They met no one. The distant farms were hidden by the snow-laden forests. The drifts became heavier. Now they were off the road and now on. There were no marks of recent travel. It was Christmas; the farmers at home. Both the twins had become silent, Tom more and more anxious as he missed his well-known landmarks. At last a dead tree on the road let him know that he was about six miles from the Forge. The horses had come quite nine miles or more through tiring drifts. Now and then their feet balled and Tom had to get down and beat out the packed snow. Finally the horses could do no more than walk. It was well on to four o’clock, but at this he could only guess. He began to be troubled about the twins and a little to regret having made his venture. If they came to a stop with no house in sight, what could he do? To walk to the camp would be even for him hard and for the twins impossible. Again he stopped the horses for a rest, a formidable drift lying ahead and filling the road. By this time Bill had lost much of the joy of mischievous adventure. He began to think it was time for them to return home, and Harry had asked over and over how soon they would go back. Tom at length ceased to answer him as it drew toward evening. There was a new sharpness in the air, a warning to Tom of what night would bring. He stood upon the seat and searched the white-clad land for a house or the wood opening which might lead to one. He saw no sign of habitation to which he could go in person for help. And how could he leave his brothers? Even to turn homeward in the narrow road among the drifts would have been, as he saw, quite out of the question. What else was there but to go on? Even at this worst minute of his daring adventure the boy could have cried at the thought of failure. He felt the map and Verney’s sketch under his waistcoat, thought of his father, a prisoner, and then cheering up the twins, used the whip on the weary horses, who plunged into the great mound of snow. A trace snapped, the sleigh turned over on its side, the horses kicked, broke loose, and fled away down the road and were soon lost to view. Tom got on his feet and looked for the twins. For a moment they were out of sight. Then the huge drift began to shake and their four legs were seen kicking above the snow, whence Tom pulled out the two-headed bear. Bill laughed. Tom did not. Harry looked his alarm. All three working hard were able to right the sleigh after beating away a part of the drift. After that they climbed in and ate what was left of the food, but were not quite so merry as before, while Tom, made savage by failure, would neither eat nor talk. At last he stood up on the seat. “Shut up, Gemini,” he said, “I hear something. Now,” he said, turning, “mind you, if these I hear are British we were run away with. Hush!” He heard in the sharp, frosty air the clink of sabres and soon the thud of horses’ hoofs in the snow. III