The hill Bert had built was steep.  He had made it that way as it had to be short, and he wanted the little coasters to get a “good start.”

“I’ll fix it so you can get to the top,” Bert said.  He got some boxes and piled them up, like steps.  On these Flossie and Freddie could get on the little square platform which was at the top of the wooden hill, now covered with snow.  They could pull their sleds up after them.

At the foot of the hill Bert, with Flossie and Freddie to help him, smoothed out the snow all the way across the yard, packing it hard so the sleds would glide over it easily.

“To-night we’ll put some water on and let it freeze,” Bert said.  “Then you’ll have a dandy hill, all your own, and you’ll be in no danger from our big bob.”

“That’s fine!” cried Freddie.

“May we slide down it now?” asked Flossie.

“Yes,” Bert told her.  She had the first coast.  There was only room for one at a time on the hill Bert made, so they had to take turns.  Flossie sat on her sled on top of the little platform, and pushed herself off.  Down she went with a whizz, half way across the yard.

“Oh, it’s fine!” she cried.  “I want to coast again!”

“It’s Freddie’s turn now,” said Bert, and down went Freddie.

Then the Bobbsey twins had lots of fun on the “made” hill.  They invited Johnnie Wilson and Alice Boyd over to coast with them, and the four little ones had a grand time.

“And they are in no danger, that is the nicest part of it,” Mrs. Bobbsey said.  “I don’t have to worry about them now.  I’m so glad you built the hill, Bert.”

“I’m going to build something else,” said Bert.

“What?” asked Nan.

“Snowshoes,” was his answer.

“What are snowshoes?” Freddie demanded

“Shoes made so you can walk on top of the soft snow instead of sinking down in it,” Bert replied.  “Of course I can’t make the kind the Indians and hunters make, which look something like lawn tennis rackets, but I know how to make another kind.  I saw a picture of them in a book.”

But before Bert started to make his snowshoes he made the little hill better for coasting.  That night he poured water on the snow that covered it, and, as the weather was cold, the water and snow froze into a glaring stretch of ice.

And my! how Flossie and Freddie did whizz down the hill on their sleds then.  It was perfectly safe, though, for Bert had put little strips of wood on the edges of the wooden hill, so the sleds would not slide off to one side.

When Charley Mason came over to see Bert one day he found his friend busy in the barn with some barrel staves, old skate straps, a hammer, nails and other things.

“What are you doing?” asked Charley.

“Making snowshoes,” Bert answered.  “I’m using barrel staves.  They are long and broad, and if I can fasten them to my feet with straps I can walk along on top of the snow, and not sink in.”