"What muskrat?" asked the man.
"The one that lives in here. I started to dig in so Flossie and I could get out of the storm, and the muskrat put his head out and looked at us. I guess he was surprised."
"We were surprised, too," said Flossie. "At first I thought it was a little bear."
"Ha! Ha!" laughed the man. "And so you dug into a muskrat's meadow-house to get out of the storm? Well, that was a good idea, but I guess if you had gone in the muskrats would have run out. But it was a good thing you found the shed, and I'm glad I also found it. We will soon be home, I hope."
They lingered a moment, as Freddie wished to see if the muskrat would come out; but the creature was, very likely, away down deep in his house of sticks and mud, eating the sweet, tender roots of the plants he had stored away before Winter set in.
Once more the man led the Bobbsey twins onward.
Pretty soon Flossie began to lag behind. Her little feet went more and more slowly through the piles of snow, and once she choked back a sob. She wanted to cry, but she had said she was brave and scarcely ever shed tears, and she was not going to do it now. Still, she was so tired and cold and altogether miserable that she did not know what to do. Freddie, too, was hardly able to keep on, but he would not give up.
At last, however, the man looked down at the two little ones, and he noticed that they were really too tired to go farther. He stopped and said:
"Come! this will never do. I must carry you a bit to rest your legs. Wouldn't you like that?"
"Yes, I would," answered Flossie. "But you can't carry both of us; can you?"