"No, it was only twisted by your fall," the doctor told him. "You will be all right in a few days."

And so Rick was, but during those few days he had to stay in bed, though part of the time he could lie on a couch and look out of the window at the snow. And all this time Ruddy never left him. The dog stayed beside his master, only going out at night to his kennel when Rick had fallen asleep.

"And don't let that old sailor or the junk man get him," Rick begged of his father and mother, when it came time to put Ruddy out.

"I guess Ruddy himself won't let them come near him again," spoke Mr.

Dalton.

And so there grew between Rick and Ruddy a firmer bond of love and affection than ever. When Rick grew tired of reading or of looking out of the window he would glance toward Ruddy. And the dog, who had been, perhaps, asleep on the rug near his master's chair, seemed to know the minute Rick looked at him, even if the dog's eyes were shut, for Ruddy would give a low bark of pleasure and his tail would thump the floor.

That was Ruddy's way of talking.

The winter days pa.s.sed. Rick grew strong again and went out to play in the snow and on the ice with Ruddy. And all the boys wished they had such a dog as was the red setter.

There came a thaw, a rain and then a freeze. Instead of the ground being covered with snow, all the ponds, lakes and streams were frozen over.

"Now for some skating!" cried Rick. And Ruddy barked joyously. For, though he could not skate, and though he slid over the ice when he tried to walk on it, still he had fun, and loved to be out of doors with his master and the other boys.

One day Rick, Chot and Tom were down on Weed River with their skates.

Rick had taken Mazie with him, and while she skated with some other little girls, her brother and his chums started a game of hockey.

They were in the midst of it, and Rick's side was winning, when, suddenly, there sounded a loud, cracking noise.

"There goes the ice!" cried Chot. "Skate to sh.o.r.e, everybody! The ice is breaking!"

Forgetting their game, Rick and the others headed for the safe sh.o.r.e.

But even as Rick glided along, followed by Ruddy, the boy glanced down toward where he had left Mazie. He could not see her, but he noticed the other girls fleeing toward the river bank. And then from one of them came the cry:

"Mazie's in the water! Mazie went through the ice!"

CHAPTER XXII

THE SAILOR COMES AGAIN

Rick and the other boys knew what this meant--to break through the ice when they were skating. It had happened more than once on Weed River, and once, when Chot fell in, there was hard work to get him out. Rick remembered that time.

And now, as Rick heard the call of the frightened girls, and saw them running toward the sh.o.r.e without Mazie, his heart seemed to feel like a lump of lead. Ruddy, the dog, ran barking with the boys.

"Mazie's in the water! Mazie fell through the ice!" cried the shrill voices of the girls.

"Boys, we've got to get her out!" shouted Rick. "We got to save my sister!"

"That's what we have!" echoed Chot.

The boys turned, as soon as they reached the bank, and ran toward the place where they saw a hole in the ice. And, as Rick ran he caught a glimpse of his sister Mazie. She was down in the hole that had broken open when the ice cracked. Her head and shoulders were out of the hole.

But even ahead of the boys ran Ruddy, the dog. He seemed to know something had happened, as he knew it the time Rick was caught in the tree, and when his master fell into the snow drift.

He barked loudly, did Ruddy, and he looked back, every once in a while to see if the boys were coming. And they were, you may be sure of that.

Rick, Chot, Tom and the others were hurrying to save Mazie.

"How--how we going to get her out?" gasped Tom.

"Run right up to her and pull her out!" cried Chot. "She's holding to the edge of the ice. I can see her. Her head isn't under water! We got to pull her out!"

"But we mustn't run up to her!" exclaimed Rick. "If we do--we'll--go in the water, too! The ice will break with us--same as--it did with--Mazie!"

He could hardly talk he was so excited and out of breath from running.

He was gasping for breath.

"How we going to get your sister to sh.o.r.e if we don't pull her up out of the hole?" asked Tom.

"We got to get a board--or something--put it on the ice and walk out on it!" Rick answered.

"That's right!" cried Chot. "I remember now! It's in our Boy Scout book.

You got to use fence rails, or something to put down on the ice when it's cracking, to hold your weight. There's a fence! We can pull off some boards."

The girls continued screaming and jumping up and down on the bank, pointing toward Mazie, who was still in the water. She was holding to the ice at the edge of the hole through which she had fallen, and she was trying to call for Rick. But she was so cold and frightened she could hardly make a sound.

"Get the boards!" cried Rick to his chums.

But Ruddy waited for no boards. He saw that Mazie was in danger and he went to help her in the only way he knew--by going straight to the hole, reaching down and catching hold of the loose shoulder of the little girl's coat.

That's what Ruddy did! He ran straight over the ice toward the hole. And because Ruddy was a dog, and had four feet resting on the ice, instead of only two, like the boys, and because he was not as heavy as either Rick, Chot or Tom, the ice did not break under the dog's weight. Ruddy, standing on four feet, spread his weight over a larger part of the ice, and this is just why a board should be used by anyone who is trying to save a person who has fallen into an ice hole. A board, or two or three fence rails, will hold you up on ice that would be too thin to walk on.

So it was that Ruddy did not break through, even when he went to the edge of the hole, in which poor Mazie was floundering. He reached over, caught hold of her loose coat in his teeth, and tried to pull her out.

But this was too much for Ruddy. His paws were not made for getting a good hold on the ice, and he began to slip toward the dark, cold water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Catch hold of her, now!" cried Rick.]

"Ruddy! Ruddy! Come back!" cried Rick, when he saw what was happening.

"You can't get Mazie out, and you'll go in yourself."

"We'll get her out! We have the fence rails!" shouted Chot. "Come here, Ruddy!"

But Ruddy would not let go of Mazie until he saw Rick and Chot close beside him, at the edge of the hole. The boys were standing on some fence rails, and these bore them up on the thin ice.

"Catch hold of her, now!" cried Rick, and he and Chot took a firm grip, one at each of the little girl's shoulders. The fence rails were on either side of the hole, and the boys, lifting with all their strength, pulled Mazie out of the water. Ruddy ran back, barking, toward sh.o.r.e, when Rick told him to. Tom held the two sh.o.r.e ends of the rails steady so they would not slide on the smooth, hard, frozen surface.

In another moment Rick and Chot had Mazie safe on the firm ice and were hurrying with her toward the bank.

"Oh, Mazie! are you--are you drowned?" asked Edna, one of her chums.

"No--no! I--I--I'm not drowned," chattered Mazie, "but I'm terrible c-c-c-old!"