t ten o'clock. The sun was shining with dazzling
brilliancy on the snow, and with no wind blowing it was considerably
warmer than it had been on the journey to Lamont. All of the young
folks were in good humor, Dave for the time being dismissing from his
mind the trouble occasioned by the loss of his cap and overcoat.

As they drove away from the town they could see the effects of the
great wind. In some spots the road was almost bare of snow, while in
others there were drifts ten and twelve feet in height. To drive
through such drifts was, of course, impossible; so they had to make
long detours through the surrounding fields. At such places the
horses, of course, had to be driven with extra care, for no one
wanted the sleigh to land in some hole or be overturned. Occasionally,
when the turnout was on a dangerous slant, the girls would shriek and
the boys would hold their breath; but each time Washington Bones was
equal to the occasion and brought them through safely.

By noon they had covered five miles, and then they stopped to rest at
a village where all procured a good hot dinner. Then they went forward
once again, this time through a long patch of timber.

"If we gits through dat, we'll be all right," declared the colored
driver.

The snow lay deep in the woods, but the horses proved equal to the
occasion, and at last the timber was left behind and they came out on
a ridge road where the snow was only a few inches in depth. Here they
were able to make fairly good time, so that three o'clock found them
almost within sight of the outskirts of Crumville.

"We're going to make it easily," declared Ben. But he proved to be
mistaken, for a little distance farther on they ran again into the
deep snow and had to pass around one drift after another, finally
going clear across several fields to another highway. As a result it
was well after dark before they gained the road leading past the
Wadsworth jewelry works.

"Well, this looks like home, anyway," declared Dave to Jessie, as he
nodded in the direction of her father's establishment.

"Yes, and I'm glad of it," returned the girl. "Gracious! it seems to
me that we have been on the road for a week!"

"We can be thankful that we got through so easily, Jessie. Wash is
certainly some driver."

On account of another big drift they had to pass to still another
road, and this brought them finally to the street leading past the
Basswood home.

"If it's all the same to