Guns and Snowshoes | Page 4

other town lads on the other side. In the midst of the rallies came a yell of alarm, followed by several loud cries of rage.
"Hullo! look there!" exclaimed Whopper. "Old Felps has been knocked into the middle of next month. There goes his hat in the snow too! Who threw at him?"
"I didn't," answered Giant, promptly.
"Neither did I," came from Snap.
"Nor I," added Shep.
The saw mill owner was flat on his back, his silk hat on one side of him and a package of books and papers on the other.
"Maybe he slipped on some ice," suggested Snap.
"Hi! hi! who threw that snowball!" roared Andrew Felps, savagely, as he arose to his feet. "You young villains! I'll have the law on you for this!"
He scrambled to his feet and glared around him. All of the boys had stopped throwing at once and gazed at him curiously.
"Ha! I know you!" went on Andrew Felps, striding up to Snap. "It was you who hit me in the ear and knocked me down!"
"No, sir, I did not," answered Charley.
"I know better! I saw you do it!"
"You are mistaken, Mr. Felps! I was throwing across the street."
"Don't tell me! I know better, Dodge. You hit me and you did it on purpose."
At this Snap merely shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll have the law on you," fumed Andrew Felps.
"Snap didn't hit you," said Shep.
"Ha! then perhaps you threw the snowball," said the saw mill owner suspiciously.
"I did not."
"I know you boys, and I have not forgotten your work against me last summer," growled Andrew Felps.
"And we haven't forgotten you," answered Snap, coldly. "You have no right to accuse me of something I didn't do."
"Bah! If I find out who hit me I'll make it warm for him!" And having thus delivered himself Andrew Felps picked up his silk hat and his bundle and went on his way, in a worse humor than ever.
"Isn't he a darling?" observed Whopper sarcastically. "How I would love to own him for a brother!"
"I wonder who did hit him?" mused Snap. "The snowball couldn't have come from over here."
"I know who hit him," said a little boy named Benny Grime.
"Who was it, Benny?"
"Ham Spink."
"Ham Spink!" cried Snap and Shep in concert.
"Yes."
"Why, he isn't here," said Whopper.
"He just came up, threw one snowball, and ran away. I guess he meant to hit somebody else and the snowball hit Mr. Felps instead," went on the small boy. "Don't let him know I told you, or he'll wax me good for it."
"I shan't tell Ham," said Snap. "But this is strange," he continued.
"Thought Ham was too much of a dude to throw snowballs," was Whopper's comment. "Why, he wears a new necktie every day now, and new patent leather shoes, and new gloves, and--"
"Don't pile it on too thick, Whopper," laughed Shep. "But I admit, he is a dude and no mistake."
"And a sneak--to run away as soon as he hit old Felps," finished Giant.
There was no time to say more, for the snowball battle was again raging, more furiously than ever. The balls flew on all sides, and grown folks, coming in that direction, kept out of the way as much as possible.
"Here comes old Mammy Shrader!" cried Snap, presently. "We must be careful not to hit her."
The woman he referred to was old and feeble and very short sighted. She had a faded shawl over her shoulders and carried a market basket on one arm. She went out nursing among the poor people and was well known throughout the entire neighborhood.
As the old woman came on a snowball was thrown at her from the other side of the street.
"Say, don't do that!" called out Snap, angrily. "Leave Mammy Shrader alone!"
He has scarcely uttered the words when another snowball was thrown at the aged female. This hit her on the cheek and caused her to utter a cry of pain. She tried to save herself from falling, but could not, and went down in a heap.
"For shame!" ejaculated Shep and ran to help the old woman to arise. In the meantime Snap, with flashing eyes, hurried across the street and confronted Carl Dudder. As my old readers know, Carl Dudder was a close crony to Ham Spink and had done his full share in making our young friends uncomfortable during the summer outing.
"Dudder, aren't you ashamed of yourself?" said Snap.
"What are you talking about?" demanded Carl Dudder, although he trembled a little as he spoke.
"You threw those snowballs at Mammy Shrader."
"I didn't."
"You did--I saw you."
"That's correct--I saw him too," put in Giant, who had followed Snap. In the meantime Whopper had followed Shep, and both were doing what they could for the old woman.
"See here, Snap Dodge, I don't want you to talk to me," blustered Carl Dudder. "I know my own business."
"You ought to