That last appealed to Nan Sherwood, if nothing else did. There was but a
single doubt in her mind.

"Oh, Bess!" she cried. "Do you think we ought to go? Shouldn't we ask
permission?"

"Of whom?" demanded Bess, in surprise. "Surely the train won't steam off
and leave us," and she broke into a laugh. "Oh, come on, Miss Fussbudget!
Don't be afraid. I've been asking permission a dozen times a day for more
than three months. I'm glad to do something 'off my own bat,' as my
brother Billy says. Come on, Nan."

So Nan went. They found Mr. Si Snubbins, "the angel with chin whiskers,"
ready to depart. He climbed up first and got upon the crust of the snow;
then he helped both girls to mount to his level. So another adventure for
Nan and Bess began.




CHAPTER X

THE RUNAWAYS


The almost level rays of a sinking sun shone upon a vast waste of white
when the two girls from the snow-bound train started off with the farmer
toward the only sign of life to be seen upon the landscape--a curl of
blue smoke rising from a chimney of a farmhouse.