t little legs, in their gray
leggings, straight out in front of her.

"Take my sled, too," said Nelson, forgetting to be cross. "Don't fall
off, because we are going to go fast."

"Let's play we are fire horses, going to a fire," suggested gunny Boy.
They had some automobile fire apparatus in Centronia, but the engines
were still pulled by horses. "Can you pull two sleds, Ruth?"

"Oh, my, yes," replied dear little Ruth.

If the boys had asked her to pull six sleds she would have tried her
best to do it. It did seem too bad that when she wanted to go with
them and tried so hard to please them, that they so often wished her to
stay in the house and play by herself. That is, Nelson did.

"Hang on," said Nelson now, and away went the two fire horses, pulling
the fire engine.

Ruth nearly fell off when they started, for they jerked the sled, but
she managed to hold on. The two sleds bumped wildly behind her, but
she held the ropes tightly and never cried out even when the boys
pulled her over a curb-stone and her sled tipped far to one side.

"Toot! Toot!" cried Sunny Boy, trying to whistle, and not doing it
very well because it is difficult to run and pull a sled and whistle,
all at the same time.

"Nelson!" called Ruth, as they bumped her down another curbstone. "Oh,
Nelson! Say, Sunny Boy, wait a minute!"

"We can't stop! We have to get to the fire!" cried Nelson, panting.
"When we get to the fire we'll stop."

"But wait a minute!" begged Ruth, "I want to tell you something."

The two little boys pretended to kick up their heels and snort as they
had seen the fire horses do, and they would not stop. They galloped
and pranced and tried to run faster. At last they had to stop to get
their breath. Their cheeks were red and they were as warm as toast.

"Why--why--" stammered Sunny Boy, looking back at Ruth who sat on her
sled with her hands in her little fur muff. "Why, where are our sleds?"

"I dropped the ropes 'way back on Greene Street," replied Ruth calmly.
"I asked you to stop and you wouldn't."

"Well, you might have said you lost the sleds," said Nelson. "Then we
would have stopped. Gee, I hope nobody took 'em! We'll have to go
back."

Ruth got off her sled and walked back with the two boys. They found
the sleds on the sidewalk, exactly where a sudden jerk of the sled she
was on had made Ruth drop the ropes. Even Nelson could not scold his
sister when the sleds were so easily found,