m to the bowling alleys
next door and initiating them into the mysteries of the game. Dave was
a good bowler and so was Roger, each being able occasionally to make a
score of two hundred. But Ben and Phil could not do much better than
one hundred, while none of the girls got over eighty.

"Now that the snow has stopped falling, I suppose we had better try to
get back to Crumville," said Laura to her brother.

"Yes, we ought to get back," put in Jessie. "I suppose our folks are
dreadfully worried about us."

"It was too bad that you couldn't send some sort of word," came from
Belle. "If you could only do that we could stay here until the roads
were well broken."

"In the West we don't pretend to go out in such a storm," remarked
Cora Dartmore. "But, of course, our distances are greater, and we have
so few landmarks that it is an easy thing to get lost."

"I don't think we are going to get away from here in any great hurry,"
replied Dave. "It is true the snow has stopped coming down and the sun
is breaking through the clouds; but I am quite sure the drifts on the
road between here and Crumville are much higher than we can manage,
even with the powerful horses we have. We'll have to wait until the
roads are more or less broken."

Our hero was right about not getting away. They went down to the
stables and interviewed Washington Bones and several of the other
drivers present, and all agreed that it would not be possible to get
very far beyond the town limits. This news made the young folks chafe
considerably, but there was nothing to be done; so for another day
they had to content themselves as best they could. During that time
the boys did their best to send some message to Crumville, but without
success, for all of the telephone and telegraph wires were still down
and nothing had been done to mend them.

The next morning, however, things looked a little brighter. The
weather continued to improve, and several horse teams, as well as an
ox team, came through on the road from the direction of Crumville.

"The road ain't none too good so far as I could see," announced one of
the drivers to Dave. "But if you take your time and watch where you're
going, maybe you can get through."

"Oh, let us try it anyway!" cried Laura, who was present. "If we find
we can't make it we can come back here, or else stop at some other
place along the way."

It was finally agreed that they should make the effort, and they
started abou