r how long he waited, beating his stiffened hands
and stumbling to and fro to keep his feet from freezing, but at last,
though he could see nothing, he heard a crunching sound, and he called
out sharply.

"I've got here!" came the answer. "Where shall I leave the ice? Seems to
be an opening in front of me!"

It was difficult to hear through the clamor of the water and the crash of
drifting ice; but Lisle caught the words and called again:

"Turn your back on the wind and walk straight ahead!"

He supposed that Crestwick was obeying him, but a few moments later he
heard a second shout:

"Brought up by another big crack!"

The voice was hoarse and anxious, and Lisle, deciding that the lad was
worn out by his journey and probably confused, bade him wait, and
hurrying down-stream a little he moved out upon the frozen pool. He
proceeded along it for a few minutes, calling to Crestwick and guiding
himself by the answers; and then he stopped abruptly with a strip of
black water close beneath his feet. On the other side was a ridge of
rugged ice; but what lay beyond it he could not see.

"I'm in among a maze of cracks; can't find any way out!" Crestwick cried,
answering his hail.

Lisle reflected rapidly as he followed up the crevasse, which showed no
sign of narrowing. The snow was thick, the bitter wind increasing, and a
plunge into icy water might prove disastrous. It was obvious that he must
extricate his companion as soon as possible, but the means of
accomplishing it was not clear. Crestwick was somewhere on the wrong side
of the crack, which seemed to lead right across the stream toward the
confusion of broken ridges and hummocks which, as Lisle remembered,
fringed the opposite bank. He must endeavor to find the place where the
lad had got across; but this was difficult, for fresh breaches and ridges
drove him back from the edge. Presently the chasm ended in a wide opening
filled with an inky flood, and Lisle, turning back a yard or two, braced
himself and jumped.

He made out a shapeless white object ahead, and coming to another crack
he scrambled to the top of an ice-block and leaped again. There was a
sharp crackle when he came down, the piece he alighted on rocked, and
Crestwick staggered.

"Look out!" he cried. "It's tilting under!"

Lisle saw water lapping in upon the snow, but it flowed back, and the
cake he had detached impinged upon the rest with a crash.

"Come on!" he shouted. "The stream will j