"Scubbity-yow!" was Ginger Martin's response, and the red head came on the run. A fight was meat and drink to Fred.
The other boys hurried up the slope, too. Bobby yelled to them to bring in the sleds and all the ammunition.
In making the fortress the evening before, and in rolling "snow bombs" to fling down upon the heads of the enemy should they get to close quarters, the island itself had been for the most part swept clean of snow. The bulwarks of the fortress were as tall as most of the boys defending it at the present moment.
"We're going to get licked," muttered Max Bender again.
Sparrow grinned at Ginger. "I always believed Bender was a softie," he whispered. Ginger nodded, but he looked at Bobby.
"We've got to hold on here till Captain Gray gets over with reinforcements," the boy from Clinton was saying, eagerly.
"Sure we have!" agreed most of the ten, in chorus.
"And the way to do it is not to let those Belden fellows see how few in numbers we are," said Bobby, thoughtfully. "We have heaps of ammunition. We'll beat them off till Captain Gray comes."
"We can't do it," declared Max Bender, with conviction.
Fred turned on him with his face as well as his hair aflame: "You're a healthy lieutenant, you are!" he snarled. "Why didn't Captain Gray leave a baby in command? Come on! you can fling snowballs, can't you, like Bobby says?"