But the girls felt that they really had reason for showing the boys
they were offended. Soon after the departure of Tom and his friends
the girls started out with bags to gather the balsam for the pillows.
On the back porch they sat down to put on the snowshoes which, by
this time, they were all able to use with some proficiency. The three
boys, snowballing behind the barn, espied them.

"Hullo!" bawled Busy Izzy. "Here come the Amazons. They're going on
their own hook now--haven't any use for boys at all."

He threw a snowball; but Tom tripped him into a bank of snow and
spoiled his aim. "None o' that, Izzy!" he commanded.

"Let 'em alone," growled Bob Steele. "If they want to flock by
themselves, who cares?"

"Not I!" declared Izzy. "Look at the Amazon March. My, my! if they
should see a squirrel, or a rabbit, they'd come running back in a
hurry. They'd think it was another panther. Oh, my!"

But the girls paid no attention to his gibes and shuffled on into
the woods. Helen suddenly saw a snow flake upon her jacket sleeve.
She called Ruth's attention to it.

"Maybe the snow will come quicker than Long Jerry thought," declared
the girl from the Red Mill. "See! there's another."

"Oh, pshaw! what's a little snow?" scoffed Belle Tingley.