THE SNOW HOUSE
"Oh, Teddy, you'll hurt Nicknack!" cried Janet, when she saw what had happened.
"I didn't mean to," Ted answered, jumping off the sled. "He slipped on the ice and I couldn't stop the sled."
"Help him get up," went on Jan. "He can't get up himself with that sled on his hind legs."
Teddy pulled back the sled, but still Nicknack did not get up.
"Maybe one of his legs is broken," suggested Tom Taylor, a boy who lived near the Martins.
"If it is he'll have to run on three legs. Our dog did that once, when one of his legs had been run over," said Lola Taylor, Tom's sister.
"Come on, Nicknack, get up!" cried Ted. "Stand up and give us a ride on the ice."
But the goat only went: "Baa-a-a-a!" again, and he seemed to shake his head as if to say that he could not get up.
"His legs are all right," Teddy said when he had looked at them as well as he could, and felt of the parts that stuck out from under Nicknack's body. "Why doesn't he stand up?"
"What's the matter, Curlytop?" asked Harry Morris.
"My goat won't stand up on the ice," Ted answered. "He fell down and his legs are all right, but he won't stand up."
"Maybe it's because he knows he can't," said Harry. "Goats aren't made to stand on slippery ice you know. Their hoofs are hard like a cow's. They are all right for walking on snow or on the ground, but they can't get a good hold on the ice. I guess the reason Nicknack won't stand up is because he knows he'd fall down again if he tried it. Here, I'll help you get him over into the snow, and there you'll see he'll be all right."
With the help of Harry, the goat was half led and half carried off the pond to the snow-covered ground. There Nicknack could drag the sled easily, and he gave Ted and Jan a nice ride, also pulling Lola and Tom.
Ted offered the big boy a ride behind the goat, but Harry said:
"I'm much obliged to you, Curlytop, but I'm afraid your sled is too small for me. Your goat is strong enough to pull me, I guess, but I'd fall off the sled, I'm afraid."
"I wish I could make him pull me on the ice," said Teddy. "How could we make him stop slipping?" he asked the big boy.
"Well, you'd have to have sharp-pointed iron shoes put on his hoofs, the same as they shoe horses for the winter. Only I don't know any blacksmith that could make shoes small enough for a goat. Maybe you could tie cloth on his hoofs, or old pieces of rubber, so he wouldn't slip on the ice."
"That's what we'll do!" cried Teddy. "To-morrow we'll make some rubbers for our goat, Jan."
"Do you think he'll let us put 'em on?" asked Jan.
"Oh, course he will. Nicknack is a good goat."
Ted and Jan drove him around some more in the snow, and this was not hard pulling for Nicknack, as the sled slipped along easily and he had no trouble in standing up on his sharp hoofs in the soft snow. But Ted did not again drive him on the ice that day.
"I know what we can do to have some fun," said Jan, as she and her brother started Nicknack toward home after having had some more rides themselves, and giving some to their little friends.
"What?" asked Ted. "Haven't we had fun enough?"
"Yes, but we can have more," went on Jan. "And this fun is good to eat."
"If you mean stopping at a store and getting some lollypops—nopy!" and Ted shook his head quickly from side to side.
"I didn't mean that," declared Jan.
"It's good you didn't," came from her brother, "'cause if you did we couldn't."
"Why not?" Jan asked.
"I haven't got a penny," returned Teddy. "I asked mother for some when I went home to get Nicknack, but she told me to wait a minute while she paid the milkman."
"Didn't you wait?" asked Jan in some surprise. It seemed strange that Teddy would miss a chance like this, as Mrs. Martin did not give the Curlytops pennies every time they asked for them. She did not want them to get in the habit of spending money too freely, especially when it was given them, and they had done no little thing to earn it. Nor did she want them to buy candy when she did not know about it. So the giving of pennies was really an event in the lives of Ted and Jan, and the little girl wondered very much now, why it was her brother had not taken the money when his mother was willing to give it.
"Why didn't you want to wait, Ted?" asked Jan.
"Oh, I wanted to all right," he answered; "but Nicknack didn't want to. I got him—Nora and me—all harnessed up, and I tied him out in front; then I went in to ask for the pennies—one for you and one for me."
"Oh, I wish you'd got 'em," said Jan, rather sorrowfully.
"I would have, only for the goat," explained her brother. "Mother told me to wait; but, just as she said it, I saw an automobile come along in front of our house close to where I'd tied Nicknack.
"Our goat got scared and tried to run away, 'cause the auto chucked snow on him, and then I had to run out to catch him. That's why I couldn't wait for the pennies. I jumped on the sled just as Nicknack was startin' to run away——"
"Star-ting!" corrected Janet.
"Well, star-ting, then," laughed Ted. "Anyhow, I couldn't make him turn around to go back for the pennies, so I came on right over to the pond."
"And we had a lot of fun there," stated Jan. "Only I didn't like to see our goat fall down."
"Well, he'll stand up when we get rubbers for him," said Ted. "But how're we going to have more fun, Jan?"
"Make snow-cream," answered the little Curlytop girl.
"What's that?" asked Ted. "Like ice-cream?"
"Yes, only different. Don't you know? Mother lets us make it sometimes. You take a lot of snow—clean snow in a pail—and you stir some eggs and milk and sugar and flavoring in it, and that makes almost the same as ice-cream."
"How're we going to do it?" asked Ted, as the goat pulled him and his sister slowly along the snow-lined street. "We haven't got any sugar or milk or eggs or flavoring—not even a pail."
"We can stop at Aunt Sallie's and get 'em all," said Janet. "She'll like us to make snow-cream, I guess. She can help us eat it."
"Then let's!" cried Teddy. "Go on, Nicknack, we're going to make snow-cream! Is it awful good?" he asked his sister.
"Terrible good," she answered. "I didn't have any yet this winter, but we had some last. It's better'n lollypops."
"Then it must be specially extra good," decided Ted. "Hurry up, Nicknack."
The goat hurried as much as he could, but, though it was easier going on the snow than on the ice, still it was not as easy as on the dry ground in summer.
Along the street, around this corner, then around the next went the Curlytops on the sled pulled by Nicknack, until, at last, they came to the house of Aunt Sallie, a dear old lady who was always glad to see them.
"My gracious sakes alive!" she cried, as she met the two children. "Here we come, in our coach and four, just like Cinderella out of the pumpkin pie!"
"Oh, Cinderella didn't come out of a pumpkin pie, Aunt Sallie!" gasped Janet.
"No? Well, I was thinking of some pumpkin pies I just baked, I guess," said Aunt Sallie Newton, who was really Mrs. Martin's aunt, and so, of course, the Curlytops' great-aunt, though they called her "Aunt" Sallie, and not "Great-aunt" Sallie. "Yes, I guess that was it—the pumpkin pies I baked. Maybe you'd like some?" she asked, looking at the children.
"Oh, I just guess we would!" cried Teddy eagerly.
"And we'd like some snow-cream, too, if you please," said Jan. "Could we make some, Aunt Sallie?"
"Snow-cream?"
"Yes, like mother used to make. You take some snow," went on the little girl, "and stir it up with milk and sugar and eggs——"
"Oh, yes! I know!" laughed Aunt Sallie. "I used to make that when I was a little girl. Now I'll tell you what I'll do; if you're sure it will be all right with your mother, I'll get you each a little piece of pumpkin pie and then I'll make the snow-cream."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Jan and Teddy exactly together.
So, while Nicknack stayed outside in a sheltered corner by the house and nibbled the dried leaves of some old flowers, Aunt Sallie got the pieces of pie for the children, each slice on a nice little plate with a napkin under it.
"And now for the snow-cream!" said Aunt Sallie.
She went out into the kitchen, and almost before Jan and Ted had finished their pieces of pie back she came with two dishes with something good in them.
"I made it just as you told me," she said to Jan. "I stirred the eggs and sugar and milk up in some clean snow and flavored it. Tell me if you like it."
The children tasted, and Ted exclaimed:
"I could eat three dishes!"
"But I guess one will be enough after the pie," said Aunt Sallie, and Ted thought so, too, after he had finished the nice dessert. Then he and his sister, after thanking Mrs. Newton, went out and got on the sled again, hurrying Nicknack on, for it was growing late. They were soon safe at their own home.
"Mother, are there any old rubbers in the house?" asked Ted that night, after having told of the fun skating on the pond and riding over the snow behind Nicknack.
"Old rubbers? What do you want of them?" asked Mrs. Martin.
"I want to make some overshoes for the goat."
"Overshoes for the goat! What will you try next, Teddy?" and his mother laughed.
"We really are going to do it," added Jan. "Nicknack can't stand up on the slippery ice without something on his hoofs."
"Why don't you get him a pair of skates?" asked Father Martin with a laugh. "Though you'd have to get him two pairs, to have enough to go around, as Nicknack has four feet."
"He couldn't stand up on skates," answered Ted. "His hoofs are like skates now, they're so hard and shiny."
"And so you think overshoes would be the thing?" asked his father. "Well, maybe they would do. I'll see if I can find some old rubbers or rubber boots that you can cut up."
A pair of boots that had holes in them and could no longer be used by Mr. Martin, were found in the attic. Some pieces of rubber were cut from the legs and when the inside lining had been partly peeled off four thin squares of rubber could be cut out.
"We'll tie these on Nicknack's hoofs and see if he can stand up on the ice," said Teddy. "I wish it was to-morrow now, so we could do it."
Ted and Jan hurried home from school the next day to hitch Nicknack to Ted's sled and drive him down to the ice to try the goat's new rubbers. They were tied on his hoofs with pieces of string, Mrs. Martin helping the children do this. Nicknack was a gentle and patient goat, but he acted rather strangely when the rubber squares were tied over his hoofs.
He stamped his feet, shook his head and bleated. He did not quite understand what was going on, but he made no special trouble and started off well when he had been hitched to the sled.
"Me want a wide!" called Trouble from the veranda, as Ted and Jan went gliding away over the snow.
"Next time!" answered Ted.
"This sled isn't big enough," added Janet. "We ought to get a bigger sled, Teddy," she went on. "One as big as our goat wagon, and then we could have fine rides and take Trouble with us."
"We'll ask daddy to get us one," said her brother.
When they reached the pond the only skaters on it were Tom and Lola Taylor. Tom laughed as he saw Nicknack.
"Ho!" he cried, "your goat will fall down on the ice again."
"Maybe he won't," answered Teddy. "Just you watch!"
He drove Nicknack toward the frozen pond, but the goat stood still at the very edge.
"He's afraid to go on—he knows he'll slip," said Tom.
"I guess that's it," agreed Teddy. "Go on, Nicknack!" he called. "Giddap! You won't fall 'cause you've your rubbers on."
"Oh! has he, really?" asked Lola.
"'Deed he has. We made him some out of an old rubber boot," replied Teddy. "Look!" and he pointed to the black squares tied on Nicknack's hoofs.
"How funny!" gasped Lola.
"Maybe he won't slip with them on," remarked Tom, "but I guess he isn't sure of it. He won't go on the ice."
And indeed Nicknack did not seem to want to do this. He turned first to one side and then the other as Ted tried to drive him on to the frozen pond. Nicknack did not mind pulling the Curlytops over the snow, where he knew he would not slip, but he was afraid of the ice.
"I know how to get him on," said Teddy.
"How?" asked Tom.
"Here, you hold this cookie in front of him," went on Teddy. "I put it in my pocket to eat myself, but I'll give it to Nicknack. Hold it in front of his nose, Tom, and when he goes to bite it you just walk away with it. Then he'll follow after you, and when you walk on the ice he'll do the same."
"Say, that is a good way!" cried Tom. "I'll do it!"
"Once he's on the ice, if the rubbers keep him from slipping, he'll be all right," went on Ted.
He tossed Tom the cookie and Tom held it in front of the goat's nose. Surely enough Nicknack reached out for it, but as soon as he did this Tom stepped back a little way, the goat following.
This was done two or three times, Nicknack getting nearer the icy pond each time, until at last he had all four rubber-covered feet on it.
"Shall I give him the cookie now?" asked Tom.
"No, make him come a little farther for it," answered Ted, who was sitting on the sled in front, holding Nicknack's reins, while Janet sat behind her brother.
So Tom backed a little farther away from the goat, that still walked on to get the cookie which he could smell, and which he wanted very much. And before Nicknack knew it he was walking over the ice and he did not slip at all, for the pieces of rubber on his hoofs held him up, just as they would have held up Teddy or Janet.
"Now he's all right!" called Teddy. "He can walk on the ice now, and run, too, I guess. Give him the cookie, Tom."
So Nicknack had the cookie, and then Teddy drove him over and around the pond. Nicknack seemed to like it, now that he did not slip.
When Teddy and Janet had had a good ride they let Tom and Lola take a turn, Tom driving, and the goat went as well for him as it had gone for Teddy.
"I didn't know a goat was as much fun in winter as it is in summer," said Tom. "I wish I had one."
"We'll give you more rides when we get a big sled," promised Ted.
"Are you going to get one?" Lola asked.
"We're going to ask our father for one," replied Ted. "And I guess he'll let us have it so we can take Trouble out for rides. Giddap, Nicknack!" and once more he started the goat across the ice.
The Curlytops and their friends had great sport with the goat and sled that day, and Nicknack hardly slipped at all. He was getting used to the ice, Tom said.
After two days during which the Curlytops had fun with their sleds and skates, it began to snow again, covering the ground yet deeper with the white flakes, while the frozen pond and lake were buried out of sight.
"No more skating for a while," said Tom Taylor, as he walked to school with Teddy and Jan one morning.
"No. But we can sleigh-ride and build a snow fort," answered Ted.
"And a snow man, too," added Janet.
"Why not make a snow house?" asked Lola. "The snow is soft and it will pack well. Let's make a snow house!"
"We will!" cried Ted. "We'll start one after school in our back yard. We'll make one big enough for us all four to live in."
"And we can stay there even if the snow covers the top," added Janet.
"Wouldn't we freeze?" asked Lola.
"No. Mother read us a story about a man who was caught out in a big snowstorm, and he dug down under the snow and let it cover him all up, except a place to breathe, and he was warm."
"Well, we'll build a snow house, but I guess there won't be enough snow to cover it," cried Tom.
"I like lots of snow," put in Teddy.
All that day it snowed, even when the Curlytops and the other children ran laughing and shouting out of school. Tom and Lola went with Jan and Ted to the Martins' back yard and there they began to build a snow house.