The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curlytops Snowed In, by Howard R. Garis This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Curlytops Snowed In Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds Author: Howard R. Garis Illustrator: Julia Greene Release Date: April 22, 2010 [EBook #32090] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN *** Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Cover The Curlytops Snowed In The Curlytops Snowed In Page 20 Howard R. Garis Frontispiece TED'S SLED WAS RUNNING AWAY, AND DOWN THE DANGEROUS SLOPE. THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN OR Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds BY HOWARD R. GARIS Author of "The Curlytops Series," "Bedtime Stories," "Uncle Wiggily Series," etc. Illustrations by JULIA GREENE NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY 1941 THE CURLYTOPS SERIES By HOWARD R. GARIS 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM Or, Vacation Days in the Country THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND Or, Camping Out With Grandpa THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN Or, Grand Fun With Skates and Sleds THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK'S RANCH Or, Little Folks on Ponyback CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, New York COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN Printed in U. S. A. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I A Letter from Grandpa 1 II A Runaway Sled 14 III Nicknack on the Ice 25 IV The Snow House 36 V Nicknack Sees Himself 52 VI The Snow Man 62 VII A Strange Bedfellow 78 VIII The Lame Boy 88 IX Through the Ice 99 X Thanksgiving 114 XI The Snow Bungalow 125 XII Trouble Is Lost 143 XIII Nicknack Has a Ride 153 XIV Snowed In 167 XV Driven Back 177 XVI Digging a Tunnel 187 XVII In a Big Drift 201 XVIII Nicknack Is Gone 209 XIX What Nicknack Brought 222 XX In the Bungalow 234 THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN CHAPTER I A LETTER FROM GRANDPA "Ted! Teddy! Look, it's snowing!" "Oh, is it? Let me see, Mother!" Theodore Martin, who was seldom called anything but Teddy or Ted, hurried away from the side of his mother, who was straightening his tie in readiness for school. He ran to the window through which his sister Janet, or Jan as she liked to be called, was looking. "Oh, it really is snowing!" cried Ted in delight. "Now we can have some fun!" "And look at the big flakes!" went on Jan. "They're just like feathers sifting down. It'll be a great big snowstorm, and we can go sleigh-riding." "And skating, too!" added Ted, his nose pressed flat against the window pane. "You can't skate when there's snow on the pond," objected Jan. "Anyhow it hasn't frozen ice yet. Has it, Mother?" "No, I think it hasn't been quite cold enough for that," answered Mrs. Martin. "But it'll be a big snowstorm, won't it?" asked Jan. "There'll be a lot of big drifts, and we can wear our rubber boots and make snowballs! Oh, what fun, Ted!" and she danced up and down. "And we can make a snow man, too," went on Teddy. "And a big snowball!" "An' I frow snowballs at snow man!" exclaimed the voice of a smaller boy, who was eating a rather late breakfast at the dining-room table. "Oh, Trouble, we'll make you a little snow house!" cried Jan, as she ran over to his high chair to give him a hug and a kiss. "We'll make you a snow house and you can play in it." "Maybe it'll fall down on him and we'll have to dig him out, like the lollypop-man dug Nicknack, our goat, out of the sand hole when we were camping with grandpa," added Ted with a laugh. "Say, but it's going to be a big storm! Guess I'd better wear my rubber boots; hadn't I, Mother?" "I hardly think so, Teddy," said Mrs. Martin. "I don't believe the snow will get very deep." [1] [2] [3] "Oh, Mother, won't it?" begged Jan, as if her mother could make it deep or not, just as she liked. "Why won't it be a big storm, Mother?" asked Teddy. "See what big flakes are coming down," and he looked up at the sky, pressing his face hard against the window. "Why won't it?" "Because it seldom snows long when the flakes are so big. The big flakes show that the weather is hardly cold enough to freeze the water from the clouds, which would be rain only it is hardly warm enough for that. It is just cold enough now to make a little snow, with very large flakes, and I think it will soon turn to rain. So you had better wear your rubbers to school and take an umbrella. And, Teddy, be sure to wait for Janet on coming home. Remember you're a year older than she is, and you must look after her." "I will," promised Teddy. "If I have to stay in, Jan, you wait for me out in front." "Will you have to stay in, Teddy?" "I don't know. Maybe not. But our teacher is a crank about things sometimes." "Oh, The-o-dore Mar-tin!" exclaimed his mother, speaking his name very slowly, as she always did when she was displeased or was quite serious, "you must not say such things about your teacher." "Well, the other boys say she's cranky." "Never mind what the other boys say, you must not call her that. Teachers have it hard enough, trying to see that you children know your lessons, without being called cranks. Don't do it again!" "I won't," promised Teddy, just a bit ashamed of himself. "And get ready to go to school," went on his mother. "Did you clean your teeth—each of you—and comb your hair?" "I did," said Janet. "I cleaned my teeth," announced Ted, "but my hair doesn't need combing. I combed it last night." For most boys this would hardly have been of any use, but with Teddy Martin it was different. Teddy's hair was so curly that it was hard work to pull a comb through it, even though he went slowly, and when he had finished it was curlier than before, only more fluffed up. Janet's was the same, except that hers was now getting longer than her brother's. No wonder then that the two children were called "Curlytops;" for their hair was a mass of tangled and twisted ringlets which clung tightly to their heads. Everyone called them Curlytops, or just Curlytop, of course, if one happened to meet Teddy or Janet alone. "I think you'd better give your hair a little brushing this morning, anyhow, Teddy," his mother said. "You can get a few of the wrinkles out." "Well, if I do they won't stay," he answered. "Oh, but look at it snow!" he cried. "The flakes are getting smaller; don't you think so, Jan?" "I think so—a little." "Then it'll last and be a big storm, won't it, Mother?" he asked anxiously. "Well, maybe so. But you don't want too big a storm, do you?" "I want one big enough for us to go coasting on the hill and have sleigh-rides. And we can skate, too, if the pond freezes and we scrape off the snow. Oh, we'll have fun, won't we, Jan?" Without waiting for an answer Ted ran upstairs to take a few of the "wrinkles" out of his curly locks, while Nora Jones, who helped Mrs. Martin with the housework, looked for the children's umbrella and rubbers. It was the first snowstorm of the season, and, as it always did, it caused much delight, not only to the Curlytops but to the other children of Cresco where the Martin family lived. Janet watched eagerly the falling flakes as she put on her rubbers and waited for Teddy to come down from the bathroom, where he had gone to comb his hair, though he could not see much use in doing that. "It'll only be all curly again," he said. But still he minded his mother. "The flakes are getting lots smaller," said Janet, as she and Teddy started for school. "We'll have big heaps of snow, Ted, and we can have fun." "Yes, I think it will be more of a storm than I thought it would amount to at first," said Mrs. Martin. "I'm glad we have plenty of coal in the cellar, and an abundance of dry wood. Winter has started in early this year." "And pretty soon it'll be Thanksgiving and Christmas!" cried Ted. "Then what fun we'll have!" exclaimed the excited [4] [5] [6] [7] boy. "Now don't get any snow down inside your collars," called Mrs. Martin to her children, as they went down the street. "We won't!" they promised, and then they forgot all about it, and began snowballing one another with what little snow they could scrape up from the ground, which was now white with the newly-fallen crystals. "I'm going to wash your face!" suddenly cried Ted to his sister. "You are not!" she cried, and away she ran. Meanwhile, Trouble Martin, which was the pet name for Baby William, the youngest of the family, sat in the dining- room window and laughed at the falling flakes and at his brother and sister going to school, romping on their way. "There, I did wash your face!" cried Ted, as he finally managed to rub a little snow on his sister's cheek, making it all the redder. "I washed your face first this year!" "I don't care. You got some down inside my collar and my neck's wet and I'm going to tell mother on you!" "Oh, don't!" begged Ted. "I won't do it again, and I'll wipe your neck with my handkerchief." "Well, maybe I won't tell if you don't do it again," promised Janet, while her brother got out his pocket handkerchief. "Ouch! Oh!" cried Janet, as Teddy started to dry her neck. "Your handkerchief's all wet! It's got a lot of snow on it! Let me alone!" and she pushed him away. "Wet? My handkerchief wet?" asked Ted. "So it is!" he exclaimed. "I guess some snow must have got in my pocket. I'll use yours, Jan." "No, I don't want you to. I'll wipe my own neck. You let me alone!" Jan was laughing; she did not really care that Ted had washed her face, and she soon had her neck quite dry. Then the two Curlytops hurried on to school. The street was filled with children now, all going to the same place. Some paused to make a slide on the sidewalk, and others took turns running and then gliding along the slippery place. "Oh, here's a dandy one!" called Tommie Wilson, who lived not far from Teddy Martin. The two boys saw a long smooth place on the sidewalk in front of them, where some early school children had made a slide. "Come on!" cried Tommie, taking a run. "Come on!" yelled Teddy. One before the other they went down the sidewalk slide. "Look out for me!" called Janet and she, too, took a running start. But alas for the children. Near the end of the slide one of Tommie's feet slid the wrong way and after he had tried, by waving his arms, to keep upright, down he went in a heap. "Get out the way!" cried Teddy. But Tommie had no time, and right into him slid Ted, falling down on top of his chum, while Jan, not able to stop, crashed into her brother and then sat down on the slide with a bump. All three were in a heap. "Oh, Tommie Wilson!" cried Janet, looking at her books which had fallen out of her strap. "See what you did!" "I couldn't help it!" "You could so! You tripped on purpose to make me fall!" "I did not, Janet Martin." "No, it wasn't Tommie's fault," declared Teddy. "He couldn't help it. Are you hurt Jan?" "No—not much—but look at my books." "I'll pick 'em up for you," offered Tommie, and he did, brushing off the snow. Then he helped Janet to get up, and she began to laugh. After all it was only fun to fall on a slippery slide. "There goes the bell!" cried Teddy, when he had helped brush the snow off his sister's skirt. "One more slide!" exclaimed Tommie. "I'm going to have one, too!" called Teddy. "You'll be late for school, and be kept in!" warned Janet. [8] [9] [10] "We'll run," Tommie said, as he started at the top of the slippery place. He and Ted had their one-more slide, and then, taking hold of Janet's hands, they hurried on to school. Behind them and in front of them were other children, some hurrying to their classes, others waiting for a last slide, some falling down in the snow. Others were washing one another's faces and some were snowballing. In school the teachers had hard work to keep the minds of their pupils on their lessons. Every now and then some boy or girl would look out of the window when his eyes ought to have been on spelling book or geography. All wanted to see the snow sifting down from the clouds. The flakes, that had been large at first, were now smaller, and this, as most of the children had been told, meant that the storm would last. And they were glad, for to them snow meant grand winter fun with sleds and skates. "We'll have some bobsled races all right," whispered Teddy Martin to Tommie Wilson, and the teacher, hearing what Teddy said, kept him after school for whispering. But she did not keep him very long, for she knew what it meant to have fun in the first snow of the season. Teddy found Janet waiting for him when he came out, for it was now snowing hard and Teddy had taken the umbrella with him when he went to his room. He was a year older than his sister and one class ahead of her in school. "Were you bad in class?" Janet asked. "I only whispered a little. She didn't keep me in long. Come on now, we'll have some fun." And fun the Curlytops and their playmates did have on their way home from school. They slid, they snowballed, they washed one another's faces and some of the boys even started to roll big snowballs, but the flakes were too dry to stick well, and they soon gave this up. It needs a wet snow to make a big ball. When Teddy and Janet got home, their cheeks red, their eyes sparkling and their hair curlier than ever because some snow had gotten in it, they found their mother reading a letter which the postman had just left. "Oh, what's it about?" asked Jan. "It's from Cherry Farm, isn't it, Mother? I can tell by the funny black mark on the stamp." "Is it from grandpa?" asked Teddy. "Yes," answered Mrs. Martin. "The letter is from grandpa." "Is he coming here to spend Christmas, or are we going there just as you said we might?" asked Janet. "I'm not sure about either one yet," replied her mother. "But grandpa sends his love, and he also sends a bit of news." "What is it?" asked Ted. "Grandpa Martin writes that an old hermit, who lives in a lonely log cabin in the woods back of Cherry Farm, says this is going to be the worst winter in many years. There will be big snowstorms, the hermit says, and Grandpa Martin adds that the hermit is a good weather prophet. That is, he seems to know what is going to happen." "A big snowstorm! That will be fun!" cried Teddy. "Maybe not, if it is too big," warned his mother. "Grandpa Martin says we ought to put away an abundance of coal and plenty of things to eat." "Why?" asked Janet. "Because we may be snowed in," answered her mother. CHAPTER II A RUNAWAY SLED For a moment Ted and Janet looked at their mother. Sometimes she told them strange things, and she did it with such a serious face that they could not always tell whether or not she was in earnest. "Do you mean that the snow will come up over the top of the house so we can't go out?" asked Teddy. [11] [12] [13] [14] He remembered a picture his mother had once showed him of a lonely log cabin in the woods, almost hidden under a big white drift, and beneath the picture were the words: "Snowed in." "If it comes up over the top of the house we can't ever get out till it melts," went on Jan. "Will it happen that way, Mother? What fun!" "Dandy!" cried Ted. "Oh, indeed! Being snowed in isn't such fun as you may think," said Mrs. Martin, and then the Curlytops knew their mother was now a little bit in earnest at least. "Of course," she went on, "the snow will hardly cover our house, as it is much larger than the one in the picture I showed Teddy. But being snowed in means that so much snow falls that the roads are covered, and the piles, or drifts, of the white flakes may be high enough to come over the lower doors and windows. "When so much snow falls it is hard to get out. Even automobiles and horses can not go along the roads, and it is then people are 'snowed in.' They can not get out to buy things to eat, and unless they have plenty in the house they may go hungry. "That is what Grandpa Martin meant when he said we might be snowed in, and why he warned us to get in a quantity of food to eat." "But shall we really be snowed in, Mother?" asked Ted. "I don't know, I'm sure. Grandpa was only telling us what the hermit told him. Sometimes those old men who live in the woods and know much about nature's secrets that other persons do not know, can foretell the weather. And the snow has certainly come earlier this year than for a long time back. I am afraid we shall have a hard winter, though whether or not we shall be snowed in I cannot say." "Well, if we're going to be snowed in let's go coasting now, Janet!" suggested Ted to his sister. "May we, Mother?" asked the little girl. "Yes. But don't go on the big hill." "No. We'll stay on the small one." Teddy ran out of the room to get the sled. "Me want to go on sled!" cried Baby William. "Oh, Trouble! We can't take you!" said Jan. "I wish you could," said Mrs. Martin. "He hasn't been out much to-day, and I want to get him used to the cold weather. It will be good for him. He loves the snow. Just give him a little ride and bring him back." "All right," agreed Janet. "Come on, Trouble. I'll help you get your cap and jacket on." "Is he comin' with us?" demanded Ted, as he got his sled and Janet's down out of the attic, where they had been stored all summer. "I'm not goin' coasting with him!" "Don't forget your 'g's,' Teddy," said his mother gently. "Well, I don't want to take the baby coasting," and Teddy was careful, this time, not to drop the last letter as he sometimes did from words where it belonged. "Can't have any fun with him along!" "I'll just give him a little ride," whispered Janet. "You boys will have to make the hill smooth anyhow, and we girls can't have any fun till you do that. So I'll ride Trouble up and down the street for a while." "Oh, all right. And I'll take him coasting some other time," promised Ted, a little bit ashamed of the fuss he had made. "We'll go on and get the hill worn down nice and smooth." It was still snowing, but not very hard, and the ground was now two or three inches deep with the white flakes— enough to make good coasting when it had been packed down smooth and hard on the hill which was not far from the home of the Curlytops. There were two hills, the larger, long one being farther away. At first the runners of the two sleds were rusty, but Ted scraped them with a piece of stone and they were soon worn smooth and shiny so they would glide along easily. Trouble was delighted at the chance of being taken out on his sister's sled. Janet gave her little brother a nice ride up and down the sidewalk, and then she ran and rode him swiftly to the house where her mother took him up the steps. Trouble did not want to go in, and cried a little, but his mother talked and laughed at him so that he soon smiled. Mrs. Martin wanted Janet to have some fun with Teddy on the hill. There were a number of boys and girls coasting when Janet reached the place where her brother had gone. The hill [15] [16] [17] [18] had now been worn smooth and the sleds shot swiftly down the hill. "Come on, Janet!" cried her brother. "It's lots of fun! I'll give you a push!" Janet sat on her sled at the top of the hill, and Ted, with a little running start, thrust her along the slope. Down went Janet, the wind whistling in her ears. "Look out the way! Here I come, too!" cried Ted behind her. "I'll race you to the bottom!" But Janet had a good start and Ted could not catch up to her, though he did beat Tommie Wilson who had started at the same time the Curlytop lad had. With shouts and laughter the children coasted on the hill. At the bottom they came to a stop on a level place, though some of the older boys gave their sleds an extra push and then went on down another hilly street that was a continuation of the first. At the foot of this street ran the railroad and there was some danger that sleds going down the second hill might cross the tracks. Of course, if there were no trains this would have been all right. But one could never be certain when a train would come, so most of the children were told never to go down the second hill. They could not do it unless they pushed their sleds on purpose, over the level place at the bottom of the first hill. "I wouldn't want to ride down there," said Teddy, as he saw some of the larger boys fasten their sleds together in a sort of "bob," and go down the second hill together. "No, this little hill is good enough," Janet replied. She and Teddy, with their boy and girl friends had great sport coasting on the snow. It was getting dusk, and some of the smaller children had gone home. "We'd better go, too," said Janet. "It's snowing again, Ted, and maybe it will happen—what grandpa's letter said— we'll be snowed in." "Well, I'm going to have one more coast," Teddy answered. "I'll wait for you," returned his sister. She saw her brother slide down the small hill and come to a stop on the level place at the bottom. Then, before Ted could get off his sled, down came a lot of the big boys, riding together on a bob. "Look out the way!" they called to Teddy. "Look out the way! We're going fast and we can't stop! We're going down the second hill! Look out the way! Clear the track!" But Teddy had no time to get out of the way. In another second, before he could get up off his sled, the bob of the big boys crashed into him and sent him over the level place and down the second hill. Ted's sled was really running away with him, and down the dangerous slope. "Oh, Teddy! Teddy!" cried Janet when she saw what had happened. "Come back! Come back!" But Teddy could not come back. His sled was a runaway and could not be stopped. Luckily Teddy had not been hurt when the big boys ran into him, and he managed to stay on his sled. But he was going very fast down the second hill. "Oh, dear!" cried Janet, and down she ran after her brother. I will take just a moment here to tell my new readers a little about the Curlytops, so they may feel better acquainted with them. Those who have read the first volume of this series may skip this part. That book is entitled "The Curlytops at Cherry Farm," and tells of Janet and Ted's summer vacation, which was spent at the home of Grandpa Martin. They found a stray goat, which they named Nicknack, and they had many good times with their pet. They also met a boy named Hal Chester, who was being cured of lameness at a Home for Crippled Children, not far from grandpa's house. Grandpa Martin had on his farm many cherry trees and how the "lollypop" man helped turn the cherries into candy is told in the book. The second volume is called "The Curlytops on Star Island," and relates the experiences of the two children, with Trouble and their mother, when camping with grandpa on an island in Clover Lake. On the island Ted and Janet saw a strange blue fire, though they did not learn what caused it until after they had met a strange "tramp-man" who sometimes stayed in a cave. When their camping days on Star Island came to an end, the Curlytops went back to their home in the town of Cresco, where Mr. Martin owned a large store. And now we find them coasting down hill. As for the children themselves, you have already been told their names. Theodore and Janet they were, but more often they were called just Ted and Jan. Baby William was generally called "Trouble," because he got in so much of it. But Mother Martin usually called him "dear Trouble." He often went with Jan and Ted when they rode with Nicknack, and Trouble had adventures of his own. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Martin there was Nora, the maid. [19] [20] [21] [22] Grandpa Martin has been mentioned, and of course there was Grandma Martin. They lived at Cherry Farm. Mrs. Martin's sister, Miss Josephine Miller, lived in the city of Clayton. Aunt Jo, as the children called her, owned, besides her city home, a country place in Mt. Hope on Ruby Lake. She said she would some day build a nice, new bungalow at the lake. Another relative, of whom the Curlytops were fond, was Uncle Frank Barton. He was really Mr. Martin's uncle, but Ted and Jan claimed him as their own. He had a big ranch near Rockville, Montana, and the children hoped to go there some day. Besides their goat, Ted and Jan had a dog named Skyrocket and a cat called Turnover, because she would lie down and roll over to get something to eat. The dog's name was given him because he was always so lively, running and jumping here, there and everywhere. And now that you have learned more about the family, you will, perhaps, wish to hear what was happening to Teddy. Down the second hill he went on his runaway sled, very fast, for the bob of the big boys had struck his coaster quite a blow. And the second hill was much more slippery than the first, some of the boys having sprinkled it with water, that had frozen into ice. "Oh, dear!" thought poor Ted, as he went sliding down faster and faster. "I'm afraid!" And well he might be, for at the foot of the hill, where the railroad crossed, he could now hear the puffing of an engine and the ringing of a bell. "Ted! Teddy! Come back! Stop!" cried Jan, as she ran down the hill. But Teddy could neither stop nor come back just then. CHAPTER III NICKNACK ON THE ICE Janet Martin did not know what to do. In fact, a girl much older than Ted's sister would have been puzzled to know how to stop the little boy on his runaway sled from going across the railroad tracks. Of course he might get across before the train came, but there was danger. "Oh, dear!" cried Jan. "Those big boys were mean to bunk into Ted, and push him over the second hill!" She was tired now, and running down a slippery hill is not easy. So Jan stood still. Many of the other coasters did not know that Ted was in danger. They saw the larger boys coasting down the second hill, and perhaps they thought Teddy knew what he was about as long as his sled was going so straight down the same slope. For Ted was steering very straight. With his feet dangling over the back of his sled he guided it down the hill, out of the way of other boys, some of whom he passed, for his sled was a fast one. Teddy was frightened. But he was a brave little fellow, and some time before he had learned to steer a sled with his feet, so he was not as afraid as he might otherwise have been. "Oh, what will happen to him?" wailed Janet, and tears came into her eyes. As soon as she had shed them she was sorry, for it is not very comfortable to cry wet, watery, salty tears in freezing weather. "What is the matter, Curlytop?" asked a bigger girl of Jan. This girl had been giving her little brother and sister a ride on her sled. "My brother is sliding down the second hill, and there's a train coming," sobbed Jan. "He'll be hurt! We never go on that hill!" The big girl looked down at Ted. He was quite far away now, but he could easily be seen. "Maybe he'll stop in time," said the big girl. "Oh, look!" she cried suddenly. "He's steered into a snow bank and upset!" And this was just what Ted had done. Whether he did it by accident, or on purpose, Jan could not tell. But she was still afraid. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] "He'll get hurt!" she said to the big girl. "Oh, I guess not," was the answer. "The snow is soft and your brother would rather run into that, I think, than into a train of cars. Come on, I'll go down the hill with you and see if he is all right. You stay here, Mary and John," she said to her little brother and sister, placing them, with their sled, where they would be out of the way of the other coasters. "I'll leave my sled here, too," said Jan, as she went down the hill with the older girl. When they reached Teddy he was brushing off the snow with which he had become covered when he slid, head first, into the drift alongside the road. "Are you hurt?" cried Jan, even before she reached him. "Nope!" laughed Ted. "I'm all right, but I was scared. I thought I'd run over the track. Those fellows nearly did," and he pointed to the boys on the bobsled, which they had made by joining together two or three of their bigger sleds, tying them with ropes, and holding them together as they went down hill by their arms and legs. The boys on this bobsled had stopped just before going over the track when the switchman at the crossing had lowered the gates. He was now telling the boys they must not coast down as far as this any more, as trains were coming. And, as he spoke, one rumbled by. "You might have been hurt by that if you had not stopped your sled in time," said the big girl to Ted. "That's what I thought," he answered. "That's why I steered into the snow bank." "Those big boys were mean to shove you down the second hill," declared Janet. "Well, maybe they didn't mean it," said the big girl. "No, we didn't," put in one of the larger boys, coming up just then. "We're sorry if we hurt you, Curlytop," he added to Ted. "You didn't hurt me, but you scared me," was the small boy's answer. "You certainly know how to steer," said the bigger boy. "I watched you as we passed you on the hill. I knew if we got to the bottom first we could keep you from getting hurt by the train. Now you and your sisters sit on my big sled, and we'll pull you to the top of the hill to pay for the trouble we made." "I'm not his sister," said the big girl. "I am!" exclaimed Jan quickly. "I might have known that. You two have hair just alike, as curly as a carpenter's shaving!" laughed the big boy. "Well, hop on the sled, and you, too," he added, nodding at the big girl. "I guess we can pull you all up." "Course we can!" cried another big boy, and when Ted, Jan and the larger girl, whose name was Helen Dolan, got on the largest of the sleds that had made up the bob, they were pulled up the two hills by a crowd of laughing boys, Teddy's sled trailing on behind. So the little incident did not really amount to much, though at one time both Ted and Jan were frightened. They coasted some more, being careful to keep out of the way of the bigger boys and girls and then, as it was getting dark, Jan said again they had better go home. "One more coast!" cried Ted, just as he had said before. "It may rain in the night and melt all the snow." "It's awful cold," shivered Janet, buttoning up her coat. "If it tries to rain it will freeze into snow. And it's snowing yet, Ted." "Yes. And almost as hard as it was this morning. Say, maybe we'll be snowed in, Jan! Wouldn't it be fun?" "Maybe. I never was snowed in; were you?" "No. But I'd like to be." The time was to come, though, when Ted and Janet were to find that to be snowed in was not quite so much fun as they expected. They reached home with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes, to find supper ready for them. "Did you have a good time?" asked their mother. "Fine!" answered Janet. "And I got run away with," added Ted, who always told everything that happened. "Run away with!" exclaimed his father. "I thought they didn't allow any horses or automobiles on the coasting hill." [28] [29] [30] "They don't," Ted answered. "My sled ran away with me, but I steered it into a snow bank and upset," and he told of what had happened. "You must be very careful," said his father, when Ted had finished. "Coasting is fun, but if everyone is not careful you may get hurt, and we wouldn't like that." It was still snowing hard when Ted and Jan went to bed, and it was with eager faces that they looked out into the night. "Do you s'pose we'll be snowed in?" asked Jan. "I hope so—that is, if we have enough to eat," answered Ted. "That's what grandpa said to do—buy lots to eat, 'cause the hermit said it was going to be an awful bad winter." "Did you ever see a hermit, Ted?" "No. Did you?" "No. But I'd like to, wouldn't you?" "Yes, I would, Jan." "Maybe I'll be a hermit some day," went on the little girl, after she had gotten into bed, her room being across the hall from Ted's. "Huh! You can't be a hermit." "I can so!" "You can not!" "Why?" "'Cause hermits is only men. I'll be the hermit!" "Well, couldn't I live with you—wherever you live?" "Maybe I might live in a dark cave. Lots of hermits do." "I wouldn't be afraid in the dark if you were there, Teddy." "All right. Maybe I'd let you live with me." "Does a hermit like snowstorms, Teddy?" "Children, you must be quiet and go to sleep!" called Mrs. Martin from downstairs. "Don't talk any more." Ted and Janet were quiet for a little while, and then Janet called in a loud whisper: "Teddy, when you're a hermit will you have to eat?" "I guess so, Jan. Everybody has to eat." "Children!" warned Mrs. Martin again, and then Jan and Ted became quiet for the rest of the night. It was very cold when the children awoke in the morning, and as soon as they were up they ran to the windows to look out. It had stopped snowing and the air was clear and bright with sunshine. "We didn't get snowed in," called Janet, in some disappointment. "No," answered Ted. "But it's so cold I guess the pond is frozen and we can go skating." "Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Jan. "Will you help me skate, Ted? 'Cause I can't do it very well yet." She had just learned the winter before. "I'll help you," her brother promised. There was a pond not far from the Martin home, and it was so shallow that it froze more quickly than the larger lake, which was just outside the town, and where the best skating was. The smaller boys and girls used the little pond, though sometimes they went to the lake when it was perfectly safe. After school Jan and Ted, taking their skates, went to the pond. There they found many of their little friends. "How's the ice?" asked Teddy of Harry Kent. "Slippery as glass," was the answer. "Then I'll fall down!" exclaimed Jan. [31] [32] [33] And she did, almost as soon as she stood up on her skates. But Ted and Harry held her between them and before long she could strike out a little. Then she remembered some of the directions her father had given her when he taught her to skate the year before, and Jan was soon doing fairly well. Ted was a pretty good skater for a boy of his age. "You're doing fine, Curlytop!" called Harry Morris, one of the big boys who had pulled Ted and Jan up the hill on his sled the previous night. He had come to see how thick the ice was. "You're doing fine. But why don't you hitch up your goat and make him pull you on the ice?" "Oh, Ted, we could do that!" cried Janet, as the big boy passed on. "Do what?" "Harness Nicknack to a sled and make him give us a ride. Maybe he could pull us over the snow as well as on the ice." "We'll try it!" cried Teddy. He took off his skates and hurried home, telling Janet to wait for him at the pond, which was not far from the Martin house. In a little while Teddy came back driving Nicknack hitched to Ted's sled. The goat pulled the little boy along over the snow much more easily than he had hauled the small wagon. "This is great!" cried Ted. "I'm going to drive him on the ice now. Giddap, Nicknack!" Teddy guided the goat to the ice-covered pond. Nicknack took two or three steps on the slippery place and then he suddenly fell down, the sled, with Ted on it, gliding over his hind legs. "Baa-a-a-a!" bleated Nicknack, as if he did not at all like this. CHAPTER IV THE SNOW HOUSE "Oh, Teddy, you'll hurt Nicknack!" cried Janet, when she saw what had happened. "I didn't mean to," Ted answered, jumping off the sled. "He slipped on the ice and I couldn't stop the sled." "Help him get up," went on Jan. "He can't get up himself with that sled on his hind legs." Teddy pulled back the sled, but still Nicknack did not get up. "Maybe one of his legs is broken," suggested Tom Taylor, a boy who lived near the Martins. "If it is he'll have to run on three legs. Our dog did that once, when one of his legs had been run over," said Lola Taylor, Tom's sister. "Come on, Nicknack, get up!" cried Ted. "Stand up and give us a ride on the ice." But the goat only went: "Baa-a-a-a!" again, and he seemed to shake his head as if to say that he could not get up. "His legs are all right," Teddy said when he had looked at them as well as he could, and felt of the parts that stuck out from under Nicknack's body. "Why doesn't he stand up?" "What's the matter, Curlytop?" asked Harry Morris. "My goat won't stand up on the ice," Ted answered. "He fell down and his legs are all right, but he won't stand up." "Maybe it's because he knows he can't," said Harry. "Goats aren't made to stand on slippery ice you know. Their hoofs are hard like a cow's. They are all right for walking on snow or on the ground, but they can't get a good hold on the ice. I guess the reason Nicknack won't stand up is because he knows he'd fall down again if he tried it. Here, I'll help you get him over into the snow, and there you'll see he'll be all right." With the help of Harry, the goat was half led and half carried off the pond to the snow-covered ground. There Nicknack could drag the sled easily, and he gave Ted and Jan a nice ride, also pulling Lola and Tom. Ted offered the big boy a ride behind the goat, but Harry said: [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] "I'm much obliged to you, Curlytop, but I'm afraid your sled is too small for me. Your goat is strong enough to pull me, I guess, but I'd fall off the sled, I'm afraid." "I wish I could make him pull me on the ice," said Teddy. "How could we make him stop slipping?" he asked the big boy. "Well, you'd have to have sharp-pointed iron shoes put on his hoofs, the same as they shoe horses for the winter. Only I don't know any blacksmith that could make shoes small enough for a goat. Maybe you could tie cloth on his hoofs, or old pieces of rubber, so he wouldn't slip on the ice." "That's what we'll do!" cried Teddy. "To-morrow we'll make some rubbers for our goat, Jan." "Do you think he'll let us put 'em on?" asked Jan. "Oh, course he will. Nicknack is a good goat." Ted and Jan drove him around some more in the snow, and this was not hard pulling for Nicknack, as the sled slipped along easily and he had no trouble in standing up on his sharp hoofs in the soft snow. But Ted did not again drive him on the ice that day. "I know what we can do to have some fun," said Jan, as she and her brother started Nicknack toward home after having had some more rides themselves, and giving some to their little friends. "What?" asked Ted. "Haven't we had fun enough?" "Yes, but we can have more," went on Jan. "And this fun is good to eat." "If you mean stopping at a store and getting some lollypops—nopy!" and Ted shook his head quickly from side to side. "I didn't mean that," declared Jan. "It's good you didn't," came from her brother, "'cause if you did we couldn't." "Why not?" Jan asked. "I haven't got a penny," returned Teddy. "I asked mother for some when I went home to get Nicknack, but she told me to wait a minute while she paid the milkman." "Didn't you wait?" asked Jan in some surprise. It seemed strange that Teddy would miss a chance like this, as Mrs. Martin did not give the Curlytops pennies every time they asked for them. She did not want them to get in the habit of spending money too freely, especially when it was given them, and they had done no little thing to earn it. Nor did she want them to buy candy when she did not know about it. So the giving of pennies was really an event in the lives of Ted and Jan, and the little girl wondered very much now, why it was her brother had not taken the money when his mother was willing to give it. "Why didn't you want to wait, Ted?" asked Jan. "Oh, I wanted to all right," he answered; "but Nicknack didn't want to. I got him—Nora and me—all harnessed up, and I tied him out in front; then I went in to ask for the pennies—one for you and one for me." "Oh, I wish you'd got 'em," said Jan, rather sorrowfully. "I would have, only for the goat," explained her brother. "Mother told me to wait; but, just as she said it, I saw an automobile come along in front of our house close to where I'd tied Nicknack. "Our goat got scared and tried to run away, 'cause the auto chucked snow on him, and then I had to run out to catch him. That's why I couldn't wait for the pennies. I jumped on the sled just as Nicknack was startin' to run away——" "Star-ting!" corrected Janet. "Well, star-ting, then," laughed Ted. "Anyhow, I couldn't make him turn around to go back for the pennies, so I came on right over to the pond." "And we had a lot of fun there," stated Jan. "Only I didn't like to see our goat fall down." "Well, he'll stand up when we get rubbers for him," said Ted. "But how're we going to have more fun, Jan?" "Make snow-cream," answered the little Curlytop girl. "What's that?" asked Ted. "Like ice-cream?" "Yes, only different. Don't you know? Mother lets us make it sometimes. You take a lot of snow—clean snow in a pail—and you stir some eggs and milk and sugar and flavoring in it, and that makes almost the same as ice-cream." "How're we going to do it?" asked Ted, as the goat pulled him and his sister slowly along the snow-lined street. "We [39] [40] [41] haven't got any sugar or milk or eggs or flavoring—not even a pail." "We can stop at Aunt Sallie's and get 'em all," said Janet. "She'll like us to make snow-cream, I guess. She can help us eat it." "Then let's!" cried Teddy. "Go on, Nicknack, we're going to make snow-cream! Is it awful good?" he asked his sister. "Terrible good," she answered. "I didn't have any yet this winter, but we had some last. It's better'n lollypops." "Then it must be specially extra good," decided Ted. "Hurry up, Nicknack." The goat hurried as much as he could, but, though it was easier going on the snow than on the ice, still it was not as easy as on the dry ground in summer. Along the street, around this corner, then around the next went the Curlytops on the sled pulled by Nicknack, until, at last, they came to the house of Aunt Sallie, a dear old lady who was always glad to see them. "My gracious sakes alive!" she cried, as she met the two children. "Here we come, in our coach and four, just like Cinderella out of the pumpkin pie!" "Oh, Cinderella didn't come out of a pumpkin pie, Aunt Sallie!" gasped Janet. "No? Well, I was thinking of some pumpkin pies I just baked, I guess," said Aunt Sallie Newton, who was really Mrs. Martin's aunt, and so, of course, the Curlytops' great-aunt, though they called her "Aunt" Sallie, and not "Great- aunt" Sallie. "Yes, I guess that was it—the pumpkin pies I baked. Maybe you'd like some?" she asked, looking at the children. "Oh, I just guess we would!" cried Teddy eagerly. "And we'd like some snow-cream, too, if you please," said Jan. "Could we make some, Aunt Sallie?" "Snow-cream?" "Yes, like mother used to make. You take some snow," went on the little girl, "and stir it up with milk and sugar and eggs——" "Oh, yes! I know!" laughed Aunt Sallie. "I used to make that when I was a little girl. Now I'll tell you what I'll do; if you're sure it will be all right with your mother, I'll get you each a little piece of pumpkin pie and then I'll make the snow- cream." "Oh, goodie!" cried Jan and Teddy exactly together. So, while Nicknack stayed outside in a sheltered corner by the house and nibbled the dried leaves of some old flowers, Aunt Sallie got the pieces of pie for the children, each slice on a nice little plate with a napkin under it. "And now for the snow-cream!" said Aunt Sallie. She went out into the kitchen, and almost before Jan and Ted had finished their pieces of pie back she came with two dishes with something good in them. "I made it just as you told me," she said to Jan. "I stirred the eggs and sugar and milk up in some clean snow and flavored it. Tell me if you like it." The children tasted, and Ted exclaimed: "I could eat three dishes!" "But I guess one will be enough after the pie," said Aunt Sallie, and Ted thought so, too, after he had finished the nice dessert. Then he and his sister, after thanking Mrs. Newton, went out and got on the sled again, hurrying Nicknack on, for it was growing late. They were soon safe at their own home. "Mother, are there any old rubbers in the house?" asked Ted that night, after having told of the fun skating on the pond and riding over the snow behind Nicknack. "Old rubbers? What do you want of them?" asked Mrs. Martin. "I want to make some overshoes for the goat." "Overshoes for the goat! What will you try next, Teddy?" and his mother laughed. "We really are going to do it," added Jan. "Nicknack can't stand up on the slippery ice without something on his hoofs." "Why don't you get him a pair of skates?" asked Father Martin with a laugh. "Though you'd have to get him two pairs, to have enough to go around, as Nicknack has four feet." [42] [43] [44] [45]