CHAPTER IX
A NEW KIND OF JAM
As the man said, there was no danger that Twaddles would be drowned.
Cold and wet and miserable, he certainly was, but the stranger rescued
him easily, stretching out a long, thin arm across the ice and lifting
the boy bodily out of the water, over the thin ice, and on to thick,
firm foothold.
"There, there, you're just as good as ever," he assured the shivering
Twaddles. "You want to run home as fast as you can go and get into dry
shoes and stockings, and then you won't ever know you fell into the
pond. Scoot, now!"
But Twaddles delayed.
"Is it--is it--four o'clock?" he asked, his teeth chattering. "Mother
said we could stay out till four o'clock."
"It's five minutes after four," announced the stranger, consulting his
watch. "You'll have to run every step of the way to make up for lost
time. Run!"
Dot, of course, would run with Twaddles, and Meg and Bobby promised to
return the sled to Marion. They had to walk all the way around the
pond to get it for her.
"I fell in," said Twaddles beamingly, when he and Dot reached home.
Mother and Aunt Polly rubbed him dry and had him in dry stockings and
sandals in a hurry, and then Aunt Polly and Dot decided to walk uptown
and match some wool for the sweater auntie was finishing. Twaddles
wanted to go, but Mother Blossom decided he had done enough for that
day and had better stay at home with her.
"What are you doing, Mother?" asked Twaddles, watching her curiously,
after his sister and aunt had gone down the walk.
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