“Oh, boys!” she called to Ned and Nat, who were struggling up the hill once more, “stop them, do! You must! That bank is crumbling away. If they come smashing down upon it again they may go over the brink, sled and all!” CHAPTER XVI THE FLY IN THE AMBER “Oh, Dorothy!” cried Tavia. Jennie, with a shudder, buried her face in her hands. Joe and Roger Dale were fairly flying down the hill, and would endeavor to stop by collision with the same lump of frozen earth that had previously been their bulwark. “See! Ned! Nat!” cried Dorothy again. “We must stop them!” But how stop the boys already rushing down hill on their coaster? It seemed an impossible feat. The White brothers dropped the towline of the big sled and scrambled along the slippery slope toward the edge of the gully. With a whoop of delight the two smaller boys, on their red coaster, whisked past the girls. “Stop them!” shrieked the three in chorus. Ned reached the edge of the gully bank first. His weight upon the cracking earth sent the slight barrier crashing over the brink. Just as they had supposed there was not a possible chance of Joe’s stopping the sled when it came down to this perilous spot. Tavia groaned and wrung her hands. Jennie burst out crying. Dorothy knew she could not help, yet she staggered after Ned and Nat, unable to remain inactive like the other girls. Ned recovered himself from the slippery edge of the bank; but by a hair’s breadth only was he saved from being thrown to the bottom of the gully. He crossed the slide in a bound and whirled swiftly, gesturing to his brother to stay back. Nat understood and stopped abruptly. “You grab Roger—I’ll take Joe!” panted Ned. Just then the smaller boys on the sled rushed down upon them. Fortunately, the steeper part of the hill ended some rods back from the gully’s edge. But the momentum the coaster had gained brought it and its burden of surprised and yelling boys at a very swift pace, indeed, down to the point where Ned and Nat stood bracing themselves upon the icy ground. “Oh, boys!” shrieked Tavia, without understanding what Ned and Nat hoped to accomplish. “_Do something!_” And the very next instant they did! The coaster came shooting down to the verge of the gully bank. Joe Dale saw that the bank had given way and he could not stop the sled. Nor did he dare try to swerve it to one side. Ned and Nat, staring at the imperilled coasters, saw the look of fear come into Joe’s face. Ned shouted: “Let go all holds! We’ll grab you! Quick!” Joe was a quick-minded boy after all. He was holding the steering lines. Roger was clinging to his shoulders. If Joe dropped the lines, both boys would be free of the sled. That is what he did. Ned swooped and grabbed Joe. Nat seized upon the shrieking and surprised Roger. The sled darted out from beneath the two boys and shot over the verge of the bank, landing below in the gully with a crash among the icy branches of a tree.