And from the manner in which Rover thumped his tail on the ground you could tell that he did, indeed, like to be with the little Bobbsey twins under the shelter of the tree.
“I know what we can do,” said Freddie, after thinking a moment. “I know what we can do to have some fun!”
“What?” asked Flossie, always ready for anything of this sort.
“We’ll throw a lot of these pine cones outside, and Rover will chase after ’em and bring ’em back,” went on Freddie. “He likes to run out in the snow. And after we play that awhile maybe it will be nicer outside.”
“All right,” agreed Flossie. “We’ll throw pine cones.”
There were many of these on the pine-needle covered ground beneath the sheltering tree. The cones were really the clusters of seeds from the tree, and they had become hard and dry so they made excellent things to throw for a dog to bring back.
Rover liked to race after sticks when thrown by the children, and the pine cones were ever so much better than sticks. There were so many of them, too.
“I’ll throw first, and then it will be your turn, Flossie,” Freddie said. “Here, Rover!” he called to the dog, as he picked up several of the cones.
Always ready for a lark of this sort, Rover leaped to his feet and stood at “attention.” Freddie bent aside some of the branches and tossed a pine cone out of the opening.
It fell in a bank of snow some distance away, for Freddie was a good thrower for a little boy. And the pine cone, being light, did not sink down in the snow as a stone would have done.