snow, and
excavated a place about four feet square by four deep, leaving the upper
crust intact, of course, without its ordinary strength.

The two boys had completed their task, and were siting down in their
subterranean abode, when the roof suddenly gave way, and a visitor
entered in the most unceremonious manner.

The old lady had kept on her way unsuspiciously, using as a cane a faded
blue umbrella, which she carried invariably, whatever the weather.

When Mrs. Payson felt herself sinking, she uttered a loud shriek and
waved her arms aloft, brandishing her umbrella in a frantic way. She was
plunged up to her armpits in the snow, and was, of course, placed in a
very unfavorable position for extricating herself.

The two boys were at first nearly smothered by the descent of snow, but
when the first surprise was over they recognized their prisoner. I am
ashamed to say that their feeling was that of unbounded delight, and
they burst into a roar of laughter. The sound, indistinctly heard,
terrified the old lady beyond measure, and she struggled frantically to
escape, nearly poking out Pomp's eye with the point of her umbrella.

Pomp, always prompt to repel aggression, in return, pinched her foot.

"Massy sakes! Where am I?" ejaculated the affrighted old lady. "There's
some wild crittur down there. Oh, Cynthy Ann, ef you could see your marm
at this moment!"

She made another vigorous flounder, and managed to kick Sam in the face.
Partly as a measure of self-defense, he seized her ankle firmly.

"He's got hold of me!" shrieked the old lady "Help! help! I shall be
murdered."

Her struggles became so energetic that the boys soon found it expedient
to evacuate the premises. They crawled out by the passage they had made,
and appeared on the surface of the snow.

The old lady presented a ludicrous appearance. Her hood had slipped off,
her spectacles were resting on the end of her nose, and she had lost her
work-bag. But she clung with the most desperate energy to the umbrella,
on which apparently depended her sole hope of deliverance.

"Hi yah!" laughed Pomp, as he threw himself back on the snow and began
to roll about in an ecstasy of delight.

Instantly Mrs. Payson's apprehensions changed to furious anger.

"So it's you, you little varmint, that's done this. Jest le' me get out,
and I'll whip you so you can't stan'. See ef I don't."

"You can't get out, missus; yah, yah!" laughed Pomp. "You's tied, you
is, mi