They heard the east sheet breaking up before they had made half the distance to safe footing.

Then their own began to crack into sections as big "as a ten-acre lot," Mr.Binkus said, "an' the noise was like a battle, but Jack kept a-goin' an' me settin' light an' my mind a-pushin' like a scairt deer." Water was flooding over the ice which had broken near shore, but the skater jumped the crack before it was wider than a man's hand and took the sled with him.

They reached the river's edge before the ice began heaving and there the sloped snow had been wet and frozen to rocks and bushes, so they were able to make their way through it.
"Now, we're even," said Solomon when they had hauled the sled up the river bank while he looked back at the ice now breaking and beginning to pile up, "I done you a favor an' you've done me one.

It's my turn next." This was the third in the remarkable series of adventures which came to these men.
They had a hearty welcome at the little house near The King's Arms, where they sat until midnight telling of their adventures.

In the midst of it, Jack said to his father: "I heard a speaker say in Boston that the dragon's teeth had been sown.
What does that mean ?" "It means that war is coming," said John Irons.