The Traps of the Ice

No creek could contain water in that arctic winter. But there were springs that bubbled out from the hillsides and ran along under the snow and on top the ice of the creek. He knew that the coldest snaps never froze these springs. And he knew likewise, their danger. They hid pools of water under the snow that might be three inches deep or three feet sometimes a skin of ice half an inch thick covered them. Sometimes there were alternate layers of water and ice skin, so that when one broke through, he kept on breaking through for a while, sometimes wetting himself to the waist. To get his feet wet in such a temperature meant trouble and danger.