Julia Crosby was skating backwards now, facing the others.

“Catch me if you can,” she called, and the wind carried her words to them as they flew after her.

Then Grace, who had been anxiously watching the skater and not the ice, stumbled on a piece of frozen wood and fell headlong.  She lay still for an instant, half stunned by the blow, but even in that distressful moment she could hear the other girl’s derisive laughter.

Tom called again: 

“You’ll be drowned, if you don’t look where you are going.”

“Why don’t you learn to skate?” was Julia’s answer.

“O Tom,” exclaimed Grace.  “Leave me.  I’ll soon get my breath.  Do go and stop that girl.  The pond’s awfully deep there.”

“Miss Crosby,” Tom Gray called, “won’t you wait a minute?  I have something to tell you.”

“Catch me first!” she cried.

She turned and began skating for dear life, bending from the waist and going like the wind.

“I think I’ll try and catch her from the front,” he said to himself.  “I don’t propose to tumble in, too, and leave poor Grace to fish, us both out.”

With arms swinging freely, he made for the center of the pond.  As he whizzed past the girl, he turned with a wide sweep and came toward her, pointing at the same time to the white flag.  But it was too late.  In her effort to outstrip him, Julia slid heavily into the danger zone.

There was a crash and a splash, then down she went into the icy water, followed by Tom, who had seized her arm in a fruitless effort to save her.

For an instant Tom was paralyzed with the coldness of the water.  Still, keeping a firm grip on the arm of the girl who had been responsible for his ice bath, he managed to clutch the ledge of ice made by their fall with his free hand.

“Take hold of the ice and try to help yourself a little,” commanded Tom.

Julia made a half-hearted attempt, and managed to grasp the ledge, but her hold was so feeble that Tom dared not withdraw his support He was powerless to act, and they would both drown unless help came quickly.

CHAPTER XIV

A BRAVE RESCUE

Grace was still where she had fallen, cooling a large, red lump on her forehead by applying her handkerchief first to the ice and then to the swollen place, when she suddenly felt herself to be entirely alone in the world.

“Everybody has gone home to dinner!” she exclaimed, as she glanced over her shoulder at the other end of the pond, now denuded of skaters.

Then she shifted her position, looking for Tom and Julia.  She had never dreamed, when she saw her friend go whizzing across the ice, that he had not 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 her feet, balancing herself with difficulty, for her head was still dizzy from the blow.