SNAP IS GONE
Dorothy screamed, and turned back toward Nan when she saw Bert struck
with the snowball. But plucky Nan kept on.
"That must be Danny Rugg!" cried Bert's sister. "No one else around here
would be as mean as that!"
Bert stopped a moment to brush the snow from his eyes, and then he
rushed toward the tree.
"Who is it?" cried Harry.
"I don't know--but I'm going to find out," was Bert's answer. "Come
along!"
The two boys hurried on, the girls lingering in the rear.
Again a snowball flew out of the tree, but it struck no one, though
coming near to Nan.
By this time Bert was close to the tree. It was a hemlock, and the
branches were quite thick, but Bert got a glimpse of someone hiding
among them.
"Come down out of that!" Bert cried. "I see you!"
There was no answer.
"What do you mean by hitting us?" asked Harry angrily. "We didn't do
anything to you."
Still there was no answer.
"I'm going to do some snowballing on my own account," spoke Bert. "Here
goes!"
He quickly made a hard ball, and, circling around the tree to find an
opening in the branches, he saw the figure of the boy more plainly.
"Danny Rugg!" cried Bert. "So it's you; is it? First you start a
snowslide down on us and then you snowball us. This has got to stop.
Take that!"
Bert threw, but though his aim was good, Danny, for it was the bully,
managed to climb up higher in the tree, and the snowball broke into
pieces against the branches.
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Danny.
"Oh, there's plenty more snow," said Harry, "and you can't have an awful
lot up there."
His answer was another snowball, which struck him on the shoulder, doing
no harm. Danny must have taken some snow-ammunition up the tree with
him, and, in addition, there was a supply of the white flakes on the
wide branches of the hemlock.
Bert and Harry both began throwing snowballs up into the tree, but they
were at a disadvantage, for their missiles broke to pieces against the
trunk or branches. On the other hand Danny could wait his chance and hit
them when they came within sight.
"This won't do!" exclaimed Bert, after a bit. "We've got to get him out
of that tree."
"How can we?" asked Harry. "Climb up it, and pull him down?"
"Oh, don't do that!" cried Nan. "You might get hurt."
"Yes, that would be risky," admitted Bert. "One of us might slip and
fall. Hey you, Danny Rugg!" cried Bert. "Come on down, and we'll give
you a fair show. Only one of us will tackle you at a time."
"Huh! Think I'm coming down?" asked Danny. "I'm not afraid of you, but
I'm going to stay up here."
"Oh, are you?" asked Bert, as he thought of a new plan. "We'll see about
that. Come here, Harry."
From the tree Danny looked down anxiously while Harry and Bert whispered
together. The girls had walked off to one side.
"How are you going to get him down?" asked Harry.
"Cut the tree," answered Bert. "It's only a small one."
"But we can't even cut that down with our knives."
"I know. But on the ice-boat is that hatchet father gave me to take to
be sharpened. I forgot about it on the way up the lake, and I was going
to do it on the way back. There's a blacksmith shop in the big cove. But
the hatchet is sharp enough to chop down this tree. We'll get it and
give Danny a good scare."
"That's what we will. You stay here and I'll run down and get it."
Harry started off on a run, and Danny, still up the tree, wondered what
plan was afoot. The bully had been out for a walk when he saw Bert and
the others coming up the hill. He quickly climbed the tree in order to
throw snowballs at them.
When Harry came back with the hatchet Bert once more called to Danny.
"Are you coming down and fight fair? I give you my promise that only one
of us will tackle you at a time. You can have your choice."
"I'm not coming down!" cried Danny.
"Chop away, Harry!" called Bert. "I guess I can pepper him with a few
snowballs if he tries to throw any at you."
The tree trunk was not very thick, and the hatchet was fairly sharp. In
a little while the tree began swaying.
"I say now, stop that!" cried Danny, trying to get a better hold in the
branches.
"Better come down before you fall," suggested Bert, who had a pile of
snowballs ready.
The tree swayed more and more. Bert and Harry knew that even if Danny
fell with it he could not get hurt in the soft drifts. So Harry kept on
chopping.
The tree swayed more and more. There was a cracking sound. Then Danny
cried:
"Don't chop any more--I'm coming down!"
"Get ready, Harry!" called Bert. "We'll give him some of the same kind
of a thing he gave us!"
In another instant Danny jumped, and as the swaying tree sprang back,
when relieved of his weight, Bert and Harry leaped forward to pelt the
bully with snowballs.
Danny tried to fight back, but he was no match for the two of them, and
soon he began to look like a snow image, so well was he plastered with
white flakes.
"Give it to him!" cried Bert, whose face still stung where Danny had
struck him with a snowball.
"That's what I will," agreed Harry, whose ear was quite sore.
For a time Danny said nothing, but tried to block off the rain of
snowballs, throwing some of his own back. Then, as he was almost
overwhelmed by the ones Harry and Bert threw, the bully cried:
"Stop! Stop! I've had enough! I won't bother you any more!"
Danny was soon out of sight, running off in the direction of his
father's lumber tract, and soon Bert and the others went back to the
ice-boat.
They stopped at the blacksmith shop to have the hatchet sharpened, and
reached home after a little sail on the _Ice Bird_.
"Did anything happen this time?" asked Freddie, as he greeted them on
the return to Snow Lodge.
"Not much," replied Bert. "We just had a snow fight; that's all."
The skating and ice-boating lasted for some time, and the girls and boys
had lots of fun. Nights were spent in popping corn, telling stories,
roasting apples, and once, in the big sled, they all went to an
entertainment in a nearby school hall.
It was on returning from this, in the evening, that Dinah met them at
the door, asking:
"Did yo' all take dat dog Snap wif yo?"
"Take Snap? No," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"Isn't he here?"
The children began to look alarmed.
"He was here," said Dinah, "but I can't find him now, nohow. He suah am
missin'."