of
narrating the most thrilling story of the American revolutionary war that
anybody ever dreamed of?"

"O dear, O dear, O dear!" said Tom. "What shall I do?"

As he spoke, from far down in the valley there seemed to come a crash and
a roar, following close upon which the barking of a dog made itself heard.

"The ice is slipping," cried the Poker, as the mountain trembled beneath
them. "There's going to be an avalanche, and we're on it!"

The whole top of the mountain shook as if it had been in an earthquake,
and then it began to crash rapidly downward.

"Dear me! How annoying," observed the Bellows. "As if we haven't had
enough coasting this trip without taking a turn on an avalanche."

"But what shall we do?" roared the Andirons excitedly. "I never foresaw
this."

"Slide, I guess," said the Poker calmly. "It's all we can do."

The barking of the dog approached closer.

"Good!" cried Righty, clapping his claws together gleefully, as an idea
flashed across his mind. "It's one of those famous St. Bernards; he'll
take care of Tom, and as for us--"

The thunderous roar of the descending avalanche drowned the sounds of
Righty's voice, and all that could now serve as a means of conveying their
thoughts to each other was the making of wild motions with the hands. The
Poker stood erect and stiff, looking grimly ahead of him, as if resolved
to meet his fate bravely; the Bellows threw himself flat upon the glacier
and panted; while the two Andirons, standing guard on either side of Tom,
peered anxiously about for the rescuer of their little guest, nor did
they look in vain, for in a few moments the huge figure of a St Bernard
appeared below them, rushing with all his might and main to their side.
For some reason or other, the St Bernard seemed to have something familiar
about him, but Tom couldn't quite say what it was.

"Bow-wow-wow!" the dog barked gleefully, for this was just the sort of
work he most enjoyed.

Strangely enough, Tom seemed to understand dog language for the first time
in his life, for the bark said to him as plainly as you please: "Climb on
my back sonny, and I'll have you out of this in a jiffy."

The lad lost not a moment in obeying. Aided by the affectionate boosts of
the Andirons he soon found himself lying face downward upon the broad,
shaggy back of the faithful beast.

He closed his eyes to shut out the blinding snow for a moment, and then--

* * * * *