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  CHAPTER II

  WHEN THE OLD ICE-HOUSE FELL

  Never before in the recollection of any Stanhope boy had wintersettled in so early as it had this year. They seldom counted on havingtheir first skate on the new ice before Christmas, and yet for twoweeks now some of the most daring had been tempting Providence byventuring on the surface of the frozen Bushkill.

  The ice company had built a new house the preceding summer, though theold one was still fairly well filled with a part of the previousseason's great crop. Its sides had bulged out in a suspicious manner,so that many had predicted some sort of catastrophe, but somehow theold building had weathered every gale, though it leaned to the southsadly. The company apparently hoped it would hold good until they hadit emptied during the next summer, when they intended to build anothernew structure on the spot.

  As the five boys started to skate at utmost speed up the river theyheard a medley of sounds. A panic had evidently struck such boys andgirls as were skimming over the smooth ice in protected bayous nearthe ice-houses. Instead of hurrying to the assistance of those who mayhave been caught in the fallen timbers of the wrecked building theywere for the most part fleeing from the scene, some of them shriekingwith terror.

  Several men who had been employed near by could be seen standing andstaring. It looked as though they hardly knew what to do.

  If ever there was an occasion where sound common sense and a readinessto grasp a situation were needed it seemed to be just then. And,fortunately, Jack Stormways was just the boy to meet the conditions.

  He sped up the river like an arrow from the bow, followed by the fourother scouts. The frightened girls who witnessed their passage alwaysdeclared that never had they seen Stanhope boys make faster speed,even in a race where a valuable prize was held out as a lure to thevictor.

  As he bore down upon the scene of confusion Jack took it all in. Thosewho were floundering amidst the numerous heavy cakes of ice mustengage their attention without delay. He paid little heed to thefortunate ones who were able to be on their feet, since this factalone proved that they could not have been seriously injured.

  Several, however, were not so fortunate, and Jack's heart seemed to bealmost in his throat when he saw that two of the skaters lay in themidst of the scattered cakes of ice as though painfully injured.

  "This way, boys!" shouted the boy in the van as they drew near thescene of the accident. "Bluff, you and Wallace turn and head for thatone yonder. Bobolink, come with me--and Tom Betts."

  Five seconds later he was bending over a small girl who lay theregroaning and looking almost as white as the snow upon the hills aroundStanhope.

  "It's little Lucy Stackpole!" gasped Tom, as he also arrived. "Chancesare she was hit by one of these big ice cakes when they flew around!"

  Jack looked up.

  "Yes, I'm afraid she's been badly hurt, fellows. It looks to me like acompound fracture of her right leg. She ought to be taken home in ahurry. See if you can round up a sled somewhere, and we'll put her onit."

  "Here's Sandy Griggs and Lub Ketcham with just the sort of big sled weneed!" cried Tom Betts, as he turned and beckoned to a couple of stoutlads who evidently belonged to one of the other patrols, since theywore the customary campaign hats of the scouts.

  These boys had by now managed to recover from their great alarm, andin response to the summons came hurrying up, anxious to be of service,as true scouts always are.

  Jack, who had been speaking to the terrified girl, trying to sootheher as best he could, proceeded in a business-like fashion toaccomplish the duty he had in hand.

  "Two of you help me lift Lucy on to the sled," he said. "We will haveto fasten her in some way so there'll be no danger of her slipping.Then Sandy and Lub will drag her to her home. On the way try to getDoctor Morrison over the 'phone so he can meet you there. The soonerthis fracture is attended to the better."

  "You could do it yourself, Jack, if it wasn't so bitter cold outhere," suggested Tom Betts, proudly, for next to Paul Morrisonhimself, whose father was the leading physician of Stanhope, Jack wasknown to be well up in all matters connected with first aid to theinjured.

  They lifted the suffering child tenderly, and placed her on thecomfortable sled. Both the newcomers were only too willing to do allthey could to carry out the mission of mercy that had been entrustedto their charge.

  "We'll get her home in short order, Jack, never fear," said SandyGriggs, as he helped fasten an extra piece of rope around the injuredgirl, so that she might not slip off the sled.

  "Yes, and have the doctor there in a jiffy, too," added Lub, who,while a clumsy chap, in his way had a very tender heart and was asgood as gold.

  "Then get a move on you fellows," advised Jack. "And while speed isall very good, safety comes first every time, remember."

  "Trust us, Jack!" came the ready and confident reply, as the twoscouts immediately began to seek a passage among the far-flungice-cakes that had been so suddenly released from their year'sconfinement between the walls of the dilapidated ice-house.

  Only waiting to see them well off, Jack and the other two once moreturned toward the scene of ruin.

  "See, the boys have managed to get the other girl on her feet!"exclaimed Bobolink, with a relieved air; "so I reckon she must havebeen more scared than hurt, for which I'm right glad. What next, Jack?Say the word and we'll back you to the limit."

  "We must take a look around the wreck of the ice-house," replied theother, "though I hardly believe any one could have been inside at thetime it fell."

  "Whew, I should surely hope not!" cried Tom; "for the chances are tento one he'd be crushed as flat as a pancake before now, with all thattimber falling on him. I wouldn't give a snap of my fingers for hislife, Jack."

  "Let's hope then there's no other victim," said Jack. "If there isnone, it will let the ice company off easier than they really deservefor allowing so ramshackle a building to stand, overhanging the riverjust where we like to do most of our skating every winter."

  "Suppose we climb around the timbers and see if we can hear any soundof groaning," suggested Bobolink, suiting the action to his words.

  Several men from the other ice-house reached the spot just then.

  Jack turned to them as a measure of saving time. If there were no menworking in the wrecked building at the time it fell there did not seemany necessity for attempting to move any of the twisted timbers thatlay in such a confused mass.

  "Hello! Jan," he called out as the panting laborers arrived. "It was abig piece of luck that none of you were inside the old ice-house whenit collapsed just now."

  The man whom he addressed looked blankly at the boy. Jack could seethat he was laboring under renewed excitement.

  "Look here! was there any one in the old building, do you know, Jan?"he demanded.

  "I ban see Maister Garrity go inside yoost afore she smash down," wasthe startling reply.

  The boys stared at each other. Mr. Thomas Garrity was a very rich andsingular citizen of Stanhope.

  Finally Bobolink burst out with:

  "Say, you know Mr. Garrity is one of the owners of these ice-houses,fellows. I guess he must have come up here to-day to see for himselfif the old building was as rickety as people said."

  "Huh! then I guess he found out all right," growled Tom Betts.

  "Never mind that now," said Jack, hastily. "Mr. Garrity never had muchuse for the scouts, but all the same he's a human being. We've got ourduty cut out for us plainly enough."

  "Guess you mean we must clear away this trash with the help of thesemen here, Jack," suggested Wallace, eagerly.

  "Just what I had in mind," confessed Jack. "But before we start inlet's all listen and see if we can hear anything like a groan."

  All of them stood in an expectant attitude, straining their hearing tothe utmost.

  Presently the listeners plainly caught the sound of a groan.