The two young boys scrambled away, and French oaths could not induce them to approach.

Molly, still upheld by Fabian, looked at him piteously with her strange intelligent eyes, holding herself motionless and rigid with complete confidence in this master who had never failed her before.
Fabian dug his heels into the ice, but could not hang on.

The drowning horse was more than a dead weight.

Presently it became a question of letting go or being dragged into the lake on top of the animals.

With a sob the little Frenchman relinquished his hold.