It was a hard task, but the three kept steadily at it, and in a very little while only a thin wall separated them from the object of their search.
Suddenly the last film of ice was broken through, and then they all fell back in blank amazement, for it was not the Evening Star at all who came forth, but Jack Frost, looking rather chilly and very much ashamed.
“Jack Frost!” cried the Equine Ox. “Jack Frost, by all that’s astonishing!”
“Well, I never!” said the conductor.
“Me neither,” said the motorman, “and many of ’em.”
“How in the world did you get in there, Jack Frost?” asked Billy.
“Well, I hate to admit it,” said Jack Frost, “but I froze myself in. It was all a mistake.”
“Mistakes will happen,” said the motorman. “The best of us are sure to make ’em at times. I hate to run over dogs, but sometimes I do it.”
“You see,” said Jack Frost, “I was in a hurry to rebuild that glacier, and I got so interested I didn’t leave myself any place to get out till it was all done.”
“But why didn’t you build it from the outside?” asked Billy.