e boarding house,
while Joe turned the heads of the horses toward his own home.

"I guess you'll be glad to get indoors," he said to Reggie and Mabel.

"Well, it's pretty cold," Reggie admitted, "though I suppose my sister
will say she likes it."

"I do!" declared Mabel. "But it isn't so nice when it's dark," she
confessed.

They were now on the principal street of Riverside, and the lamps from
the shop windows gleamed dimly on the swirling flakes, and drifts of
snow.

A little later Joe pulled up in front of his own house, and escorted the
visitors into the cheery living room.

"Here they are, Mother--Clara!" he called, as Mrs. Matson and her
daughter came out to welcome their guests.

"I am glad to see you," said Clara, simply, as she kissed Mabel----and
one look from the sister's eyes told Joe that Clara approved of his
friends.

"Where's father?" asked Joe.

"Bathing his eyes," replied his mother. "He'll be here presently," for
Mr. Matson had recently undergone an operation on his eyes, after an
accident, and they still needed care.

Soon a merry party was gathered about the supper table, where the events
of the day were told, from the receipt by Joe of the two letters, to the
rescue from the stalled train, and the accident in the snow.

"But I sure would like to know what it is Shalleg wants," mused Joe, who
had come back from leaving the horses at the livery stable. "I sure
would."

"Didn't he give you any hint?" asked Clara.

"No. But perhaps he wants some advice about baseball matters. I'm
getting to be some pumpkins, you know, since St. Louis is after me!"
cried Joe, with simulated pride.

"Oh, do tell us about it!" cried Mabel, and Joe related the news of the
draft that would probably take him to the big league.

Reggie and Mabel spent the night at Joe's house. The storm kept up
through the hours of darkness, and part of the next day, when it
stopped, and the sun came out. Old Sol shone on a scene of whiteness,
where big drifts of snow were piled here and there.

"I wonder how the stalled train is faring?" remarked Mabel, after
breakfast. "We'll have to get our trunks away from it, somehow, Reggie."

"Yes, I suppose so," he said. "And I've got to look after those business
matters. I think we had better go to the hotel," he added.

"Very well," assented Joe. "I'll go down to the station with you, and
we'll see about your baggage."

"I'll stay here until you boys come back," decided Mabe