from her suit. Connie ran down the hill to ask anxiously:

“Are you hurt, Veve?”

15 “Of course not! But look at my clothes. They’re all wet. I don’t like this hill.”

15

“Let’s go home.”

“All right,” Veve agreed. “It’s not as much fun here as I thought it would be.”

As the girls trudged slowly up the slope, a car overtook them. Several of the older boys ran after it, hooking the ropes of their sleds over the rear bumpers. They rode to the top of the hill and then jumped off.

“Say, that’s an easy way to get up without walking,” laughed Veve.

“I shouldn’t try it,” cautioned Connie. “Those boys might get hurt.”

She knew they were being most unwise to risk hooking their sleds onto the car bumpers. If the automobile should speed up, they easily might be carried away.

Midway up the hill, Veve suddenly halted.

“See what’s coming!” she shouted. “A runaway sled!”

“Jeepers!” Connie exclaimed. “It looks like mine!” Before starting down the hill she had tied her sled to a tree. Now she saw that someone had untied it for a joke.

The two girls tried to stop the sled, but were not16 quick enough. It glided past them into a ditch far down the hill. Of course they had to go after it.

16

“What a mean trick!” exclaimed Veve. “I’m ready to go home! Only I hate to climb all the way up this old mountain.”

Nearby stood a parked automobile. The driver sat behind the steering wheel with the engine running. However, he appeared to be waiting for someone and did not act as if he intended to start up the hill.

“Connie, I’ll show you how the boys hook onto the car bumpers,” Veve offered.

Before her friend could stop her, she darted to the parked car. The driver did not see her, for he was 

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