THE SAILOR COMES AGAIN
Rick and the other boys knew what this meant—to break through the ice when they were skating. It had happened more than once on Weed River, and once, when Chot fell in, there was hard work to get him out. Rick remembered that time.
And now, as Rick heard the call of the frightened girls, and saw them running toward the shore without Mazie, his heart seemed to feel like a lump of lead. Ruddy, the dog, ran barking with the boys.
"Mazie's in the water! Mazie fell through the ice!" cried the shrill voices of the girls.
"Boys, we've got to get her out!" shouted Rick. "We got to save my sister!"
"That's what we have!" echoed Chot.
The boys turned, as soon as they reached the bank, and ran toward the place where they saw a hole in the ice. And, as Rick ran he caught a glimpse of his sister Mazie. She was down in the hole that had broken open when the ice cracked. Her head and shoulders were out of the hole.
But even ahead of the boys ran Ruddy, the dog. He seemed to know something had happened, as he knew it the time Rick was caught in the tree, and when his master fell into the snow drift.
He barked loudly, did Ruddy, and he looked back, every once in a while to see if the boys were coming. And they were, you may be sure of that. Rick, Chot, Tom and the others were hurrying to save Mazie.
"How—how we going to get her out?" gasped Tom.
"Run right up to her and pull her out!" cried Chot. "She's holding to the edge of the ice. I can see her. Her head isn't under water! We got to pull her out!"
"But we mustn't run up to her!" exclaimed Rick. "If we do—we'll—go in the water, too! The ice will break with us—same as—it did with—Mazie!"
He could hardly talk he was so excited and out of breath from running. He was gasping for breath.
"How we going to get your sister to shore if we don't pull her up out of the hole?" asked Tom.
"We got to get a board—or something—put it on the ice and walk out on it!" Rick answered.
"That's right!" cried Chot. "I remember now! It's in our Boy Scout book. You got to use fence rails, or something to put down on the ice when it's cracking, to hold your weight. There's a fence! We can pull off some boards."
The girls continued screaming and jumping up and down on the bank, pointing toward Mazie, who was still in the water. She was holding to the ice at the edge of the hole through which she had fallen, and she was trying to call for Rick. But she was so cold and frightened she could hardly make a sound.
"Get the boards!" cried Rick to his chums.
But Ruddy waited for no boards. He saw that Mazie was in danger and he went to help her in the only way he knew—by going straight to the hole, reaching down and catching hold of the loose shoulder of the little girl's coat.
That's what Ruddy did! He ran straight over the ice toward the hole. And because Ruddy was a dog, and had four feet resting on the ice, instead of only two, like the boys, and because he was not as heavy as either Rick, Chot or Tom, the ice did not break under the dog's weight. Ruddy, standing on four feet, spread his weight over a larger part of the ice, and this is just why a board should be used by anyone who is trying to save a person who has fallen into an ice hole. A board, or two or three fence rails, will hold you up on ice that would be too thin to walk on.
So it was that Ruddy did not break through, even when he went to the edge of the hole, in which poor Mazie was floundering. He reached over, caught hold of her loose coat in his teeth, and tried to pull her out. But this was too much for Ruddy. His paws were not made for getting a good hold on the ice, and he began to slip toward the dark, cold water.
"Catch hold of her, now!" cried Rick.
"Ruddy! Ruddy! Come back!" cried Rick, when he saw what was happening. "You can't get Mazie out, and you'll go in yourself."
"We'll get her out! We have the fence rails!" shouted Chot. "Come here, Ruddy!"
But Ruddy would not let go of Mazie until he saw Rick and Chot close beside him, at the edge of the hole. The boys were standing on some fence rails, and these bore them up on the thin ice.
"Catch hold of her, now!" cried Rick, and he and Chot took a firm grip, one at each of the little girl's shoulders. The fence rails were on either side of the hole, and the boys, lifting with all their strength, pulled Mazie out of the water. Ruddy ran back, barking, toward shore, when Rick told him to. Tom held the two shore ends of the rails steady so they would not slide on the smooth, hard, frozen surface.
In another moment Rick and Chot had Mazie safe on the firm ice and were hurrying with her toward the bank.
"Oh, Mazie! are you—are you drowned?" asked Edna, one of her chums.
"No—no! I—I—I'm not drowned," chattered Mazie, "but I'm terrible c-c-c-old!"
"We got to get her home!" cried Rick. "She's got to be warm!"
Quickly the boys took off Mazie's skates, and then, with Rick on one side of her and Chot on the other, while Tom took the other frightened girls in charge, the homeward trip was quickly made.
You may be sure there was much excitement in the Dalton house when the children were seen coming along, Mazie dripping wet and with Rick and Chot holding either arm. But Mrs. Dalton was accustomed to things happening, and as long as she saw that Mazie was alive and not hurt, she did not worry, but began making ready to warm the drenched and cold little girl.
Mazie was soon dried and put into a warm bed, with a hot water bag at her feet. She was given hot chocolate to drink and when the doctor came he said she might not be any the worse off for her adventure; at least he hoped she would not be.
And Mazie was not. Aside from a little cold, which she could hardly help having, she did not suffer much from having broken through the ice.
"Were you scared?" asked Rick, when it was all over.
"I just guess I was!" answered Mazie. "But when I saw Ruddy coming for me I seemed to know it would be all right. He saved me and he saved you; didn't he, Rick?"
"He sure did!" exclaimed the boy.
"And you and your chums did well, too," said Mr. Dalton. "You did just the right thing in getting the fence rails. I am glad to know Chot remembered some of his Boy Scout rules, and glad that you did not get so excited that you 'lost your heads,' as it is called."
"They would look funny without any heads!" laughed Mazie.
And so Rick loved Ruddy more than ever, and so did everyone who knew the dog.
The winter brought many good times to Rick and his friends, but there were no more such accidents as falling into a snow drift or breaking through the ice.
The snow storms and the freezing nights began to pass away. Spring was near and though Rick liked winter he was glad the days were coming when he and his dog could roam over the fields and through the woods; when he could toss sticks into Weed River or Silver Lake, and have Ruddy swim out to get them and bring them back.
One day, when Rick had come home from school, after a little April shower, and when it seemed as if May flowers were just ready to bloom, he fed his pet crow, Haw-Haw, and then ran to Ruddy's kennel.
"Come on boy! Now for a run!" cried Rick.
And Ruddy, with a joyful bark, seemed to answer:
"Here I am, Rick, ready and waiting for you!"
As dog and boy ran toward the front gate, and as Rick gave his cry of "Ee-oh!" to call Chot to come out and have fun, a strange, harsh voice snapped out:
"There he is! There he is!"
And down the street came the old ragged sailor!