Dorothy laughed at them all, but made no comment. Despite her late seriousness she was jolly enough when she was one of the party. And she agreed to be one to-day. It was decided to get out Nat’s old “double-ripper,” see that it was all right, and at once start for Snake Hill, where the smaller boys had already gone. “For this sun is going to melt the ice a good deal by noon. Of course, it will be only a short cold snap this time of year,” Dorothy said, with her usual practical sense. They were some time in setting out, and it was not because the girls “prinked,” as Tavia pointed out. “I’d have you know we have been waiting five whole minutes,” she proclaimed when Ned and Nat drew the long, rusty-ironed, double-ripper sled out of the barn. “For once you boys cannot complain.” “Those kids had been trying to use this big sled, I declare,” Nat said. “And I had to find a couple of new bolts. Don’t want to break down on the hill and spill you girls.” “That would be spilling the beans for fair,” Ned put in. “Oh, beg pardon! Be-ings, I mean. Get aboard, beautiful beings, and we’ll drag you to the foot of the hill.” They went on down the back road and into the woods with much merriment. The foot of Snake Hill was a mile and a half from The Cedars. Part of the hill was rough and wild, and there was not a farm upon its side anywhere. “I wonder where the kids are making their slide?” said Tavia, easily. “That’s why I am glad we came this way,” Dorothy confessed. “They might be tempted to slide down on this steep side, instead of going over to the Washington Village road. _That’s_ smooth.” “Trust the boys for finding the most dangerous place,” Jennie Hapgood remarked. “I never saw their like.” “That’s because you only have an older brother,” said Dorothy, wisely. “He was past his reckless age while you were still in pinafores and pigtails.” “Reckless age!” scoffed Tavia. “When does a boy or a man ever cease to be reckless?” “Right-oh!” agreed Nat, looking back along the towline of the sled. “See how he forever puts himself within the danger zone of pretty girls. Gee! but Ned and I are a reckless team! What say, Neddie?” “I say do your share of the pulling,” returned his brother. “Those girls are no feather-weights, and this is up hill.” “Oh, to be so insulted!” murmured Tavia. “To accuse us of bearing extra flesh about with us when we all follow Lovely Lucy Larriper’s directions, given in the _Evening Bazoo_. Not a pound of the superfluous do we carry.” “Dorothy’s getting chunky,” announced Nat, wickedly. “You’re another!” cried Tavia, standing up for her chum. “Her lovely curves are to be praised—oh!” At that moment the young men ran the runners on one side of the sled over an ice-covered stump, and the girls all joined in Tavia’s scream. If there had not been handholds they would all three have been ignominiously dumped off.