"No," shivered Peggy. "I'm afraid there isn't much use looking for him if he's very little. Here am I a perfectly strong girl and yet even I can't go any farther. I--can't--go--another--step--" Sobs fought with her words, and the young good-looking face grew redder than ever.
"Tired?" he asked, "so tired that you can't walk? Well, then, I'm mighty glad I came. Wait just a minute till I get a deep breath and I'll carry you. The extra weight will make us sink in a lot in this soft snow, but if you don't mind the joggly walking I can easily manage--"
Peggy shook her head. "No, you'd better go on by yourself," she insisted. "I think a person would be awfully hard to carry in snow-shoes, they'd hang down and flop about so. And I'm sorry about your poor little dog, but I think it isn't any use your waiting for him. You'd much better save yourself," she advised.
"Listen, I'm paralyzed," Peggy confessed. "My left foot just won't--won't work, you know, I can't get it to snow-shoe another step. It just stays still. It's paralyzed--"
What was that--could she believe her eyes? The young man had glanced down sympathetically enough toward the paralyzed foot but was it any subject for such wild fits of mirth as he immediately went into? Was it right that he should laugh and laugh and point, speechless, and then clap his hand over his mouth and go off again?
"You are very cruel and perfectly horrid," cried Peggy sharply, "and I hate, I _hate_ you!"
"O--oh, pardon me, little Hot-Temper, but look back at your snow-shoe, _please_," and the laugh distorted his face once more.
Painfully and indignantly Peggy screwed her cold face over her left shoulder and looked down.
"Why--why," she gasped all out of breath, with astonishment, "how did it get there?"
For there, comfortably ensconced on the back of her snow-shoe, waiting for a free ride, sat, as perky as you please a plump puppy, his head cocked interestedly on one side, and his wide mouth open in an inquiring fashion as if he would like to know what she was going to do about it now that she had found him out.
"The--the--smart little thing!" Peggy couldn't help exclaiming. "There he was, being a parasite, while I was supposed to do the walking.--Only it's a good joke on him, as I couldn't."