"Don't chop any more--I'm coming down!"

"Get ready, Harry!" called Bert. "We'll give him some of the same kind of a thing he gave us!"

In another instant Danny jumped, and as the swaying tree sprang back, when relieved of his weight, Bert and Harry leaped forward to pelt the bully with s...o...b..a.l.l.s.

Danny tried to fight back, but he was no match for the two of them, and soon he began to look like a snow image, so well was he plastered with white flakes.

"Give it to him!" cried Bert, whose face still stung where Danny had struck him with a s...o...b..ll.

"That's what I will," agreed Harry, whose ear was quite sore.

For a time Danny said nothing, but tried to block off the rain of s...o...b..a.l.l.s, throwing some of his own back. Then, as he was almost overwhelmed by the ones Harry and Bert threw, the bully cried:

"Stop! Stop! I've had enough! I won't bother you any more!"

Danny was soon out of sight, running off in the direction of his father's lumber tract, and soon Bert and the others went back to the ice-boat.

They stopped at the blacksmith shop to have the hatchet sharpened, and reached home after a little sail on the _Ice Bird_.

"Did anything happen this time?" asked Freddie, as he greeted them on the return to Snow Lodge.

"Not much," replied Bert. "We just had a snow fight; that's all."

The skating and ice-boating lasted for some time, and the girls and boys had lots of fun. Nights were spent in popping corn, telling stories, roasting apples, and once, in the big sled, they all went to an entertainment in a nearby school hall.

It was on returning from this, in the evening, that Dinah met them at the door, asking:

"Did yo' all take dat dog Snap wif yo?"

"Take Snap? No," said Mr. Bobbsey.

"Isn't he here?"

The children began to look alarmed.

"He was here," said Dinah, "but I can't find him now, nohow. He suah am missin'."

CHAPTER XX

THE BIG STORM

For a moment they all looked at one another by turns. Flossie and Freddie showed the most alarm. Bert started for the outside door, as though intending to make a search for his pet. Mr. Bobbsey questioned Dinah.

"Are you sure," he asked, "that Snap isn't around?"

"I suah am suah," she replied. "I done called him to git suffin to eat, an' when Snap won't come fo' dat he ain't around."

"That's so," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I wonder if he could have followed after us, and got lost? Did any of you see him trailing us?"

"He did come a little way, when we started," came from Dorothy.

"Yes, but Dinah called him back; didn't you?" asked Nan of the cook.

"Yes, missis, dat's what I did. An' Snap come. Den, t' make suah he wouldn't sneak off an' foller yo'-all, I shut him up in de kitchen an'

gibe him a chicken bone. Arter a while I let him out. He run around, kinder disappointed like, an' come back. Den I didn't look fo' him until a little while ago, but he was gone, an' I thought maybe, arter all, he'd come wif yo'."

"No, he didn't," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a shake of his head. "But we'll have a look around."

With Bert and Harry he went outside. But neither calling nor whistling brought any bark from Snap. Nor did he come bounding joyfully up, as he usually did when summoned. The darkness about Snow Lodge was quiet.

There was no sign of Snap.

"He's gone off in the woods and is lost," said Harry.

"Snap knows better than to get lost," declared Bert. "He could find his way home from almost anywhere. I think he must have followed someone away."

"Would he do that?" asked Harry.

"He might with someone he knew, if that person petted him," said Mr.

Bobbsey.

"That hunter--Henry Burdock!" suddenly exclaimed Bert. "Snap made great friends with him when we met him out in the woods the other day, and Henry said he'd make a fine hunting dog."

"I don't believe Henry Burdock would entice our dog away," said Mr.

Bobbsey, with a shake of his head.

"Oh, of course I didn't mean on purpose," said Bert. "But Snap may have been running about in the woods at dusk when he met Henry. Then he may have followed him, for Snap is part hunting dog, and he gets crazy when he sees a gun. Maybe he followed Henry, and wouldn't be driven back through the snow."

"Maybe that's so," agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "In that case Snap will be all right, and we can get him in the morning. So don't worry any more."

They went back in the Lodge, to find Freddie and Flossie almost in tears. But the little twins felt better when it was explained to them that Snap might, after all, be safe with the young hunter.

"And will you get him first thing in the morning?" asked Freddie.

The following day was so nice that Flossie and Freddie were allowed to go with Bert, Nan, Harry and Dorothy to the cabin of Henry Burdock to look for Snap. The small twins were put on two sleds, the older children taking turns pulling them.

They easily found Henry's cabin, having been there several times since the night they spent in it. The hunter was just about to start off on a trip.

"Where's Snap?" called Bert, eagerly.

"Snap? I haven't seen him since that day I met you with him in the woods," answered the hunter.

"What! Isn't he here?" asked Harry.

Then they told of the missing dog. But Henry Burdock had not seen him.