boys wanted to
follow him, but he told them to remain with the girls.

"I'm just going to look in the window," said Uncle Toby.

He did this, first at the front windows, and evidently saw nothing, for
he soon went around to the rear. And suddenly the children in the
automobile heard shouting, and the shouts came from inside the cabin.

"Somebody's there!" cried Ted, starting to get out.

"You stay here!" cried Janet, catching her brother by the coat. "Uncle
Toby told you to stay here!"

As Ted sank back in his seat they could all hear Uncle Toby saying:

"Who are you? What are you doing in there?"

The man in the lonely cabin answered, but what he said the Curlytops and
their playmates could not tell. There was more shouting to and fro
between Uncle Toby and the unknown man, and then Mr. Bardeen came around
to the front of the cabin.

"Is he there? Who is he? What does he want?" The children quickly asked
these questions.

"Oh, he's just a tramp I guess," answered Uncle Toby. "I couldn't make
much out of him. But I'll tell Jim Nelson and some of the lumbermen, and
we'll see what he's doing there. He can't do much harm, for there isn't
anything of value in the old shack. But it's just as well not to have a
tramp in there."

Once again Uncle Toby started the machine, and soon they were at the
cabin of the French Canadian.

"Could we borrow your toboggan, Jules?" asked Uncle Toby.

"Oh, of a sure yes!" was the answer, Jules doing his best to speak what
to him was a new language. "I bring she out to you!"

He ran around to the back of his shack, and soon came into view again
with a real toboggan, at the sight of which the children set up a joyous
shout.

CHAPTER XVII

THE SNOW HOUSE

The Frenchman's toboggan was a large one. It would hold all of the
Curlytops and their playmates, with room to spare. I suppose most of you
have seen toboggans, or pictures of them, and know what they are.
Instead of being made like a sled, with steel runners, a toboggan is
like a thin, flat board, with the front end curled up like the old
fashioned Dutch skates. Only instead of being made of one flat piece of
wood, a large toboggan is made of several strips fastened together so it
will not so easily break.

On the side of Jules's toboggan were hand rails, to which the riders
could hold. There was also a cushion on which to sit, and altogether it
was a very fine way of coasting downhill.

"Oh, what fun we'll have