The Runaways continued…
“Whoa there! Whoa! Don’t you run away, Snap!” shouted Freddie. Then his mouth was filled with snow and he could say nothing more.
“Oh, Bert! They’ll be smothered!” cried Nan. “Help me get them out!”
Bert was laughing, and trying to defend himself against the jumping up of Snap, who seemed to want to hug the boy with his paws.
“Stop laughing! Help me!” ordered Nan, who was already trying to lift Flossie from her snowy bed.
“I can’t help laughing–Freddie looked so funny when he went over,” said Bert.
“There’s no danger of smothering, though. That snow is as dry as sand. Here you go, Freddie. Give me your hand and I’ll pull you out.”
In a few seconds the smaller Bobbsey twins stood beside their larger brother and sister, while Snap capered about them, barking loudly and wagging his tail.
“Oh, he’s got loose, and the harness is all broken,” said Freddie, and tears of disappointment stood in his blue eyes.
“Never mind,” said Bert. “I’ll help you make a better harness to- morrow, Freddie. That one wasn’t strong enough for Snap, anyhow. I’ll fix it differently.”
“Oh, but we were going to have such a fine ride!” said Flossie, who was also ready to cry. The smaller twins were only about five years old, so it might have been expected.
“Well, come on and go coasting with Bert and me,” said Nan, as she patted her little sister’s head. “We’re going over on the long hill. It’s fine there, and you’ll have just as much fun as if you had Snap to pull you.”
“Shall we go, Freddie?” asked Flossie, who generally depended on him to start their amusements.
“I guess so,” he answered. “This harness is all busted, anyhow.”
Sadly he looked at the tangled strings and straps fast to the sled, where Snap had broken away from them. The harness Freddie had made with such care was all broken now.
“Never mind,” said Bert again. “I’ll make you a better one to-morrow, Freddie. Come along now, and we’ll have some fun. And when we get through coasting I’ll buy everybody a hot chocolate soda.”
“Really?” asked Flossie, her sorrow forgotten now.
“Sure thing,” promised Bert.
“Come on, then, Freddie,” said his little sister. “We can harness Snap up to-morrow.”
The useless harness was taken to the Bobbsey home, not far away, and then the four twins–the two sets of them, as it were–started for the coasting hill, Flossie and Freddie having one sled between them, and Nan and Bert each having one of their own.
On the way to the hill they met many of their friends, also bound for the same place. School was just out and the boys and girls were eager to have a good time in the snow.
“There’s Charley Mason!” exclaimed Bert, seeing a boy he knew. “Hello, Charley!” he called. “Going coasting?”
“Sure. Where’s the big bob?” For some time before this Bert and Charley had made, in partnership, a large bob sled.
“Oh, I didn’t know you’d be out, or I’d have brought it,” replied Bert. “Anyhow, I promised Nan I’d coast with her.”
“Oh, that’s all right. I guess the hill will be too crowded for a bob, anyhow. Danny Rugg was taking his over, though, for I saw him and some of his crowd hauling it from his barn a little while ago.”
“Well, let ’em. We can get ours later. Got a new sled?” and Bert looked admiringly at the one Charley was pulling.
“No, it’s only my old one painted over. But it makes it look like new.”
“We had Snap hitched up, but he broke loose,” said Freddie. “But we’re going to have a stronger harness to-morrow.”
“That’s good,” said Charley, with a broad smile.
Soon the children were on the hill. There was a large crowd of coasters there, and fun was at its height. There was merry shouting and laughter, and several spills and upsets. As Bert had said, the hill was very much crowded.
“I thought it would be no good for a bob,” he remarked.
“There goes Danny Rugg now!” exclaimed Charley. “He’s giving orders to everyone.”
“He’d better not give any to me,” said Bert, in a quiet voice, but with determination in his tones.
“Oh, Bert!” exclaimed Nan. “Please don’t have any fuss; will you?”
“Not on my part,” said Bert “But if Danny Rugg thinks he can boss me he is mistaken.”
It was evident that Danny liked to play master. He could be heard giving orders to this one and the other one to get out of the way, to pull his bob around in place, and then to shove it off with its load of boys and girls.
Now, though Danny was a bully, some of the children were friendly with him for the sake of getting a ride on his sled, which was a large and expensive one.
Bert and Nan, and Flossie and Freddie, soon were coasting with their friends, having a good time on the hill. The two smaller twins went down together.
As Freddie came up the long slope, pulling his sled in readiness for another trip, Danny Rugg with his bob reached the head of the slope at the same time.
“Say, Danny, give me a ride this trip; won’t you?” begged a small boy, who had no sled, but who often did errands for the bully, and played mean tricks for him that, Danny was too lazy to play himself. “Let me go on your bob?”
“Not this time, Sim,” said Danny. “The bob is going to be filled. But here, you can take Freddie Bobbsey’s sled. He doesn’t want it,” and without giving Freddie time to say whether he did or not Danny snatched the sled rope from him and held it out to Sim Watson.
For a moment Freddie was too surprised to utter a protest and then, as he realized what had happened, he cried out:
“Here, Danny Rugg, you let my sled alone! I do want it! Give it back to me!”
“Aw, go on!” said Danny. “You’ve had rides enough. Let Sim take your sled, or I’ll punch you!” and Danny gave Freddie a shove, and held out the rope of the sled to Sim.
“Stop it!” cried Freddie. “I’ll tell Bert on you.”
“Pooh! Think I’m afraid of your brother. I can handle him with one hand tied behind my back.”
“Then it’s time you started in!” exclaimed a voice just back of Danny, and the bully turned suddenly to see Bert standing near him, Danny’s face flushed, and then grew pale. Before he could make a move Bert grabbed away from him the rope of Freddie’s sled, which Sim had not yet taken, and passed it back to his small brother.
“Don’t you try that again,” warned Bert.
“I will if I want to,” said Danny, meanly, “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Maybe not,” said Bert, quietly, “and I’m not afraid of you, either. But if you take my brother’s sled for some of your friends you’ll have to settle with me. You leave Freddie alone; do you hear?”
“I don’t have to mind you!”
“We’ll see about that. Go ahead, Freddie. You and Flossie coast as much as you like, and if Danny bothers you any more let me know.”
Danny, with an uneasy laugh, turned aside. Some of his particular chums gathered about him, and one murmured:
“Why don’t you fight him?”
For a moment it looked as though there might be trouble, but an instant later all thoughts of it passed, for a series of girls’ screams came from midway down the long hill.
All eyes were turned in that direction, and those at the top of the slope saw a team of runaway horses, attached to a heavy bobsled, plunging madly up the hill.
And, right in the path of the frightened animals was Nan Bobbsey, and one or two other girls, on their sleds, coasting straight for the runaways.
A cry of fear came from Bert Bobbsey as he noticed his sister’s danger.