Jack had put on the new skates which he had bought in Bennington where they had gone for a visit with old friends.
They were out on the clear ice, far from either shore, when they heard an alarming peal of "river thunder"-- a name which Binkus applied to a curious phenomenon often accompanied by great danger to those on the rotted roof of the Hudson.

The hidden water had been swelling.
Suddenly it had made a rip in the great ice vault a mile long with a noise like the explosion of a barrel of powder.

The rip ran north and south about mid-stream.

They were on the west sheet and felt it waver and subside till it had found a bearing on the river surface.
"We must git off o' here quick," said Binkus.

"She's goin' to break up." "Let me have the sled and as soon as I get going, you hop on," said Jack.
The boy began skating straight toward the shore, drawing the sled and its load, Solomon kicking out behind with his spiked boots until they were well under way.