Ruth nearly fell off when they started, for they jerked the sled, but she managed to hold on.  The two sleds bumped wildly behind her, but she held the ropes tightly and never cried out even when the boys pulled her over a curb-stone and her sled tipped far to one side.

“Toot!  Toot!” cried Sunny Boy, trying to whistle, and not doing it very well because it is difficult to run and pull a sled and whistle, all at the same time.

“Nelson!” called Ruth, as they bumped her down another curbstone.  “Oh, Nelson!  Say, Sunny Boy, wait a minute!”

“We can’t stop!  We have to get to the fire!” cried Nelson, panting.  “When we get to the fire we’ll stop.”

“But wait a minute!” begged Ruth, “I want to tell you something.”

The two little boys pretended to kick up their heels and snort as they had seen the fire horses do, and they would not stop.  They galloped and pranced and tried to run faster.  At last they had to stop to get their breath.  Their cheeks were red and they were as warm as toast.

“Why—­why—­” stammered Sunny Boy, looking back at Ruth who sat on her sled with her hands in her little fur muff.  “Why, where are our sleds?”

“I dropped the ropes ’way back on Greene Street,” replied Ruth calmly.  “I asked you to stop and you wouldn’t.”

“Well, you might have said you lost the sleds,” said Nelson.  “Then we would have stopped.  Gee, I hope nobody took ’em!  We’ll have to go back.”

Ruth got off her sled and walked back with the two boys.  They found the sleds on the sidewalk, exactly where a sudden jerk of the sled she was on had made Ruth drop the ropes.  Even Nelson could not scold his sister when the sleds were so easily found, and as they went back toward the hill he and Ruth and Sunny Boy took turns riding.

As Mrs. Horton had said, every boy and girl in Centronia was at Court Hill, the one good spot for coasting in the city.  At least it seemed that every boy and girl had had a sled for a Christmas gift, or had one left from the year before, or had borrowed one from some one who had two, and all had trotted through the snow to enjoy the fun.  Since there was no school, there were high school and grammar and primary grade children, as well as the little folks who went to kindergarten or to Miss May’s school, the small, private school where Sunny Boy went.  Nelson Baker went to public school where Sunny would go when he was a little older, Daddy Horton said.

“There’s Perry Phelps and Jimmie Butterworth,” cried Sunny Boy, as he caught sight of two of his schoolmates.  “Look at the crowd!  Oh, Nelson, see this sled coming down!”

A large sled shot by the children, filled with a crowd of high school boys and girls.

“I don’t believe I want to coast,” said Ruth.  “I’m not exactly afraid, but I don’t like it.  Let’s stay down here and watch them, Nelson.”

“You can stay,” Nelson answered.  “But I want to coast.  Sit down on your sled by this stone and you can watch me coast.”