[Illustration:  Grace and the Strange Man Quickly Approached.]

“All right,” called Grace cheerfully as she approached.  “Keep up a little while longer.  We’ll have you both out in a jiffy.”

Both rescuers slid the plank on the ice until one end projected over the hole.

Then the man and Grace both lay flat down on the other end and Grace called “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 Tom attempted to draw himself up, crack! went the board, and a jagged piece broke off.  This would not have been so serious if the ice had not given way.  Then, into the water, with many strange, guttural cries, slipped the deaf and dumb man.  Grace herself was wet through by the rush of water over the ice, and just saved herself by slipping backward.

There was still a small portion of the plank left, and, with Julia Crosby’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 the bank trying to remove her skates.

“Julia,” called Grace desperately.  “You must help me now or these two men will drown.  Help me hold down this plank.”

Aroused by Grace’s appeal, Julia meekly obeyed, and, still shivering violently, knelt beside Grace on the plank.  But it was too short; when Tom Gray seized one end of it he nearly upset both the girls into the water.

“Oh, what shall we do?” cried Grace in despair when suddenly there came the thought of the little wagon.

Quickly untwisting a long muffler of red silk from about her neck, Grace tied it securely in the middle, around the cross piece of the tongue of the stout little vehicle.  Then she pushed it gently until it stood on the edge of the hole.  Giving one end of the muffler to Julia, Grace took the other herself.

“Catch hold of the tail piece, Tom,” she cried.

Fortunately the ice was very rough where the girls were standing, or they would certainly have slipped and fallen.  They pulled and tugged until gradually 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, then finally 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 certainly been brave and patient during the ordeal, although he had uttered the most fearful sounds.

As soon as his feet touched the solid ice, he seized his wagon and made for the bank.  Grace, remembering she had promised him her ring, hurried after him, but she was chilled to the bone and could not run.  By the time she reached the bank he had rounded the corner of the ice house and was out of sight.