per
and deeper. So fast was the snow coming down now that he could hardly
see the marks left by the wheels where he had driven up the hill.

The children looked out through the back window in the automobile and
watched Uncle Toby. He was soon out of sight below the top of the hill,
and all that Ted and the others could see was the cloud of swirling
flakes of white.

"I--I hope he finds Skyrocket," faltered Janet.

"I hope so, too," added Ted.

"He sure is a good dog!" declared Tom.

Then all the Curlytops could do was to wait for Uncle Toby to come back.

Meanwhile the old sailor was trudging back through the storm, going down
the hill up which he had lately driven the big car.

"It's easy now," thought Uncle Toby to himself, "but it won't be so easy
going back. I'll have the wind in my face and I'll have to go uphill.
But never mind! We'll have jolly good times--the children and I--when we
get to my cabin out at the Lake."

As he walked along through the storm Uncle Toby looked on each side of
the road for a sight of Skyrocket. But he did not see the dog. Nor was
there any answering bark in reply to the shrill whistles uttered by
Uncle Toby.

"Here, Sky! Here, Skyrocket!" the old sailor would call every now and
then, but no dog appeared.

"He must have jumped out away back where I stalled the car," thought
Uncle Toby. "Poor dog! He'll freeze if he has to stay out all night. And
I don't know what I'll do with those children if I don't find their pet
for them. Skyrocket, where are you?"

On and on went Uncle Toby, through the whirling snow. He was almost back
to where the car had stopped when suddenly he heard a series of barks
off to one side of the road, in a clump of trees.

"That sounds like him!" exclaimed the sailor. "Hello there, Skyrocket!"
he cried.

The barking became louder. Uncle Toby floundered through the drifts, off
the road and over toward the clump of evergreen trees. As he neared them
a dog came dashing out, capering about in the fluffy drifts.

"Hello, Skyrocket! I've found you all right!" said Uncle Toby. "But
what in the world are you doing back here? What made you jump out of the
car?"

All the answer Skyrocket made was to bark. He leaped about Uncle Toby
and seemed very glad to see him. But when the man started back toward
the road, thinking the dog would follow, Skyrocket only barked more
loudly and raced back toward the clump of trees.

"What's the matter? Is there some other