e desks and looked at the slates to see that
no one failed to obey orders.

Many eager glances were turned upon the clock; recess-time came--and
went; the boys were let out and their shouts and calls came in at the
window, but the silence in the room of the girls was broken only by
the scratching of slate-pencils and the sighs of weary girls,--for it
had long ceased to be funny.

When at last that tiresome old clock struck the hour, they were made
to put away their slates and resume their lessons, and no recess at
all did they have that morning.

* * * * *

"That was an awful funny prank," said Kristy; "and wasn't it a cute
punishment!" she added, getting up to look out of the window again.
"Rain! rain! rain!" she said, in a vexed tone, "nothing but rain
to-day."

"There are worse storms than rain, Kristy," said her mother.

"I don't see what can be worse," said Kristy, returning to her seat.

"What would you say to a blizzard?" asked mamma.

"What's a blizzard?" said Kristy.

"It's a kind of storm they have out on the western prairies; let me
tell you about one."

CHAPTER IV

ALL NIGHT IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE

It was very quiet one winter day in the little schoolhouse out on the
prairie near the village of B----.

The afternoon was wearing away, and thoughts of home and the warm
supper awaiting them began to stir in the children's thoughts, and
many glances were turned to the clock which was busily ticking the
minutes away.

Suddenly, without the least warning, a severe blast of wind struck the
little schoolhouse and shook it to its foundations, while at the same
moment a great darkness fell upon the world, as if the sun had been
stricken out of the heavens.

"A blizzard!" came trembling from the lips of the older scholars, who
well knew the enemy which had suddenly descended upon them.

Miss Grey, the teacher, left her seat and hurried to the window.
Nothing was to be seen but snow. Not the soft, feathery flakes of
eastern storms, but sharp ice-like particles that cut and stung when
it beat against the flesh, like needles.

Here was a situation! Though new to the country, Miss Grey had been
warned of the terrible storms which sometimes descended upon it,
obliterating every landmark, and so blinding and bewildering one that
even the sense of direction was lost, while the icy wind that came
with it, seemed to freeze the very vitals, and left many lost and
frozen