to dinner without searching for his little son. He thought
of Eva, but didn't expect any assistance from her, because he knew when
she came to the door and didn't see him in the yard she would return
home.

Then he happened to remember what his teacher had told the class in
school that very day--that any one would soon smother to death unless he
could have fresh air to breathe, and he thought, "I shall soon use all
the air in here. If I could only make a little hole to let in some fresh
air from outside!" He felt very tightly packed in, his chin resting on
his knees, and his back almost bent double. He tried so hard to change
his position, but could at first only move backward and forward the
fingers of his right hand; this he continued to do until he could
slightly move his arm. He worked with it until at last he felt the cold
air blowing upon his hand. How cold it felt! but he kept it outside,
making as much motion with it as he could, hoping Jane would see it when
she came out for the clothes, and wondering what it was, would come to
his relief.

But he found it impossible to hold his little hand out long, for it
began to ache and grow stiff; so he pulled it in, and comforted himself
with the ray of light that came through the hole, and the thought of the
fresh air he now had to breathe.

He hadn't once called out loudly for help, as most boys would naturally
have done, for, as we have seen, he was thoughtful as well as brave, and
knew that if he cried out now, when no one was near, he might not have
any strength left to call to Jane when she came out, or to his mother
when she opened the window.

How slowly the time passed! The small ray of light was getting dim, his
courage began to fail, when the sound of an opening door came to his
ears. It must be Jane, he thought, and his heart beat faster with hope.

Out she came, singing loudly,

"'Now, Rory, be aisy,' sweet Kathleen would cry,
Reproof on her lip, but a smile in her eye,"

and poor little Ned's smothered voice was not heard as he called, "Jane!
Jane! come and help me; I'm under the snow!"

It seemed to him but a minute before all was still again; the clothes
were taken from the line, and Jane was back in her warm kitchen, without
a thought of suffering Ned.

One of his three hopes had failed, but Ned took courage. It must be
nearly six now, for hardly any light was coming in through the hole, and
mamma would soon open the window to close the bl