For a moment the two boys looked at each other. Each knew what was passing in the other’s mind. They well knew that the cake of ice which was supporting the man was liable to break up at any moment, and that the strongest swimmer could not live long in the icy water. All the men were off in the woods back of the camp, loading the last of the season’s cut. To go for them might mean that it would be too late. “Let’s get the canoe quick,” Bob said, as he started on the run for the office slowly followed by Jack. The canoe, which was in a little shed back of the office, was a small canvas affair, good enough for a short trip in smooth water, but far too frail to be safe amid the floating ice. But it was the only means they had of reaching the man and they did not hesitate. To get it down to the wharf was the work of but a few moments. Carefully they lowered it to the water, there being at the moment a large clear space in front of the wharf. “This is going to be a mighty dangerous trip all right,” Bob declared, as he took his place in the stern while Jack crouched in the bow. “We’ve got to be careful of the ice or we’ll get a hole in her and then——” There was no need to finish the sentence. They both knew what a hole in the frail canoe would mean. The wind, which had been light during the morning, had freshened during the past hour and now was coming strong from the northwest, directly in their faces. All over the lake the huge cakes of ice were bobbing up and down, the spaces of clear water between them constantly increasing and decreasing in size. From the start their progress was very slow, as they were obliged to follow a zigzag course wherever the open spaces would permit. In twenty minutes they were but a few hundred feet nearer the man than when they started. “Can we ever do it?” Jack panted, as he dug his paddle deep in the water and exerted all his strength to avoid a cake which threatened to smash into the side of the canoe. “We’ve got to,” Bob returned, a look of determination in his face. “We’ll do it if his cake holds out long enough,” he encouraged, as with a strong push he sent the canoe forward through a narrow lane between two large cakes. Now the open spaces were larger and they were able to make better time. They were nearly half way to the man and urging the canoe between two immense floes when suddenly Jack realized that the cakes were rapidly approaching each other. “Dig for all you’re worth or we won’t get through,” he shouted. They did their best but it was not enough. Realizing that they could not make it, Jack stopped paddling and shouted: “We’ll have to jump for it.” Bob quickly took in the situation and, throwing his paddle to the bottom of the canoe, he too watched the huge floe as it approached. They saw that the cake to their right would reach the boat first. “Make it snappy,” Bob shouted, as the cake was upon them.