and laid them carefully in a curved line
ten blocks long and three blocks high, with the requisite embrasures.
Then they prepared their ammunition. They made snowballs by the
score, and piled them in convenient heaps inside the barricade. By the
time this work was finished it was noon. Then, leaving a sufficient
force to guard the fortifications, the remainder of the troops sallied
forth to luncheon, among them the leader of the Hilltops. At the
luncheon table Pen took advantage of the temporary absence of his aunt
to inform his grandfather, in a stage-whisper, that the long
anticipated fight was scheduled for that afternoon.

"And," he added, "we've got the biggest snow fort you ever saw, and
dead loads of snowballs inside."

The colonel smiled and his eyes twinkled.

"Good!" he whispered back. "Smite them hip and thigh. Hold the fort!
'Stand: the ground's your own, my braves!'"

"We're ready for anything."

"Bravo! Beware of the enemy's strategy, and fight hard. Fight as
if--ah! your Aunt Millicent's coming."

At one o'clock the first division returned and relieved the garrison;
and at two every soldier was back and in his place. The breast-works
were strengthened, more ammunition was made, and heaps of raw material
for making still more were conveniently placed. But the enemy did not
put in an appearance. A half hour went by, and another half hour, and
the head of the first hostile soldier was yet to be seen approaching
above the crest of the hill. Crowds of small boys, non-combatants,
were lined up against the school-house, awaiting, with anxiety and
awe, the coming battle. Out in the road a group of girls, partisans of
the Hilltops, was assembled to cheer their friends on to victory. Men,
passing by on foot and with teams, stopped to inquire concerning the
war-like preparations, and some of them, on whose hands it may be that
time was hanging heavily, stood around awaiting the outbreak of
hostilities.

Still the enemy was nowhere in sight. A squad, under command of
Lieutenant Cuddeback, was sent out to the road to reconnoiter. They
returned and reported that they had been to the brow of the hill, but
had failed to discover any hostile troops. Was it possible that the
Riverbeds had weakened, backed out, decided, like the cowards that
they were, not to fight, after all? It was in the midst of an animated
discussion over this possibility that the defenders of the fort were
startled by piercing yells from the