" said Uncle Toby,
looking at Tom and Ted floundering around in the snow. "But it won't be
safe to take the brakes off until we get something to block the wheels."

The reason for that was this. The car was now held from sliding backward
downhill because Uncle Toby had put on the brakes. But to start up
again, even in first or lowest speed, he would have to take off the
brakes, and the car might begin to slide down before the engine could
begin pulling it up. With stones blocked behind the rear wheels, this
would not happen.

"Oh, we'll find some stones!" cried Tom, kicking about in the snow,
moving his feet from side to side. Soon he felt something big and hard.
Reaching down with his hands, he began clearing away the snow and
discovered a stone. But it was frozen fast to the ground, and Tom could
not move it.

"I'll help you!" offered Ted, running over to his chum. Ted had not yet
found any stone.

As the boys kicked away at the stone, hoping to loosen it, Trouble
called out through the crack of the door:

"Is you playin' feetball?"

"It does look like it, doesn't it?" laughed Ted, and then, with a last
hard kick, he loosened the stone that Tom had found.

"Good boys!" cried Uncle Toby. "Put it back of the wheels and look for
another." He had to stay in the car lest the brakes might slip and let
it back down the hill.

Tom and Ted put this one stone behind the left wheel, and then began
kicking about in the snow to find another. This time Ted had the luck,
finding a larger stone than the one uncovered by his chum.

With hard kicks the two small chaps worked away at the frozen stone.
More than once they missed their aim, and they kicked up clouds of snow,
making Lola and Janet laugh, Trouble joining in. But at last the second
stone was loosened and placed behind the other wheel.

"Now I can take off the brakes and start up the hill," said Uncle Toby.
"Hop in, boys!"

Standing on the running board Ted and Tom knocked the snow from their
shoes and took their places inside the warm car. They were breathing
hard from their labors, and their cheeks were red with the cold, while
their coats and caps were covered with snow-flakes.

The engine had not stopped running, though it was out of gear. But now
Uncle Toby took off the brakes and began to go into first speed, and
slowly the car moved up the hill. The snow was very slippery and more
than once the hind wheels spun around uselessly.

"I'll put chains on wh