prepared to pay his share of the cost of the sleigh-ride, and all hands
were in the playground at an early hour next morning, anxious, but
unable to get into the building.

Why it was that the schoolhouse door should be locked so late on this
particular morning,
when it was usually opened as early as seven o'clock, no fellow could
imagine. That the girls were the cause of their being deprived of their
regular place for holding business meetings never occurred to them, and
the only reason they could assign for this remarkable delay on the part
of the janitor was that Deacon Littlefield was ill. They did not really
hope that their teacher was sick; but they would have been willing he
should be slightly indisposed, if, in such case, they would have an
unexpected holiday.

Si did not think it advisable to neglect business simply because they
were obliged to stand out-of-doors instead of being in a warm room, and
he promptly collected twenty-five cents for the proposed sleigh-ride
from each boy who was so fortunate as to have that amount of money with
him.

At ten minutes before nine, the boys, who had begun to grow surprised
because none of the girls had' appeared, were disappointed at seeing
Deacon Littlefield, whom they had believed to be sick, come into the
yard, and in five minutes more they trooped into the schoolroom behind
him, the door having been opened by the janitor from the inside the
moment the teacher stood before it.

All this looked mysterious, and the mystification was complete when the
sleigh-riders saw every individual member of the "ten-centers," with