is heavy
as mud to pull through." Hardy looked dubious.

"Turn due west, Mr. Hardy--we can't be far from Big John."

Hardy obeyed and they drove another half hour, seeing nothing save the
fluttering snowflakes and the snowy wastes opening out a few feet ahead
as they advanced.

"Chicken Little, your theory is all right, but it doesn't seem to work,"
Sherm remarked regretfully.

In the meanwhile, time had also been moving along at the ranch. The big
sitting room at the cottage was brightly lighted and glowingly warm from
an open wood fire. By eight o'clock, coffee was steaming on the back of
the kitchen stove, the extension table pulled out to its full length,
was set with soup plates and cups and silver. Piles of doughnuts and
baskets of apples and walnuts stood awaiting the sharp appetites the
Mortons knew the cold ride would bring to them. Marian had the milk and
oysters ready for the stew and sat down to rest a moment before the
arrival of the guests. She hardly noticed the clock until the hand
pointed to half-past eight.

"My, they're late!" she exclaimed.

Frank got up and went to the door. He encountered Dr. Morton just coming
in.

"When did you say those youngsters were coming? It's snowing like fury."
He paused on the porch to give himself another shake.

"I don't believe they'll try to come out to-night. I guess you've had
all your trouble for nothing. I only wish Chicken Little and Sherm had
come home with you."

Frank, being a good many years nearer to understanding the rashness of
youth than his father, disagreed with him.

"I bet they tried all right, but they may have had to give it up. I
wonder how long it's been snowing this way. I haven't been out since
supper."

Dr. Morton sat and visited for a half hour, then said he guessed he'd
better go back to Mother. She was worrying a little about her baby being
out such a night.

"She needn't," he concluded, "even a child like Jane would have sense
enough not to start on a nine-mile ride in such weather."

After his father had gone, Frank put on his coat and went down the lane
with a lantern. He came back presently and sat down by the fire without
saying anything.

Marian saw he was worried. "You don't think they've got lost, do you,
Frank?"

"I don't know what to think. I hope Father is right and they had sense
enough not to start. But I wish to goodness I hadn't let Jane stay in."

They sat there listening for every sound until the clock