The snow was still coming down and the wind was blowing almost as fiercely as it had during the early part of the night. Gazing through the windows, the cadets saw that all of the cedars were bent down with the weight of the fine white crystals. The snow had swept up along one side of the little barn until there was an unbroken line reaching up to the very top.
"Well, I never!" ejaculated Jack, turning around suddenly to his chums. "Happy New Year, everybody!"
"Happy New Year!" came from the others, including Fred and the twins, who had just got up.
"Gosh! I forgot all about it's being New Year's," exclaimed Fred.
"This looks like a real New Year's Day, and no mistake," remarked Randy. "Look outside! Isn't it just like a picture on a New Year's card?"
"It is assuredly a spectacle to fill one with awe and reverence," came from Spouter. "Just gaze upon that magnificent stretch of snowy mantle and those tall cedars bending low before the wintry blasts! Can you imagine what this must be in the solemn depth of the mighty forest, where not a footfall is heard nor a—"
"Jack rabbit can get as much as a turnip to eat?" finished Randy gayly. "Spouter, if you are going to orate, why don't you stand on the table when you turn on the spigot?"
"Let us have a regular New Year's dinner!" cried Gif, "and then Spouter can do the speech-making—"
"While we do the eating," finished Randy. "Say, Spout, how about it?"
"Nothing doing," was the prompt reply. "I want my share of the eats every time."