"Will it go fast?" asked Lola.
"It'll go like an express train!" cried Ted.
"And we fellows will take turns sitting on the back and sticking our feet out to steer," added Tom, for that is how a toboggan is guided, you know.
"If it's going as fast as an express train I don't believe I want to ride," said Mary, who was rather more timid than the other children.
"Don't let those boys scare you," advised Janet. "They're only talking to hear themselves talk. Tom and Ted are always that way—aren't they, Lola?"
"Yes," answered Tom's sister, with a laugh.
The boys were now clustered around the big toboggan, and Trouble had taken his seat in the middle of the cushion.
"You give me wide!" he demanded of his brother.
"Not now—a little later," promised Ted. He wanted to listen to what the Canadian was saying, telling Uncle Toby how the big toboggan was best managed on a hill.
"I'll go down with the children the first few times," said Uncle Toby, "to make sure it's all right. Our hill isn't so very steep, and I don't believe there's much danger."