Part 28 (2/2)

”I--I'm stuck!” cried Bert. ”I can't get my feet up! The staves are caught under the snow, and I can't move! Come and pull me out!”

CHAPTER XIX

THROUGH THE ICE

Charley was laughing so hard at the queer look on Bert's face, and at the funny way in which Bert stood in the snow, that, at first, he did not make a move to go to his chum's help. Then Bert cried again:

”I am stuck I tell you, Charley! Come on and help me. I can't lift my feet.”

”Can't you, really?” Charley asked.

”No. The front edges of the barrel staves have slipped under the snow and it's packed on them so I can't raise them.”

”All right, I'll help you,” said Charley, still laughing. He waded out to where Bert was stuck. Charley's feet sank down deep in the soft snow.

”I ought to have a pair of those shoes myself,” he said, floundering along.

”Well, don't stop to make them now,” said Bert. ”Help me first.”

But even with Charley's help it was impossible to pull up Bert's feet with the queer wooden shoes on. They had got stuck sideways in the deep snow. Finally Charley said.

”Oh, take 'em off, Bert! Loosen the straps and then you can pull your feet free, and lift up the barrel staves afterward.”

”I guess that is the only way,” Bert agreed, and he did it. Once his feet were clear of the staves, it was easy enough to raise them up and then he could wade back to the barn, carrying the staves.

”I won't try to go on the soft snow again,” he said as he sat down on a box and once more fastened the snowshoes to his feet.

”Do you mean to say you're going to try it again?” asked Charley.

”I surely am,” answered Bert. ”I'm not going to give up, just because I got stuck once. Why don't you make you a pair of these shoes? There are some more barrel staves, and I'll get you the straps.”

”I believe I will,” Charley said, and set to work at once. Then he and Bert walked together over the hard frozen snow. As long as they stayed on this, where there was a crust, they were all right. They did not go where the snow was soft, and so they got along very well.

Freddie saw what his brother and Charley were doing, and he cried out:

”I want a pair of snowshoes, too!”

”You're too little,” Bert said. But later on he and Charley made Freddie a pair, cutting the long barrel staves in two pieces. But Freddie did not find it as easy as his brother had found it, and he tripped and fell down in the snow, so the older boys had to pick him up. Then the small twin gave up the use of snowshoes.

”I like riding down hill better,” he said.

Winter had now set in, with all its cold and snow, around Lakeport, and there were many days of fine coasting. Flossie and Freddie stayed on the hill Bert had made for them in the yard, but Nan and Bert, with their friends, went to the big hill, and used the bob-sled.

Then came a thaw and the coasting was spoiled. There were puddles of water all about, and one day coming home from school Freddie slipped and fell right into a puddle which was rather muddy.

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