e road to Riverside, and you can
tell me. I guess I lost my way in the storm. I heard your sleigh-bells,
and I was heading for them when I heard you upset. You can show me the
shortest road to Riverside; can't you?"

"We can do better than that," spoke Joe, trying, but still
unsuccessfully, to get a look at the man's face. "We've got plenty of
room in the sled, and you can ride back with us, once we get it on the
runners again. Come on, Reggie, give me a hand, if you will, and we'll
get this cutter right side up with care."

"If it needs three of you, I can take my place at the horses," suggested
Mabel, who was standing beside Joe, idly looking through the
fast-gathering darkness at the stranger.

"Oh, the two of us can easily do it," said the young ball player. "It
isn't heavy. Come on, Reggie. Better stand a bit back, Mabel. It might
slip," he advised.

Joe and his friend easily righted the sleigh, while the stranger stood
at the heads of the horses, who were now quiet enough. Then, the
scattered robes having been collected, and the baggage picked up, all
was in readiness for a new start.

Joe tucked the warm blanket well around Mabel, and then called to the
stranger:

"Get up on the front seat, and I'll soon have you in Riverside. It isn't
very far now."

"Thanks," said the man, briefly. "This is better luck than I've had in
some time."

For a while, after the mishap, none of the occupants of the cutter
spoke, as the willing horses pulled it through the big drifts of snow.
Joe drove more carefully, taking care not to turn too suddenly, and he
avoided, as well as he could, the huge heaps of white crystals that,
every moment, were piling higher.

Reggie was snuggling down in the robes, and Mabel, too, rather worn out
by the events of the day, and the worry of being snowed in, maintained
silence.

As for Joe, he had all he could do to manage the horses in the storm,
though the beasts did not seem inclined to make any more trouble. The
man on the seat beside him appeared wrapped, not only in his heavy
garments, but in a sort of gloomy silence, as well. He did not speak
again, and Joe was still puzzling over his identity.

"For I'm sure I've met him before, and more than once," reasoned Joe.
"But then I've met so many fellows, playing ball all around the country,
that it's no wonder I can't recall a certain voice. Maybe I'll get a
chance to have a good look at him later."

"You'll come right to our house,