"I would have, only for the goat," explained her brother. "Mother told me to wait; but, just as she said it, I saw an automobile come along in front of our house close to where I"d tied Nicknack.
"Our goat got scared and tried to run away, "cause the auto chucked snow on him, and then I had to run out to catch him. That"s why I couldn"t wait for the pennies. I jumped on the sled just as Nicknack was startin"
to run away----"
"Star-ting!" corrected Janet.
"Well, star-ting, then," laughed Ted. "Anyhow, I couldn"t make him turn around to go back for the pennies, so I came on right over to the pond."
"And we had a lot of fun there," stated Jan. "Only I didn"t like to see our goat fall down."
"Well, he"ll stand up when we get rubbers for him," said Ted. "But how"re we going to have more fun, Jan?"
"Make snow-cream," answered the little Curlytop girl.
"What"s that?" asked Ted. "Like ice-cream?"
"Yes, only different. Don"t you know? Mother lets us make it sometimes.
You take a lot of snow--clean snow in a pail--and you stir some eggs and milk and sugar and flavoring in it, and that makes almost the same as ice-cream."
"How"re we going to do it?" asked Ted, as the goat pulled him and his sister slowly along the snow-lined street. "We haven"t got any sugar or milk or eggs or flavoring--not even a pail."
"We can stop at Aunt Sallie"s and get "em all," said Janet. "She"ll like us to make snow-cream, I guess. She can help us eat it."
"Then let"s!" cried Teddy. "Go on, Nicknack, we"re going to make snow-cream! Is it awful good?" he asked his sister.
"Terrible good," she answered. "I didn"t have any yet this winter, but we had some last. It"s better"n lollypops."
"Then it must be specially extra good," decided Ted. "Hurry up, Nicknack."
The goat hurried as much as he could, but, though it was easier going on the snow than on the ice, still it was not as easy as on the dry ground in summer.
Along the street, around this corner, then around the next went the Curlytops on the sled pulled by Nicknack, until, at last, they came to the house of Aunt Sallie, a dear old lady who was always glad to see them.
"My gracious sakes alive!" she cried, as she met the two children. "Here we come, in our coach and four, just like Cinderella out of the pumpkin pie!"
"Oh, Cinderella didn"t come out of a pumpkin _pie_, Aunt Sallie!" gasped Janet.
"No? Well, I was thinking of some pumpkin pies I just baked, I guess,"
said Aunt Sallie Newton, who was really Mrs. Martin"s aunt, and so, of course, the Curlytops" great-aunt, though they called her "Aunt" Sallie, and not "Great-aunt" Sallie. "Yes, I guess that was it--the pumpkin pies I baked. Maybe you"d like some?" she asked, looking at the children.
"Oh, I just guess we would!" cried Teddy eagerly.
"And we"d like some snow-cream, too, if you please," said Jan. "Could we make some, Aunt Sallie?"
"Snow-cream?"
"Yes, like mother used to make. You take some snow," went on the little girl, "and stir it up with milk and sugar and eggs----"
"Oh, yes! I know!" laughed Aunt Sallie. "I used to make that when I was a little girl. Now I"ll tell you what I"ll do; if you"re sure it will be all right with your mother, I"ll get you each a little piece of pumpkin pie and then I"ll make the snow-cream."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Jan and Teddy exactly together.
So, while Nicknack stayed outside in a sheltered corner by the house and nibbled the dried leaves of some old flowers, Aunt Sallie got the pieces of pie for the children, each slice on a nice little plate with a napkin under it.
"And now for the snow-cream!" said Aunt Sallie.
She went out into the kitchen, and almost before Jan and Ted had finished their pieces of pie back she came with two dishes with something good in them.
"I made it just as you told me," she said to Jan. "I stirred the eggs and sugar and milk up in some clean snow and flavored it. Tell me if you like it."
The children tasted, and Ted exclaimed:
"I could eat three dishes!"
"But I guess one will be enough after the pie," said Aunt Sallie, and Ted thought so, too, after he had finished the nice dessert. Then he and his sister, after thanking Mrs. Newton, went out and got on the sled again, hurrying Nicknack on, for it was growing late. They were soon safe at their own home.
"Mother, are there any old rubbers in the house?" asked Ted that night, after having told of the fun skating on the pond and riding over the snow behind Nicknack.
"Old rubbers? What do you want of them?" asked Mrs. Martin.
"I want to make some overshoes for the goat."
"Overshoes for the goat! What will you try next, Teddy?" and his mother laughed.
"We really are going to do it," added Jan. "Nicknack can"t stand up on the slippery ice without something on his hoofs."
"Why don"t you get him a pair of skates?" asked Father Martin with a laugh. "Though you"d have to get him two pairs, to have enough to go around, as Nicknack has four feet."
"He couldn"t stand up on skates," answered Ted. "His hoofs are like skates now, they"re so hard and shiny."
"And so you think overshoes would be the thing?" asked his father.
"Well, maybe they would do. I"ll see if I can find some old rubbers or rubber boots that you can cut up."
A pair of boots that had holes in them and could no longer be used by Mr. Martin, were found in the attic. Some pieces of rubber were cut from the legs and when the inside lining had been partly peeled off four thin squares of rubber could be cut out.
"We"ll tie these on Nicknack"s hoofs and see if he can stand up on the ice," said Teddy. "I wish it was to-morrow now, so we could do it."
Ted and Jan hurried home from school the next day to hitch Nicknack to Ted"s sled and drive him down to the ice to try the goat"s new rubbers.
They were tied on his hoofs with pieces of string, Mrs. Martin helping the children do this. Nicknack was a gentle and patient goat, but he acted rather strangely when the rubber squares were tied over his hoofs.
He stamped his feet, shook his head and bleated. He did not quite understand what was going on, but he made no special trouble and started off well when he had been hitched to the sled.
"Me want a wide!" called Trouble from the veranda, as Ted and Jan went gliding away over the snow.
"Next time!" answered Ted.
"This sled isn"t big enough," added Janet. "We ought to get a bigger sled, Teddy," she went on. "One as big as our goat wagon, and then we could have fine rides and take Trouble with us."