“Well, I’m warm enough now,” said Freddie to Johnnie, after a bit.  “Shall we go out and skate some more?”

Johnnie was willing and out they went.  It seemed a little warmer now, for the sun was up higher.  Many skaters were on the lake.  All at once Freddie saw Tommy skating over toward the place which Bert had spoken of as not being safe.

“Tommy!  Tommy!” cried Freddie.  “Don’t go there.  The ice is too thin!”

But he was too late.  Straight toward the point Tommy glided and the next minute there was a cracking of the ice and Tommy went down out of sight.

CHAPTER XX

LOST IN A STORM

“Oh, Tommy’s in!  Tommy’s in!” cried Freddie, as he saw what had happened.  “Oh, he’ll be drowned!”

“Let’s see if we can get him out!” shouted Johnnie.

“No, we mustn’t go near that place.  It’s dangerous—­Bert said so!” said Freddie.  “I’ll run and tell my father.  He’ll know what to do.”

And this, really, was the wise thing to do, for such little boys as Freddie and Johnnie could not do much toward getting Tommy out of the cold water.  Some other skaters, seeing what had happened, were gliding toward the big hole which had opened in the ice, and more boys or girls might have fallen in had not a man, who was skating near them, warned them away.

“Keep back!” shouted the man.  “If you go too near, the ice will give way with you.  I’ll see if I can get him out.”

By this time Tommy’s head was to be seen above the water.  He knew how to swim, but one cannot do much swimming in ice-cold water, and with skates on one’s feet, besides wearing heavy clothing.  Poor Tommy was in a sad plight.

“Help!  Help!” he called.

“Yes, I’ll help you as soon as I can,” answered the man.  “I must get a plank to put down on the ice, though, so it will bear my weight.”

A plank on thin ice acts just as Bert’s snowshoes did on the snow, it holds a person up, keeping him from breaking through.

While the man was running toward the piles of lumber in Mr. Bobbsey’s yard, which was on the edge of the lake, Freddie and Johnnie, not stopping to take off their skates, ran toward the office where Freddie’s father was.

By this time the men in the lumber office, looking out on the lake, had seen that something was wrong.  And they guessed what sort of accident it was.  Some of them ran out, and Mr. Bobbsey followed them.

“Oh, Daddy!” cried Freddie, when he saw his father.  “He’s in!”

“Who?  Not Bert or Harry, I hope!”

“No, it’s Tommy Todd—­you know the boy——­”

“Yes, yes!  I know him.  He went through the ice, did he?  Here, men, get a rope to throw to him.  The ice is too thin to go close enough to reach his hand.  We must pull him out with a rope.”

There were ropes in the office, to be used in tying loads of lumber on the delivery wagons, and Mr. Bobbsey caught up a coil and ran toward the place where Tommy was struggling in the water.