reached the woods. The gathering together and harnessing of the team had
taken much longer than they expected; and so the boys set to work with a
will to load the sled; for they wanted to make two trips that morning.
But although they all, black and white, worked hard, it was slow
business. Some of the wood was cut and split properly, and some was not,
and then the sled had to be turned around, and there was but little room
to do it in, and so a good deal of time was lost.

But at last the sled was loaded up, and they were nearly ready to start,
when John William Webster, who had run out to the main road, set up a
shout:

"Oh! Mah'sr Harry! Mah'sr Tom!"

Harry and Tom ran out to the road, and stood there petrified with
astonishment.

Where was the snow?

It was all gone, excepting a little here and there in the shade of the
fence corners. The day had turned out to be quite mild, and the sun,
which was now nearly at its noon height, had melted it all away.

Here was a most unlooked-for state of affairs! What was to be done? The
boys ran back to the sled, and the colored men ran out to the road, and
everybody talked and nobody seemed to say anything of use.

At last Dick Ford spoke up:

"I tell ye what, Mah'sr Harry! I say, just let's go 'long," said he.