onged to go there. It was
but seven miles away in a direct line, and now, when Betty spoke of going
there, Bob said that, with the aid of his compass, he knew he could find
it without difficulty.

"We didn't mention it to Uncle Dick, but he won't be bothered about it,"
said Bob. "We've got all day. We can tell him where we have been when we
get back, which will be just the same."

"Will it, Bob?" the girl asked doubtfully. "But of course there is nothing
really wrong in going."

"I--should--say--not!" exploded Bob. "I'm sure it will be all right with
Uncle Dick, Betty. Remember how he let us roam and explore in Oklahoma?"

The others in the party were not troubled by doubts in the least. They
went hurrying through the snow with shouts and laughter; and if any forest
animals were astir that day they must have been frightened by the noise
the party made scrambling along on snowshoes. Not one of them but fell at
times--and the very "twistiest" kind of falls! But nobody was hurt;
although at one point Bobby fell flat on her back at the verge of a steep
descent and there was no stopping her until she plunged into a deep drift
at the bottom.

Tommy kicked off his snowshoes and ran down to haul her out while the
others, seeing that she was unhurt, shouted their glee. Bobby was not
often in a fix that she could not get out of by her own exertions. Being
such an energetic and independent girl, she would not often accept help of
her boy friends, especially of Tommy who hovered around her like a moth
around a candle.

But when she had lost her snowshoes she found the soft snow so much deeper
than she expected at the bottom of that hill that she was glad indeed to
accept Tommy's aid. He dragged her out of the drift and set her upright.
Even then she found that she could not climb up again by herself to where
her friends were enjoying her discomfiture.

"Come on!" cried Tommy, who had kicked his own snowshoes off at the top of
the slide. "Give us your hand, Bobby. We'll make it somehow."

But they did not "make it" easily. It seemed as though they could climb
only so high and then slide back again. Under the shallow top snow the
frozen crust was like pebbled glass. Tommy could barely kick the toes of
his boots into it to make steps, and just as he had secured a footing in a
particularly slippery place, Bobby would utter a shriek and slide to the
bottom again.

Even Betty was almost ill with laughter as this occurred over a