“I’ll tell you what let’s do,” suggested Sparrow. “The hill’s wide enough to hold six sleds going down at the same time. There’s just about seventeen or eighteen of us here. Let’s start out in a bunch of six at a time and go the whole length. Then, after that, we can have the separate races.”
“That’s all right,” agreed Fred. “The trouble is that each fellow will want to go off in the first six.”
“We’ll soon settle that,” replied Sparrow. “We’ll draw lots and then nobody will have any kick coming.”
This proposal was greeted with acclamation, and amid a great deal of chaff and laughter the lots were drawn.
The lucky ones happened to be Fred, Bobby, Mouser, Sparrow, Skeets and Pee Wee.
“We’ll let Pee Wee go in the middle,” laughed Fred, “and we’d better take care to keep close to the side of the road. He’ll need more room than any of the rest of us.”
“I’d hate to have him plunk into me,” grinned Bobby. “It would be a case for the doctor, for sure.”
“For the undertaker, more likely,” chuckled Mouser.
“You fellows think you’re smart, don’t you?” grunted Pee Wee. “All the same I bet I’ll fetch farther than any of you.”
“Hear who’s talking,” jibed Sparrow. “We’ll leave you so far behind you won’t be able to see us with a telescope.”