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Show y. RS; VAN DCSEX sat wailing jF$ over a letter from her son. &Js "The poor, dear boy! How frightful for him! How t$-X. dreadful! Marooned up there with all those horrible people !' A bad storm had I prevented htm from taking the weekly boat to the mainland. There would be no way of getting home until after Christmas. In the meantime the subject of her despair was yelling the loudest of fourteen four-teen lively boys. They swarmed up a steep hill dragging sleds. "Hey, Mr. Van Dusen . . . bet 1 beat ynu this time! Say, my ripper Is the fastest on the slide! Bet yer a herring I'll touch the goal first!" Down they went again, sleds skimming skim-ming like birds upon the Icy tracks. Feet guiding them from behind. Eyes fastened on the tricky turn at the bvt torn. Rnnsome Van Dusen (seventh In line by that name, spn and heir to an old name and vast fortune) . . . saw that someone was bound to have a nasty spill. He was directly abreast or two youngsters. There was room for two to squeak by ... if they had good luck. Never for three. Van Dusen had tobogganed in Switzerland, Swit-zerland, and ridden surf-boards tn Hawaii, and climbed a few Alps in Italy, but it is safe to say that he had never suffered a keener moment of fear than he experienced in this far-away village of Newfoundland . . . Soling down hill with fourteen vil-V vil-V children. ii Dusen was keen, but Sandy vwas keener. He, too, saw the A-r ahead. Somebody had to be -zed. Tou couldn't stop the sleds f . . . they were going too fast. ,Look out," yelled Ransome, trying l to take the Inside near the sharp, rocky turn. J "Look out yourself!" shrieked Andy, and kicked out with a foot, spilling the man sideways from his sled. Andy himself swerved to the inside. Two more boys crowded,, close. Three sleds came together with:a crash! Ransome on top . without . his sled. That .evening he sat by Sandy's bed and told him stories, so that the boy partly forgot the pain in his broken leg. It was Christmas eve and Ransome Ran-some said he was never happier in his life. "I've never had a better friend than you, Sandy," he said. "You're some fine little sport. Don't worry . . . things will be all right for you. I'm going to keep you for a friend . . . !1 my life! Too bad mother has miss this. She doesn't know j .iiMt is to have a good time. Have j M apple, Sandy, old fellow?" And lluiU-rwo friends were made the day heforJEJjiuins hi 'a.' far-away village ork-Utnd. n- (). inji. v. Biicra .ts'.Mr Union.) |