d so that they would not be hit by another
car if one should pull through such roads.

"Now then, you fellows!" said Bill, as usual assuming command where
anything important was at stake. "Go on to the farmhouse and bunk, if
they'll have you. I'll wrap up in these robes and be as warm as toast
here in the car." It was an enclosed tonneau, the window sashes fitted
tightly and two big robes promised a little comfort.

"Yes, _you will_," said Gus sarcastically.

"_Not!_" declared Tony. "We can easy carry you. You say it--pig-on-back?"

The taxi driver joined in and helped the two boys in this, also.

"Did you say there's a farmhouse just on ahead, Mr.----?" asked Gus.

"Merritt is my name," answered the driver.

"And a roadside is your station. You're fast in the snow and you cannot
go and you're mad at all creation," said Bill.

"You're right, son, about bein' stuck, but I ain't mad. Reckon I stand
to lose on this trip, but----"

"No, my friend; you will not lose one cent," exclaimed Tony. "More, you
shall make well. We are not the unappreciatives, ever. Show us this
farmer estate and entitle us to be his guests and you shall want for
nothing--eh, my friends Bill and Gus?"

"You've said it, Tony, and you are the cheese."

"Ah, no; I am but the macaroni. Do you think this farmer will cook the
spaghetti?"

"Not likely, but Farrell sits down to a good table, I reckon," Merritt
ventured. "Well, young fellers, let's mosey on. It'll be stiff goin',
though 'tain't more'n a quarter of a mile now."

It was stiff going. Bill managed to get through the thin places and they
helped him through fast increasing drifts, Gus at last getting him on
his back for a "gain," as he expressed it, of fifty yards. Then Tony
took a turn for a like distance, and Gus and Mr. Merritt crossed hands
to "carry a lady to London"; so they would have got Bill along for a
considerable distance had they not come opposite the end of a lane, with
the dim outline of a house standing back.

Up the lane they went, hearing the muffled barking of a dog. The side
door of the house opened, a big farmer with a huge voice greeted them
cheerily. He was in his shirt sleeves, which argued for comfort inside
the dwelling, and there was an air of comfort in the broad hallway that
was gratifying. The three were received like young princes and ushered
into a large sitting-room. From their chairs before a big stove, a
pleasant woman and two young girls rose to w