It was easier traveling in the road than through the woods and across the fields, but still it was hard work. However, they managed to get a lift from a farmer when they were within a mile of town. They hitched their sled to the back of his sleigh and the man obligingly took them to Bart's house. "Oh! There are the boys!" exclaimed Alice as she looked from the window. "Look, Jennie, they have some game. I can see the turkey feathers!" she added to her friend, who had called. "Here we are!" cried Bart, as his sister and her chum came running down the front walk. "Just in time for dinner!" Bart wanted his chums to come into his house, but they were in a hurry to tell their folks of their safe arrival, so, shouldering their guns, and dividing the game, the boys separated. CHAPTER VIII GETTING SQUARE WITH SANDY "Come Alice, help me carry this game into the house," said Bart when the excitement over their arrival had quieted down a bit. His rabbits and the turkey were on the sled with the camp stuff. "Is that all the luck you had?" asked Mr. Keene, as he came out on the porch to greet his son. "Why I thought you'd come loaded down. We didn't buy anything for dinner, thinking you'd have enough." Bart knew by his father's tone that he was only joking. "We did have fine luck," the boy replied, and then he told about the widow and how they had left her with plenty of food. "Humph!" exclaimed Mr. Keene. "If you'd brought home any more game than you did, and hadn't left her some I'd make you go back to Mrs. Perry without your dinner. You did right, Bart. I'm glad to hear it." Bart ate his Thanksgiving dinner with an appetite that astonished even himself. Jennie Smith remained, as the guest of Alice, and she kept those about the table in lively mood, reciting bits of verse. During the course of the meal Bart told of their trip, and more about the widow. "We didn't hardly know what to do when that blizzard came up," he said. "Wonder if Jim went to meet us." "No, he came here and said he was expected to be at the end of the corduroy road for you," Mr. Keene explained. "I said I guessed you boys would know what to do. Besides, it is doubtful if he could have gotten his wagon through the drifts." In the afternoon Bart's chums came over. Ned said he had spoken to his father about the Perry family, and Mr. Wilding was going to get Jane a place to work. Mr. Keene expressed a wish to help the widow, and arrangements were made to see that she did not suffer any more for lack of food or clothing for herself and daughters. When the roads were better Mrs. Keene went to visit Mrs. Perry, and Jane secured a place in a store in Kirkville, so she could come home every night.