that tree with you and Herbie on board."

"You surely did," was the laughing answer. "I remember how we all went flying head first into a snow drift."

"There's a nice pocket knife," was Toad's next remark. "I mean the one with the pearl handle, just next to that doll with the pink dress on."

"Oh!" exclaimed Reddy, "here's what just suits me," catching sight, for the first time, of a punching bag.

"How do you work it?"

"Why, you see there's an elastic rope on each end of it, and one of them you tie to a ring in the floor and the other to something overhead. Then when you give it a punch it comes back to you with a bang."

"Well, I'd rather have a football; then maybe we could get up a regular team," remarked Toad.

"I'll bet all those reals would cost about ten dollars," ventured the other, pointing to a box of marbles toward the front of the window. "If I was rich I'd buy them."

"What for? You have plenty. You won nearly all mine away from me. Look!" he added in a low voice, "there goes Herbie's mother into the store. Let's see what she buys."

"Hello, Daddy," greeted both the boys, as old Mr. Williams, with his white hair, red cheeks and dancing blue eyes, came to the doorway of the shop and smiled at them.

"Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!" he replied. "Have you been good boys?"

"I should say we have," cried Toad. "Everybody's good before Christmas."

"Well, run along home then, and I'll tell your mas just what you want," promised Daddy. "Herbie's ma's in here now and she doesn't want you boys to know what she buys."

"All right," answered Reddy. "Don't forget to say I want a punching bag and a pair of skates."

"And I want a new sled," chimed in Toad, as they both started off.

"Shucks, I didn't see half the things, did you?" protested Reddy.

"Oh, well, we can come down again this afternoon," was the cheering answer. "Come on over to my house, anyway," he called as they parted.

CHAPTER II

THE SNOW FIGHT

By evening the snow that Toad and Reddy had so eagerly awaited had come, and by morning many inches had fallen. A crowd of boys had gathered on the Brown's lawn, for the news of a snow battle had carried far.

"First chooser!" cried Charley Brown, a happy-faced boy who bore the name of "Chuck" among his friends.

"Second," shouted Reddy, and when the sides were chosen Toad found himself with Herbie, a boy with whom he played very often, and four others on Reddy's side.

"Charge!" shouted Reddy, on the run, the others close upon his heels.

It was then decided by the choosers, who were also the captains, to build two forts, ten yards apart, and a half hour was agreed upon as time enough in which to do the work.

"We must hurry," Reddy told the boys he had chosen, "and I think," he added in a low voice, "three of us had better build the fort while the other three make snowballs, as we want a lot on hand so we wont have to stop firing to make them.

"Work fast," he ordered as he selected two of them to help him build the fort.

Toad piled up great heaps of snow while Reddy and Herbie packed it down with wooden spades into a wall which curved like a new moon.

"How are the snowballs getting on, boys?" asked Toad of the three boys who were working hard making them.

"We're stacking them up so they'll be easy to get at," answered one.

"They're good hard ones," said another. "It's fine packing snow."

"We're going to have plenty, too," laughed the third.

"Wonder what Fat's doing?" cried Reddy. "He's bringing a pail of water from the house."

Frank, called "Fat" by the other boys, because of his size, was Reddy's older brother.

"I wonder," mused Toad. "He's pouring it on the walls of their fort. Oh, don't you see," he added a moment later, "it's to make it freeze."

"Let's do that too," proposed Herbie. "I'll get the water," and he started for the house.

Ten minutes later the walls of the fort were like a solid mass of ice, and the snowballs were inside in four heaps so all were anxious for the fun to begin.

CHAPTER III

THE VICTORY

"Hey, Captain of the enemy!" shouted Chuck from the other fort, "are you ready?"

"All ready," came the answer. "Fire!"

A storm of snowballs flew through the air and Reddy barely had time to duck his head as they whizzed by.

"Looks as though they had plenty of balls, too," exclaimed Toad, hastily picking up an armful and running outside to get within closer range.

"I don't think so," protested Herbie. "I could see all of them working on the fort. We have lots more, I'm sure."

"Well," cried the Captain, "let everybody take a pile of snowballs and we'll run out together and maybe we can drive them from their fort."

Each boy carried as many as he could in one arm, this leaving the other one free to throw with.

"We'll have to make a quick run for it and throw just as fast and hard as we can," said Herbie, as Toad, who had at that moment returned to the fort in a great hurry, his hat covered with snow, exclaimed:

"They got me, but I hit two or three of them!"

"All ready!" shouted the Captain, and the others, following close on his heels, dashed out.

Such a hail of snowballs met them that they halted for a moment, then dashed onward right up to the enemy's fort.

"Don't waste any ammunition until you get close," ordered Reddy, and his company obeyed. "Now let her fly," he directed, as they surrounded the fort.

The boys threw with a will and were vigorously answered by the defenders of the fort, and for a time it was hard to see which side would win. Finally, after the ammunition of the attacking force was used up, Captain Reddy ordered a retreat back to their own fort.

"I have a better plan this time," he announced after they were safely inside. "When we charge again, two of you fellows must keep running back to our own fort so as to bring us supplies of snowballs. Then we can keep up a much longer fight and when anyone gets tired throwing," he added, "he can change places with one of the fellows that have been carrying the balls."

At this moment, Herbie, who had been on the lookout, suddenly cried:

"They're coming to charge us."

"Get ready to give it to them," ordered the Captain and each boy, snatching up an armful of snowballs, prepared to repel the attack.

"Fire!" Reddy shouted, as the enemy drew near, and when they met that rain of balls it didn't take them long to get back to the cover of their own fort.

"That was great!" cried Herbie. "Come on, let us charge this time before they have a chance to get ready for us."

"Hey, I'm the Captain," insisted Reddy. "Nobody gives any orders but me," and he pulled his woolen cap well down over his ears in preparation for the coming attack.

"Well, hurry