came, one after another, until the fort was in ruins, and the great contest came to an end.
"It was just splendid!" said Nan to Bert, on the way home. "Just like a real battle."
"Only the band didn't play," put in Freddie disappointedly. "Real soldiers have a band. They don't play fish-horns."
"Oh, Freddie!" cried Flossie. "They weren't fish-horns. They were Christmas horns."
"It's all the same. I like a band, with a big, fat bass-drum."
"We'll have the band next time—just for your benefit, Freddie," said Bert.
He was tired out and glad to rest when they got home. More than this, some of the snow had gotten down his back, so he had to dry himself by sitting with his back to the sitting-room heater.
"Danny Rugg was terribly angry that we captured the fort," said he. "He is looking for the boys who threw him on his face."
"It served him right," answered Nan, remembering the trouble over the broken show window.
