"Oh! you can't, can't you--we'll see about that," and Boreas ran actively around Billy, cuffing him in the face and over the ears--it seemed a thousand places all at once, whistling dismally all the time. "Look out for his teeth," shouted Fuzzy White. "If you once get in the teeth of the wind, he will bite your nose and ears and fingers and toes off." "Now, do you think better of it?" said Boreas, coming to a sudden stop. "That was only half trying--next time I'll catch you in my ice tongs and carry you home." "You can't frighten me," said Billy, patting Fuzzy White on the head. He didn't know quite why, but the feel of something that was friendly seemed to keep his courage up. "Go it, old boy," whispered Fuzzy encouragingly. "Wow-ow-ow! Oh-h-h-h-h!" howled Boreas, "you say I can't frighten you--why, I've frightened little boys and girls all my life. Every winter I howl and whistle my way around the world, and the way I make the branches creak and the windows rattle through the long, dark nights is a caution. Why, even Bogie Man says that next to him I'm the greatest frightener in the world." "I don't care, I'm not afraid of you," said Billy. Which, I fear, was not quite the exact truth, for he didn't feel very easy when he looked at Boreas' long, sparkling white teeth and his tousled gray head and beard. "Nor am I, even though you have got a corner on the ice market," said Fuzzy White, "for really you know you are an ice man." This made Boreas furious, he stormed and howled and spluttered and beat Billy wildly on the chest, caught hold of him even and spun him round and round on the ice, but he couldn't knock him down nor lift him off his feet so long as Billy did not try to jump. "You'll get out of breath if you keep that up much longer," said Billy, plucking up courage when he saw that Boreas could not really do him much damage. But it was a fatal speech, for with one loud yell Boreas leaped at Billy's face and tried to fasten his tongs in his nose. It was a trying moment for Billy, he felt his nose turn pale with fright, and when Boreas' tongs touched it, it grew absolutely numb. Indeed, he had given his poor nose up for lost, and it would surely have been if Fuzzy White had not scooped up a paw full of snow and clapped it on Billy's nose just as Boreas began to clamp the tongs. "Ou! wow-ow-o-ow!" screamed Boreas, jumping back, "ow! ow! I can't bite through snow," and he turned somersault after somersault on the ice in his fury. "Thank you, Fuzzy," cried Billy, as he felt the blood return to his nose, "you have saved me, old fellow." "That's nothing, I know his tricks better than you do." Billy anxiously felt his nose with his fingers and found it all there and quite right. "But I'll get you yet, Billy Bounce," howled Boreas, "and when I do I'll nip you hard." "You're not so very fast or dangerous after all," said Billy laughing. "Look out for him," whispered Fuzzy, "he has other tricks."