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winter road went through the fields and wound and twisted and doubled in and out and around corners and spruce groves—a road that would “break a snake’s back,” as Perry said. The track was already almost obliterated with the drift and the horses plunged to their knees. They had not gone a mile before Perry whistled in dismay.

“We'll never make Blair Water tonight, Ted.”

“We've got to make somewhere,” shouted Ted. “We can’t camp here. And there’s no house till we get back to the summer road, past Shaw’s hill. Duck under the robes, girls. You'd better get back with Ilse, Emily, and Perry will come here with me.”

The transfer was effected, Emily no longer thinking storms quite so delightful. Perry and Teddy were both thoroughly alarmed. They knew the horses could not go much farther in that depth of snow—the summer road beyond Shaw’s hill would be blocked with drift—and it was bitterly cold on those high, bleak hills between the valleys of Derry Pond and Blair Water.

“If we can only get to Malcolm Shaw’s we'll be all right,” muttered Perry.

“We'll never get that far. Shaw’s hill is filled in by this time to the fence-tops,” said Teddy. “Here’s the old John house. Do you suppose we could stay here?”

“Cold as a barn,” said Perry. “The girls would freeze. We must try to make Malcolm’s.”

When the plunging horses reached the summer road, the boys saw at a glance that Shaw’s hill was a hopeless proposition. All traces of track were obliterated by drifts that were over the fence-tops. Telephone-posts were blown down across the road and a huge, fallen tree blocked the gap where the field road ran out to it.

“Nothing to do but go back to the old John house,” said Perry. “We can’t go wandering over the fields in the teeth of this storm, looking for a way through to Malcolm’s. We'd get stuck and freeze to death.”

Teddy turned the horses. The snow was thicker than ever. Every minute the drift deepened. The track was