jerry.

Falling downward the great icicle struck with a tinkling sound against
the masses of ice on either side. Down, down it came.

With a sudden motion Fred threw himself face forward on the icy slope,
like a boy coasting down hill on a sled. Only Fred had no sled. But his
thick fur garments protected him as much as a contrivance of wood and
steel could have done.

Right down the steep, icy slope he slid, straight at the prostrate
figure of Mr. Baxter. The man, hampered as he was in his heavy suit
of furs, was struggling in vain to rise and get out of the way of the
falling mass of ice.

[Illustration: "The force of the blow shoved the man ahead"

_Page 117_]

But there was no need. Coasting down the declivity, Fred struck Mr.
Baxter on the shoulder with his outstretched hands, and the force of the
blow shoved the man ahead. Straight ahead it forced him, the weight of
Fred's body, with the speed it had attained, being sufficient to send
Mr. Baxter within the cave. Fred followed also, being unable to stop.

An instant later, with a terrific crash, the great icicle came down
where, but a moment before, Mr. Baxter had been prostrate on the ice.
His life had been saved by Fred's brave and quick act.

Mr. Baxter slowly struggled to his feet, within the cave. Fred also got
up. The youth was trembling from the excitement and exertion.

"Fred," spoke up Mr. Baxter, "you saved my life!"

"I am glad I thought of sliding down to you," replied the boy modestly.
"It came to me in a flash that it was the only way."

"Yes, and you came against me like a flash, only a little more solidly,
or it wouldn't have done any good," went on the man.

Jerry, who had watched the rescue with awe-struck eyes, hastened into
the cavern, climbing over the broken masses of the great icicle. His
emotion was such that, for a moment, he could not speak. He had thought
to see his father crushed to death. Then he clasped the hand of his
parent in one of his, and extended the other to Fred.

"I shall never forget what you did," he said to Fred.

"Nor I," added Mr. Baxter. "If we don't get any of the hidden gold I
shall feel that I owe Fred a debt I can never pay."

"Hello dar!" exclaimed a voice at this juncture. "Whar am everybody? Did
anyt'ing happen?"

"It's Johnson," said Mr. Baxter. "Yes, something did happen."

"Whar am yo'?" asked the colored man. "I can hear yo', but I cain't see
yo'."

The entranc