to a wire fence that ran across the pasture, dipped into the brook, and
continued on the other side.

"Mr. Parkney said nobody lives there," Sunny Boy reminded Oliver.
"Let's explore where nobody lives. Come on, fellows!"

They ran toward the fence, intending to climb over it, but before they
reached it, Sunny Boy saw something that made him cry out in surprise.

"Look, Oliver!" he shouted. "Carleton, look! See the fence in the
water!"

The boys looked toward the brook. Part of the fence that was in the
water had broken and hung wobbling. But what had attracted Sunny Boy's
attention was a pile of ice cakes that were jammed against the fence.
They were a yellowish-white, not at all like the ice cakes the iceman
left in the refrigerator on summer mornings.

"It'll break in a minute," declared Nelson Baker. "Let's watch."

The boys stood waiting a few moments, and with a dull roar, the ice was
forced through the fence, carrying a part of it along, and the water,
as though angry at being held back, raced madly by, tossing cakes of
ice on either bank. A large piece was tossed right on the toe of Sunny
Boy's boot.

"There must be more ice where that came from," said Nelson. "Maybe we
can find the beginning of the brook. Hurry up! Let's try to find it."

They could not run, or even walk very fast, because at every step they