CHAPTER IX—INTO SPACE
For a glorious hour the girls and boys enjoyed what was to them the best sledding of their lives. They coasted down the hill and dragged their sleds up again, shouting and calling to each other while their cheeks and, it must be admitted, sometimes their noses, too, glowed with the sting of the sharp wind and they had to stamp hard on the frozen ground to keep their toes from freezing.
“The best sport ever!” cried Paul.
“All to the merry,” came from Chet. “What do you say, girls?” and he turned to Billie and her classmates.
What did they say? All shouted at once that such fine sport couldn’t possibly be beaten.
“Can’t be beat!” sang out Chet gaily. “Just like old Ma Jackson’s rag carpet.”
“Ma Jackson’s rag carpet? What do you mean?” asked Laura.
“She couldn’t beat it for fear it would fall apart,” was the sly reply. And then the merry lad had to dodge a hard chunk of snow Laura threw at him.
“Burr-r! isn’t it cold?” cried Billie, taking a mitten from one of her hands and blowing on her numbed fingers. “I’d never know what it was to feel cold if it weren’t for my fingers and toes. Teddy! Stop your pushing! What do you want now?”
For Teddy had seized her by the shoulders and had sat her firmly down upon his big bobsled.