DRIVEN BACK
Teddy and Janet, who had put on their bath robes as they crawled out of bed, looked at one another in the light that streamed into their mother's room from the hall. Their faces were happy. They were not afraid of the big storm. It was just what they had hoped would happen. But they did not know all the trouble that it was to cause.
"Are we really snowed in?" asked Janet.
"Yes, I think we really are," answered her mother, motioning to the children to come out into the hall so they would not awaken Trouble.
"Just like that hermit grandpa wrote about said we'd be?" Ted wanted to know.
"Well, I don't know just how big a storm that hermit thought would come," said Mrs. Martin; "but this is certainly a bad one. If you get dressed you can look out of the windows at the back of the house. The snow isn't so high there, and you can see what a lot has fallen in the night."
"Where's daddy?" asked Ted.
"He's getting ready to go out to the barn to see if the horse and cow are all right." The Martins had lately bought a cow, and they had had a horse for some time, though the children would rather ride behind their goat Nicknack than in the carriage with old Jim, who was not a very fast horse.
"Come on, Jan!" called Ted. "We'll get dressed and we'll go out and have some fun."
"Oh, no, you can't go out!" exclaimed his mother. "And please don't make much noise."
"Why can't we go out?" asked Janet at once.
"Because the snow is too deep. It's over your heads in some of the drifts, and it's so cold and still snowing so hard that I wouldn't dream of letting you Curlytops go out."
"Not even with our new rubber boots?" Teddy asked. "They are good and high and we could wade through the snow with them."
"Not even with your new rubber boots, Teddy boy. Now be good and don't tease. Get washed and dressed, and Nora will give you some breakfast."
"Come on!" called Ted in a whisper to his sister. "We'll have some fun anyhow! Snowed in! That's just what we wanted!"
"Snowed in, is it?" exclaimed Uncle Frank, coming from his room. "So you have got a real snowstorm here at last, have you?" he went on to Mrs. Martin. "Well, this makes me think of my ranch in the West. Where's Dick?" he asked.
"He's trying to see if he can get out to the barn to make sure the horse and cow have water and something to eat," said Mrs. Martin, for her husband had gotten up a little earlier.
"Well, I'll go and help him," said Uncle Frank. "I'm used to storms like this. It's a regular blizzard by the sound of it."
Indeed the wind was howling around the corner of the house, and at times it seemed to blow so hard that the house shook. As yet Ted and Jan had not had a look outside, for the windows upstairs, from which they had tried to see the storm, were coated with snow. The window sills had drifted full of the white flakes, and more had been piled on top of them. Then the warmth inside the room had made the snow that blew on the windows melt a little. This had frozen and more snow had fallen and been blown on the glass until from some of the windows nothing at all could be seen.
"But if you go downstairs to the kitchen I think you can look out a little," said Mrs. Martin to her two Curlytops.
Downstairs hurried Janet and Teddy. They only stopped to call "Good-morning!" to Nora, who was busy at the stove, and then the two children pressed their faces against the window panes.
They could not see much at first—just a cloud of swirling snowflakes that seemed to fill the air to overflowing. Then Janet cried:
"Why, it's almost up to the window sill, Teddy!"
"That's right! The back yard is full of snow, Nora!"
"I know it is. I went in over my knees when I went out to see if the morning paper had come."
"Did it come, Nora?"
"Indeed it didn't! I guess there won't be any paper for a few days if this storm keeps up, for the boys can't get around to deliver it. I could hardly get the door shut after I opened it. It's terrible!"
"It's fun!" cried Teddy.
"Course it is!" agreed Janet. "We wanted to be snowed in!"
"Well, you got your wish, Curlytops, and I hope it isn't any worse than that," said Nora. "Though how we're to get out of the house and get things to eat is more than I know."
"We've got lots left from Thanksgiving," said Teddy.
"Haven't we got any milk?" asked Janet.
"Oh, yes, there's plenty left from last night, though if the storm keeps up I don't see how your father is going to get out to the barn to milk the cow, and Patrick cannot get over to do it through this storm."
Patrick was a man who milked for the Martins and sometimes did other work for them about the place.
"Daddy can milk," said Ted.
"Yes, I know he can," agreed Nora, "if he can only get out to the barn. But look at the big drifts in the yard."
Jan and Ted looked out again. The yard was indeed filled with great heaps of snow, many of them higher than the heads of the children. The yard was a big one and at the far end was the barn.
"Oh, look!" cried Ted. "Our snow bungalow is gone, Janet!"
"Oh, it's blowed down!" cried Janet.
"No, it hasn't," said Nora. "I could just see the tip top of it when I got up early this morning, but now the snow has covered it. The bungalow is there all right, but you can't see it. It's under a big drift."
"Oh, wouldn't it be fun if we were out in it now?" cried Teddy.
"Indeed, and you'd starve and freeze," laughed Nora.
"No, we wouldn't," declared Teddy. "It's nice and warm out there. Uncle Frank said he used to make snow bungalows like that out West and he's lived in one a whole week in a blizzard."
"But he had something to eat," went on Nora, "and there's nothing in your bungalow."
"Yes, there is, a little," remarked Teddy. "We had a play party in it yesterday—Jan, me and Trouble, and we left some of the things we couldn't eat. I put 'em in a box and tied 'em up in a piece of carpet we had there. I was going to come back and make-believe I was a tramp and awful hungry, only I forgot it. There's things to eat out there, Nora. We wouldn't starve."
"Well, I guess your mother wouldn't let you go out there and play anyhow, in this storm."
"We'll have some fun in the house," said Janet. "Oh, doesn't it snow, Ted!"
There came a big gust of wind just then and a cloud of snow hid the yard from sight. All the children could see was a lot of whiteness.
"Oh, what about Nicknack?" asked Jan suddenly.
"What you mean?" asked her brother.
"I mean will he have enough to eat? Maybe we've got to go out and feed him."
"I gave him something to eat last night," said Teddy, "and I left a big pail of water in his stable. I guess he'll be all right. Anyhow Daddy and Uncle Frank are going out to the barn and they can feed our goat."
Nicknack had a little stable, like a big dog house, built next to the main barn, of which it was a part, though he had his own little door to go in and out.
"Get your breakfasts, children, and then you can sit by the window and watch the storm," said Mrs. Martin, coming into the kitchen just then. "Trouble is waking up and I'll want you to help take care of him. You'll all have to stay in the house to-day and play quiet games."
"Let's go and look out the front windows," proposed Janet.
She and Ted ran through the hall to the parlor. But from those windows they could see nothing, for the glass was either so crusted with snow, or the drifts were really so high in front of the windows, that it was impossible to look out.
"It is an awful big storm!" cried Janet as she went back to the warm dining-room. Not much could be seen from those windows, either.
"Maybe it will stop in a little while," said Teddy, "and then we can go out and have a ride with Nicknack."
"Indeed, Nicknack would be buried deep in the snow over his head if you took him out," said Aunt Jo, as she came downstairs. "You Curlytops haven't an idea how bad this storm is. I never saw a worse one. We may be snowed in for a week!"
"Hurray!" cried Teddy.
"It'll be fun," added Janet.
As the children sat down to breakfast, the lights being turned on because it was so dark, though it was nearly nine o'clock, their father and Uncle Frank got dressed ready to go out to the barn.
The men had on their overcoats, caps and big rubber boots. On their hands were warm gloves and each one carried a snow shovel, which the Curlytops' father had brought up from the cellar.
"We're going to try to get out to the barn," said Mr. Martin. "I'm not sure the cow and horse have enough to eat."
"Oh, can't I come?" begged Teddy.
"And me, too!" added Janet.
"No, indeed, Curlytops!" cried Mr. Martin. "You'd be lost in the snow and maybe Uncle Frank and I couldn't dig you out again. Stay here until we come back."
The children hurriedly finished their breakfasts, and then ran to the kitchen windows to see their father and Uncle Frank try to dig their way to the barn. And the men really had to dig their way, for between the barn and the house the drifts were too deep to wade through. Many of them were over the heads of Daddy Martin.
The Curlytops could see little, as the snow was still blowing and drifting. Now and then they saw their father or their Uncle Frank for just a moment, but the men were so covered with the white flakes that they looked like snow men.
Finally there was a stamping of feet in the back entry, and when Nora opened the door there stood Uncle Frank and Daddy Martin. They were covered with snow and looked very tired.
"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Martin. "Couldn't you get to the barn, Dick?"
"No, we were driven back," her husband answered. "It is a terrible storm, and very cold. We dug a path part way to the barn, but the wind blew the snow in it, filling it up as fast as we could dig it out. I guess we can't get to the barn. We surely are snowed in!"