"Dandy!" cried Ted.
"Oh, indeed! Being snowed in isn't such fun as you may think," said Mrs. Martin, and then the Curlytops knew their mother was now a little bit in earnest at least.
"Of course," she went on, "the snow will hardly cover our house, as it is much larger than the one in the picture I showed Teddy. But being snowed in means that so much snow falls that the roads are covered, and the piles, or drifts, of the white flakes may be high enough to come over the lower doors and windows.
"When so much snow falls it is hard to get out. Even automobiles and horses can not go along the roads, and it is then people are 'snowed in.' They can not get out to buy things to eat, and unless they have plenty in the house they may go hungry.
"That is what Grandpa Martin meant when he said we might be snowed in, and why he warned us to get in a quantity of food to eat."
"But shall we really be snowed in, Mother?" asked Ted.
"I don't know, I'm sure. Grandpa was only telling us what the hermit told him. Sometimes those old men who live in the woods and know much about nature's secrets that other persons do not know, can foretell the weather. And the snow has certainly come earlier this year than for a long time back. I am afraid we shall have a hard winter, though whether or not we shall be snowed in I cannot say."
"Well, if we're going to be snowed in let's go coasting now, Janet!" suggested Ted to his sister.
"May we, Mother?" asked the little girl.
"Yes. But don't go on the big hill."