"No use getting riled. Move lively, fellows—don't want to let in too much cold air."
For an instant the Stony Creek boys held back. Then Sladder whispered in his chum's ear, and the two slowly walked inside. Bowser, left out in the cold, set up a mournful howl and began scratching at the door.
"Sit on anything you can find, fellows," said Piper, with a pleasant smile. "It seems to me," he added, "that we ought to build an addition to this shack. What's the matter with that brute?"
"Don't you think a dog feels the cold jest like humans, Swiper?" interposed Musgrove.
"Seems to me it's more of a great big calf than a canine," laughed Piper. "Pretty heavy storm we had, eh? It was a job clearing away some of the snow-drifts. Seems to me I never worked so hard in my life. How did you fellows make out?"
"Well, Piper," replied Nat Wingate, sitting in an indolent fashion near the stove, "there was excitement on our side of the lake, and plenty of it, too."
"Bob Somers and Hackett had an awful time," ventured Tom Clifton. "Almost got chewed up by wolves."
"By wolves?" echoed Heydon, in surprise.
"Yes! We certainly had the fight of our lives—and no mistake," answered Hackett. "You see, Piper, it was this way—"
A particularly loud whine from the disconsolate Bowser interrupted him.