Jack thought he saw otter tracks and walked gingerly out on the ice Come back said Max It'll hold Jack said I followed him Look it's holding I said So Max came out too though you could see he was afraid He brought a branch with him Once he was on the ice we stood still and looked into the black water There was a quiet crack Then the entire sheet broke loose and began to move Max started yelling We all yelled but it was too late There was no time to jump ashore The ice floe was drifting away slowly and almost elegantly It spun a little at first but then it sailed on like a boat 13
We stood absolutely still we didn't dare to move We weren't going all that fast but soon the old jetty was out of sight We drifted to the middle of the river There were trees on both sides but we couldn't reach them Other floes large and small drifted around us We kept on floating downstream There wasn't only ice but a lot of debris too all kinds of things We managed to grab hold of a wooden box using Max's branch We pulled it up and sat on it That meant we didn't have to sit directly on the ice The river grew wider and wider Then it flowed into a bigger river which also grew and grew Finally we couldn't see the riverbanks just a bit of land in one direction We couldn't see any more birds We didn't know where we were 15
