"Oh, hang the rabbits! You shan't have any strapping on my account,"
cried Merton; and he carried his gun resolutely to his room and
locked the door on it.

John junior quietly went to the old barn, and hid his gun.

"Guess I'll go with you, pa," he said, joining us.

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Jones. "It was a good bargain to back out
of. Come now, let's all be off as quick as we can. Neighbor Rollins
down the road will join us as we go along."

"Merton," I said, "see if there isn't a barrel of apples in the
cellar. If you find one, you can fill your pockets."

He soon returned with bulging pockets and a smiling face, feeling
that such virtue as he had shown had soon brought reward. My wife
said that while we were gone she and the children would explore the
house and plan how to arrange everything. We started in good
spirits.

"Here's where you thought you was cast away last night," Mr. Jones
remarked, as we passed out of the lane.

The contrast made by a few short hours was indeed wonderful. Then,
in dense obscurity, a tempest had howled and shrieked about us; now,
in the unclouded sunshine, a gemmed and sparkling world revealed
beauty everywhere.

For a long distance our sleighs made the first tracks, and it seemed