"Of course not," said Peter. "Father's snowshoes are not made of barrel staves. Let's go to look at his. Let's make some like them."
"We can't, Peter. But we can make the other kind. Let's see if there is a broken barrel. Then we'll ask mother if we may have four staves."
"My flour barrel is just empty," said mother. "We will roll it outside. I will knock it to pieces. Then you may have your four staves. Please clean them out of doors. If you do not, you will get flour all over the workshop."
When the children took the staves into the workshop, Peter said, "What next?"
"We want four strips of leather next. They are for straps. We will tack one strap on each stave. They will go across the staves. We will tack them at the sides. They must be loose. We shall put our toes under them."
"How will our snowshoes stay on?" asked Peter.
"I'll show you by and by. I must ask mother to cut this leather for me."
When the leather was cut, Polly tacked on the straps. The snowshoes now looked like this:
"I wish to put mine on," said Peter.