CHAPTER XIV
A BRAVE RESCUE
Grace was still where she had fallen, cooling a large, red lump on herforehead by applying her handkerchief first to the ice and then to theswollen place, when she suddenly felt herself to be entirely alone in theworld.
"Everybody has gone home to dinner!" she exclaimed, as she glanced overher shoulder at the other end of the pond, now denuded of skaters.
Then she shifted her position, looking for Tom and Julia. She had neverdreamed, when she saw her friend go whizzing across the ice, that he hadnot caught the reckless girl in time to warn her of her danger.
In a flash she saw the empty expanse of ice before her. She leaped to herfeet, balancing herself with difficulty, for her head was still dizzy fromthe blow.
"Tom! Tom Gray!" she called. "Where are you?"
"Run for help!" came the answer. In another moment she saw them clingingto a broken ledge of ice, Tom supporting Julia Crosby.
As for the junior captain, she was weeping bitterly, and making no attemptto help herself.
Grace anxiously scanned the expanse of the ice. It was nearly a mile tothe other end of the pond, and the last group of skaters had disappearedover the brow of the hill.
"You must think quickly," she said to herself.
Her eyes took in the other shore. Not a soul was there, not a dwelling ofany sort; nothing but the great ice house that stood like a lonelysentinel on the bank. Yet something seemed to tell her that help lay inthat direction.
Once before, in a moment of danger, Grace had obeyed this same impulse andhad never regretted it. Once again she was following the instinct thatmight have seemed to another person anything but wise.
Skating as she had never skated before, Grace Harlowe reached the shore ina moment. Here, dropping to the bank, she quickly removed her skates, thenran toward the ice house, feeling strangely unaccustomed to walking on theground after her long morning on skates.
"What if I am off on a wild-goose chase?" she said to herself. "Supposethere is no one there?" She paused for an instant and then ran on fasterthan before.
"I shall find help over there, I know I shall," she thought as shehurried over the frozen ground and made straight for the ice house. Therewas no time to be lost. Tom and Julia were liable to be sucked under anddrowned while she was looking for help.
Grace pushed resolutely on. In the meantime hardly four minutes had reallyelapsed since the skaters had tumbled into the water.
On the other side of the ice house she came abruptly upon a man engaged inloading a child's wagon with chips of wood.
"Help!" cried Grace. "Help! Some people have broken through the ice. Haveyou a rope?"
The man made no answer whatever. He did not even look up until Grace shookhim by the shoulder.
"There is no time to lose," she cried. "They may drown at any moment.Come! Come quickly, and help me save them."
The man looked at her with a strange, far-away expression in his eyes.
"Don't you hear me?" cried Grace in an agony of impatience. "Are youdeaf?"
He shook his head stupidly, touching his ears and mouth.
"Deaf and dumb!" she exclaimed in despair.
Holding up two fingers, Grace pointed toward the water. Then she made aswimming motion. Perhaps he had understood. She could not tell, but herquick eye had caught sight of a long, thin plank on the shore.
Pulling off one of her mittens, she showed him a little pearl andturquoise ring her mother had given her for a birthday present, indicatingthat she would give it to him if he would help her. Then she seized oneend of the plank and made a sign for him to take the other; but thestubborn creature began to unload the chips from the wagon.
Grace ran blindly ahead, dragging the plank alone.
"He's feeble-minded," she quivered. "I suppose I shall have to work thisthing by myself."
When she had reached the bank, Grace heard him trotting behind her withhis little wagon. In another moment there was a tug at the board. Sheturned and shook her fist angrily at him; but, without regarding her inthe least, he lifted the plank and rested it on the wagon. Then motioningher to hold up the back end, he started on a run down the bank.
"The poor soul thinks he's a horse, I suppose," she said to herself, "butwhat difference does it make, if we can only get the plank to Tom andJulia?"
Grace soon saw, however, that the idea was not entirely idiotic. Later shewas to offer up a prayer of thanks for that same child's wagon. The deafand dumb man was wearing heavy Arctic rubbers, which kept him fromslipping; while Grace, whose soles were as smooth as glass, kept herbalance admirably by means of the other end of the plank.
Tom and Julia Crosby had now been nearly ten minutes in the water. Twicethe ice had broken under Tom's grasp, while Julia, who seemed unable tohelp herself, had thrown all her weight on the poor boy, while she calledwildly for help and heaped Grace with reproaches for running away.
"If it were not for the fact that it would be the act of a coward,"exclaimed Tom at last, his teeth chattering with cold, "I would let go ofyour arm and give up the job of supporting you in this ice water fortalking about Grace like that. Of course she has gone for help. Haven'tyou found out long ago that she is the right sort?"
"Well, why did she go in the wrong direction?" sobbed Julia. "Everybody isover on the other bank. There is nothing but an ice house over here."
"You may trust to her to have had some good, sensible reason," retortedTom loyally.
"I don't think I can keep up much longer," exclaimed Julia, beginning tocry again.
"Keep on crying," replied Tom exasperated. "It will warm you--and rememberthat I am doing the keeping up. I don't see that you are making anyspecial effort in that direction."
Once Tom had endeavored to lift Julia out of the hole, and he believed,and always insisted, in telling the story afterwards, that if she had beenwilling to help herself it could have been accomplished. But Julia Crosby,triumphant leader of her class, and Julia Crosby cold and wet as a resultof her own recklessness, were two different beings altogether.
"Grace Harlowe has left us to drown," she sobbed. "I am so wretched. Sheis a selfish girl."
"No such thing," replied Tom vigorously. "Here she comes now, bringinghelp as I expected I should think you'd be ashamed of yourself." He gave asigh of relief when he saw Grace and the strange man approaching at aquick trot, the wagon and plank between them. His confidence in Grace hadnot been misplaced. He felt that they would soon be released from theirperilous predicament.
Grace and the Strange Man Quickly Approached.]
"All right," called Grace cheerfully as she approached. "Keep up a littlewhile longer. We'll have you both out in a jiffy."
Both rescuers slid the plank on the ice until one end projected over thehole.
Then the man and Grace both lay flat down on the other end and Gracecalled "ready."
Julia Crosby seized the board and pulled herself out of the water, safe,now, from the breaking of thin ice at the edge.
"Now, Tom," cried Grace.
But Julia's considerable weight had already weakened the wood. When Tomattempted to draw himself up, crack! went the board, and a jagged piecebroke off. This would not have been so serious if the ice had not givenway. Then, into the water, with many strange, guttural cries, slipped thedeaf and dumb man. Grace herself was wet through by the rush of water overthe ice, and just saved herself by slipping backward.
There was still a small portion of the plank left, and, with JuliaCrosby's help, Grace thought they might manage to pull the two men out.
But Julia looked hardly able to help herself. She sat shivering on thebank trying to remove her skates.
"Julia," called Grace desperately. "You must help me now or these two menwill drown. Help me hold down this plank."
Aroused by Grace's appeal, Julia meekly obeyed, and, still shiveringviolently, knelt beside Grace on the plank. But it was too short; whenTom Gray seized one end of it he nearly upset both the girls into
thewater.
"Oh, what shall we do?" cried Grace in despair when suddenly there camethe thought of the little wagon.
Quickly untwisting a long muffler of red silk from about her neck, Gracetied it securely in the middle, around the cross piece of the tongue ofthe stout little vehicle. Then she pushed it gently until it stood on theedge of the hole. Giving one end of the muffler to Julia, Grace took theother herself.
"Catch hold of the tail piece, Tom," she cried.
Fortunately the ice was very rough where the girls were standing, or theywould certainly have slipped and fallen. They pulled and tugged untilgradually the ice in front of them, with Tom's additional weight on it,instead of breaking began to sink. But Tom Gray was out of the hole now;helped by the wagon he slipped easily along the half-submerged ice, thenfinally rolled over with a cry of relief upon the firm surface.
In the same way they pulled out the deaf and dumb man, who had certainlybeen brave and patient during the ordeal, although he had uttered the mostfearful sounds.
As soon as his feet touched the solid ice, he seized his wagon and madefor the bank. Grace, remembering she had promised him her ring, hurriedafter him, but she was chilled to the bone and could not run. By the timeshe reached the bank he had rounded the corner of the ice house and wasout of sight.
"He evidently doesn't care to be thanked," said Tom Gray as Grace returnedto where he and Julia stood waiting.
"We had better get home as soon as possible or we'll all be laid up withcolds."
The three half-frozen young people made their way home as best they could.Their clothes had frozen stiff, making it impossible for them to hurry.Julia Crosby said not a word during the walk, but when she left them atthe corner where she turned into her own street, she said huskily: "Thankyou both for what you did for me to-day, I owe my life to you."
"That was a whole lot for her to say," said Grace.
"She ought to be grateful," growled Tom. "She was the cause of all thismess," pointing to his wet clothes.
"I believe she will be," said Grace softly, "After all, 'It's an ill windthat blows no one good.'"
Grace's mother was justly horrified when Grace, in her bedraggledcondition, walked into the living room. She insisted on putting her tobed, wrapping her in blankets and giving her hot drinks. Grace fell into asound sleep from which she did not awaken until evening. Then she rose,dressed and appeared at the supper table apparently none the worse for herwetting.
Meanwhile Tom Gray had gone to his aunt's, given himself a brisk rubbingdown and changed his wet clothing for another suit he fortunately happenedto have with him. Thanks to his strong constitution and vigorous health,he felt no bad effects.
He then went down to the kitchen, asked the cook for a cup of hot coffee,and, after hastily swallowing it, rushed off to find David, Hippy andReddy and tell them the news. He was filled with admiration for Grace.
"She is the finest, most resolute girl I ever knew!" he exclaimed as hefinished his story.
"Hurrah for Grace Harlowe!" shouted Reddy.
"Let's go down to-night and see if she's all right?" suggested David.
Before seven o'clock the four boys were on their way to the Harlowe's.They crept quietly up to the living-room window. Grace sat by the firereading. Very softly they began a popular song that was a favorite ofhers. Grace's quick ears caught the sound of the music. She was out ofthe house like a flash, and five minutes later the four boys were seatedaround the fire going over the day's adventure.
"The deaf and dumb man who helped you out is quite a character," saidHippy. "I know him well. He used to work for my father. He isn't half sofoolish as he looks, either. As for that wagon you used as a lifepreserver, I am proud to say that it was once mine."
"It must have been made especially strong," observed Reddy.
"It was. Hickory and iron were the materials used, I believe. I playedwith it when but a toddling che-ild," continued Hippy, "and also smashedthree before my father had this one made to order. ''Twas ever thus fromchildhood's earliest hour,'" he added mournfully. "I always had to havethings made to order."
There was a shout of laughter at Hippy's last remark. From infancy Hippyhad been the prize fat boy of Oakdale.
"It's only seven o'clock," said David. I move that we hunt up the girlsand have a party. That is, if Grace is willing."
"That will be fine," cried Grace.
Hippy and Reddy were despatched to find Nora and Jessica. While David tookupon himself the pleasant task of going for Anne. Tom remained withGrace. He had a boyish admiration for this straightforward, gray-eyed girland made no secret of his preference for her.
Inside of an hour the sound of girls' voices outside proclaimed the factthat the boys' mission had not been in vain. The girls had been informedby their escorts of the afternoon's happenings, but Grace and Tom wereobliged to tell the story all over again.
"I hope Julia Crosby's ice bath will have a subduing effect upon her,"said Nora. "I am glad, of course, that she didn't lose her life, but I'mnot sorry she got a good ducking. She deserved something for the way shedragged Anne into that game of crack the whip."
"Let's talk about something pleasant," proposed Reddy.
"Me, for instance," said Hippy, with a Cheshire cat grin. "I am a thing ofbeauty, and, consequently, a joy forever."
"Smother him with a sofa pillow!" commanded Tom. "He is too conceited tolive."
Reddy seized the unfortunate Hippy by the back of the neck, while Davidcovered the fat youth with pillows until only his feet were visible andthe smothering process was carried on with great glee until Noramercifully came to his rescue.
Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School Page 14