inside let fly a volley of snowballs. But the snowballs did not reach
their mark, and still the others came up the hill.

"Now then, give it to them!" cried Bert, and let fly his first snowball,
which landed on the top of the fort's wall. Soon the air was full of
snowballs, flying one way and another. Many failed to do any damage, but
some went true, and soon Bert received a snowball full in the breast
and another in the shoulder. Then he slipped and fell and his own
snowballs were lost.

The attacking party got to within fifty feet of the fort, but then the
ammunition gave out and they were forced to retreat, which they did in
quick order.

"Hurrah! they can't take the fort!" cried those inside of the
stronghold, and blew their horns more wildly than ever. But their own
ammunition was low and they made other snowballs as quickly as they
could, using the pile of snow in the middle of the fort for that
purpose.

Back of the barn the attacking party held a consultation.

"I've got a plan," said a boy named Ned Brown. "Let us divide into two
parties and one move on the fort from the front and the other from the
back. Then, if they attack one party, the other party can sneak in and
climb over the fort wall and capture the flag."

"All right, let us do that," said Bert.

Waiting until each boy had a dozen or more snowballs, half of the