Page:Bobbsey Twins at Home.djvu/240

222 board, Freddie began to toss and shovel aside the snow. The top part came off easily enough, for the flakes were light and fluffy. But underneath them there was a hard, frozen crust and this was not so easily broken and tossed aside. But finally Freddie had made quite a hole, and then he and Flossie saw something queer. For, instead of coming to the hollow inside of the snow house, the little boy and girl saw a mass of sticks, dried grass and dirt. Over this was the snow, and it was piled up round, like the queer houses the Eskimos make in the Arctic regions.

"Oh, look!" cried Flossie. "It isn't a snow house at all. It's just a pile of sticks."

"Maybe it's a stick house, with snow on the outside," Freddie said. "I'm going to dig a little deeper."

He did so, tossing aside the grass, sticks and dirt. Flossie was watching him, and suddenly the two children saw something moving down in the hole that Freddie had dug. Presently a furry nose was thrust out, and two bright, snapping eyes looked at them.

"Oh, see! What is it?" cried Flossie.