blinds rattled. Even the whole house shook now and then
as a mighty blast rocked it.
It was just the sort of weather to suit Johnnie Green.
"There won't be any school to-day!" he cried. And he hurried into his
clothes much faster than he usually did.
[Illustration: Twinkleheels Talks to the Oxen. (Page 64)]
Though Johnnie Green was eager to get out of doors, most of those that
lived in the barn were quite content to stay there during such a storm.
The old horse Ebenezer especially looked pleased.
"This will be a fine day to doze," he remarked to the pony,
Twinkleheels. "Farmer Green won't make me do any work in this
weather. The roads must be blocked with drifts already."
Twinkleheels moved restlessly in his stall.
"I don't want to stand here with nothing to do," he grumbled. "If I could
sleep in the daytime, as you do, perhaps I wouldn't mind. And if I were
like the Muley Cow maybe I could pass the hours away by chewing a
cud. Bright and Broad can do that, too," said Twinkleheels.
"Oh! Farmer Green will have the oxen out as soon as the storm
slackens," old Ebenezer told him. "And no doubt you'll get outside as
soon as they do, for Johnnie Green will want you to play with him in
the snow or I don't know anything about boys."
"Good!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. "I hope he'll take me out. It would be
great fun to toss him into a snowdrift.... But I don't see what Farmer
Green wants of Bright and Broad on a day like this. They'll be slower
than ever if the roads are choked with snow."
The old horse Ebenezer smiled to himself as he shut his eyes for
another cat nap before breakfast. He thought that Twinkleheels would
learn a thing or two, a little later.
Johnnie Green was the first one to plough his way out to the barn that
morning. He burst into the barn and stamped the snow off his feet. And
Twinkleheels stamped, too, because he wanted something to eat.
Johnnie fed Twinkleheels and Ebenezer and the bays. He was shaking
some hay; in front of the Muley Cow (who belonged to him) when his
father arrived.
"The worst storm of the winter!" Farmer Green observed. "We'll have
work enough after this, breaking the roads out."
"I'll help," Johnnie said. "I'll take Twinkleheels and work hard."
"I suppose," said his father, "we ought to get the road to the
schoolhouse cleared first."
"Oh, no!" cried Johnnie. "Let's leave that till the last."
"If we left it for you and Twinkleheels to clear, you wouldn't get back
to school before spring," Farmer Green declared.
Twinkleheels had been listening eagerly to all this.
"Now, I wonder what Farmer Green means by that," he muttered. "I
hope he doesn't think I can't get through the drifts as well as anybody. I
can certainly make my way through the snow better than those clumsy
old oxen, Bright and Broad."
XIII
FUN AND GRUMBLES
It stopped snowing at last and the weather turned clear and crisp. The
sun came out. And so did Johnnie Green, riding on Twinkleheels. He
did not get far from the barn, however. Where the snow wasn't piled in
drifts high above Twinkleheels' head it reached up on his fat sides. He
floundered about the farmyard for a time. And, falling once, he dumped
Johnnie Green neatly into a drift, head first.
The spill didn't hurt Johnnie in the least. But snow went up the inside of
his sleeves, and down his neck, and into his eyes and ears and even his
mouth.
He jumped up spluttering. And Twinkleheels jumped at the same time.
He tried to run. But he could make little headway in the snow, and
Johnnie caught his bridle rein and stopped him.
"You'd better put that pony back in the barn," Farmer Green called
from the woodshed door. "After I yoke up Bright and Broad and break
out the drive to the road you can ride Twinkleheels again. He might cut
himself in this heavy going."
Twinkleheels sniffed as he heard what Farmer Green said.
"This is all nonsense," he grumbled to the old horse Ebenezer as
Johnnie led him into his stall. "Farmer Green doesn't know what he's
talking about. I'm a hundred times sprier than Bright. And I'm a
hundred times sprier than Broad. That makes me two hundred times
sprier than both of them. It's silly to put me in my stall and take them
out. They won't be able to move. They'll get stuck fast in a drift, and
goodness knows how we'll ever haul them out."
"I shouldn't worry about the oxen if I were you," Ebenezer replied. "It
seems to me Bright and
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