east expected it.

CHAPTER XXI

A BOB SLED RACE

"Whoop! hurrah! it's snowing!"

Thus shouted Tom one day, as he burst into the library of the Hall,
where Dick, Sam and a number of others were perusing books and the
latest magazines.

"Hard?" queried Sam, dropping the magazine he held.

"No, but steady. Peleg Snuggers says it is going to be a heavy fall, and
he generally knows."

"And he loves snowstorms so," put in Fred, with a laugh. "Do you
remember the time we made a big fort and had a regular battle?"

"Indeed I do!" cried Larry. "It was great! We ought to have something of
that sort this winter."

"I was hoping we'd get skating before it snowed," put in Songbird.

"Well, we can't have all the good things at once," answered Dick. "I
think a heavy snowstorm is jolly. Somehow, when it snows I always feel
like whistling and singing."

"And I feel like making up verses," murmured the poet of the school, and
went on:

"Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow,
Coming down when the wind does blow.
Coming down both day and night,
Leaving the earth a wonderful sight!
Oh, the snow, the heavenly snow!----"

"Wetting our feet wherever we go!"

continued Tom, and added:

"Oh, the snow,
When the wind doth blow,
It sets a pace
And hits our face
And we are froze
Down to the toes
And in the slush,
That's just like mush,
We cannot stop,
But go ker-flop!"

"Tom, the first thing you know, you'll be taking Songbird's laurels away
from him," observed Larry.

"Perish the thought!" answered the fun-loving Rover, tragically.

"I don't hope you call that poetry," came from Songbird, in deep
disgust. "Why, Hans can do better than that; can't you, Dutchy?"

"Sure, I can make up some find boetry," answered Hans. "Chust you listen
to dis. I make him ub von night ven I couldn't go to sleep."

"Der vos a leetle pird,
He sits ubon a dree,
Dot leetle pird vos habby
Like von leetle pird could be
A hunter mit a gun
Py dot tree did lay,
He shoot his awful gun,
And dot pird--he fly avay!

"Good for Hans!" cried Dick, and there was a general laugh. Then the
gathering in the library broke up and all the cadets went outside to see
how the snow looked. Before long there was enough on the ground to make
snowballs, and then a battle royal all around ensued. So long as they
took care not to break any wind