Has come to be quite extinct.”
Jack Frost had just finished the last word when the Meteor came flying up to them.
“The Equator,” he said, “is at the North Pole, and the Evening Star is hiding under a glacier there. As soon as he melts the glacier——”
“Everything will be lost,” finished Nimbus. “Come on, there is not a moment to lose.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” said Jack Frost, “but I’ve got to start those melted glaciers first; you know that’s my job, and I dare not neglect it.”
“All right,” said Nimbus. “Billy and I will go on without you. Come on, Billy.”
Billy started to follow him, but Nimbus, in his excitement, had completely forgotten the little boy. He struck up a pace that Billy could not possibly keep, and soon was out of hearing—a tiny speck on the vast white snowfield that stretched ahead toward the horizon.
“I guess I’ll have to go with you, Jack Frost,” said Billy, turning sadly toward the spot where that worthy had been standing.
But Jack Frost had vanished utterly, and there was Billy deserted on a great Arctic snowfield, just at the most exciting moment of the chase.