ON SKATES

You have probably all seen pictures of regular snowshoes, even if you have not seen real snowshoes, so you know how much like big lawn-tennis rackets they look. Snowshoes are broad and flat, and fasten on outside of one's regular shoes, so a person can walk on the soft snow, or on the hard crust, without sinking down in.

The Indians used to make snowshoes by bending a frame of wood into almost the shape of a tennis racket--except it had no long handle--and then stretching pieces of the skins of animals across this.

"But I'm not going to make that kind," said Russ.

"What kind are you going to make?" asked Laddie as he watched his brother.

"Oh, mine's going to be easier than that."

Russ took a long, thin barrel stave, that was curved up a little on either end. To the middle of the stave he tacked some pieces of rope and string.

"That's to tie the shoe to your foot," he explained to Laddie.

In a little while, with his brother's help, Russ had made four of the barrel-stave snowshoes--a pair for himself and a pair for Laddie.

"Now all we have to do," said Russ, "is to tie 'em on and walk out on the snow. We won't sink down in, as we do with our regular feet, and we can go as fast as anything."

"Won't we fall?" asked Laddie.

"We'll hold on to the poles. That's what I got 'em for," said Russ.

In a short time he and his brother had fastened the barrel staves to their shoes, winding and tying the cords and ropes, and even some old straps around and around. Their feet looked very queer--almost like those of some clown in the circus. But Laddie and Russ did not mind that. They wanted to walk on the home-made snowshoes.

"Come on!" called Russ, as he shuffled across the barn floor toward the door, from which led a big stretch of deep, white snow. "Come on, Laddie!"

"I--I can't seem to walk," the little fellow said. "I keep stepping on my feet all the while."

This was very true. As he took one step he would put the other snowshoe down on the one he had moved last, and then he could not raise the underneath foot.

"Spread your legs apart and sort of slide along," said Russ. "Then you won't step on your own feet. Do it this way."

Russ separated one foot from the other as far as he could, and then he shuffled along, not raising his feet. He found this the best way, and soon he was at the barn door, with Laddie behind him.

"Come on now, we'll start and walk on the snow, and we'll s'prise Daddy and Mother," cried Russ.

He did manage to glide over the snow, the broad, long barrel staves keeping him from sinking in the soft drifts. Laddie did not do quite so well, but he managed to get along.

The boys held long poles, which helped to keep them from falling over, and, at first, so uneven was the walking that they might have fallen if it had not been for the long staffs.

"I'll make snowshoes for all of us," said Russ, as he and Laddie went slowly around the corner of the barn. "Then we can play Indians, and go on a long walk and take our dinner and stay all day."

Together they walked around the barn. They were getting used to the barrel-stave snowshoes now, and really did quite well on them. Of course, now and then, one or the other's fastenings would become loose, and they would have to stop and tie them. Laddie got so he could do this for himself.

"It's like when your shoelace comes untied," he said. "Did the Indians'

laces come untied, Russ?"

"I guess so. But now come on. We'll go to the house and get some bread and jam."

Russ and Laddie started out bravely enough, and they were half-way to the house when Russ said:

"Oh, let's see if we can get across that big drift!"

This was a large pile of snow, made by the wind into a small hill, and it must have been many feet deep--well over the heads of the two small boys.

"Maybe we might get hurt there," said Laddie.

"No, we won't!" cried Russ. "Come on."

Russ was part way to the top when something happened. All at once one leg sank away down, barrel-stave snowshoe and all, and a moment later he was floundering in the snow, and crying:

"Hey, Laddie, I can't get out. I can't get out. Go and call Daddy or Grandpa! I can't get out!"

"Are you hurt?" asked Laddie.

"No. But my foot is stuck away down under the snow, and I can't pull it out."

"I'll go!" cried Laddie.

He never knew how fast he could travel on the home-made snowshoes until he tried. Up to the side porch he shuffled, and, not stopping to unfasten the pieces of barrel on his feet, he called out:

"Mother, come quick! Russ is upside down and he can't get his leg out!"

Inside the house Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford heard the queer thumping sound on the porch.

"I wonder what that is?" said Grandma Ford.

"Maybe it's our friend that makes the queer noises, making a new one,"

answered Mrs. Bunker.

Then they heard Laddie calling:

"Oh, come quick! Russ is upside down and his leg is stuck and he can't get it out! Oh, hurry, please!"

"Mercy me!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "Something has happened!"

Out of the door she rushed, with Grandma Ford after her, and when they saw Laddie, with the barrel staves on his shoes, his mother asked:

"What has happened? What have you done to yourself? What are those things on your feet?"

"Snowshoes that Russ made," was the answer. "He's got some on his own feet, but he fell into a snow bank and he can't get out and he's hollerin' like anything!"

"Oh, that's too bad!" cried Grandma Ford. "But if he fell into a snow bank it's so soft he won't be hurt. But I'll get Grandpa to dig him out."

But Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford had gone to town in the sled. But d.i.c.k, the hired man, was at home, and he came to help Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford.

"I'll get you out, Russ! Don't cry!" shouted d.i.c.k, as he ran up with his long rubber boots on. These were so high that he could wade into almost any snowdrift. "Don't cry, Russ!"