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dinkum!” we chorused, all but Daisy.
    Mr Jones looked at the wireless and whispered loudly, “Remember you promised you wouldn’t tell the Prime Minister when she wakes up!”
    â€œNot me,” said Daisy, but Mr Jones didn’t hear.
    â€œBecause of the unseasonable cold,” he bellowed, “the school committee has decided to close the school for the rest of winter!”

Chapter Three
“Open the Door, Euphemia!”
    â€œHooray!” Everyone but Daisy cheered Mr Jones when he closed the school just after opening it on the first day of winter. The little ones clapped their hands and broke the icicles off their noses. Then they cried because they hadn’t learned how to read. Tears ran down their noses and formed icicles again.
    Mr Brunton, the driver, put the horses into the school waggon to take home the kids who came from out Wardville, and down the pa, and up the boohai, and out the back of beyond, and away in the wop-wops. Peter and Marie were the cocoa monitors. They heated a bucketful on the stove for the waggon kids because they had a cold ride ahead of them.
    Mr Brunton took what was left of the gunpowder we’d made in Science that morning and loaded two enormous horse pistols with a handful of barbed wire, and some dubs and steelies he’d cheated off us at marbles. “In case of wild beasts coming down from the Vast Untrodden Ureweras,” he said. “I don’t mind them eating a kid or two off the back of the waggon.”He rolled his eyes at us. “But I don’t want them eating me or me horses.”
    â€œOh!” said Daisy. “Grammar!” And she sat down in a fluster.
    â€œMr Brunton’s only teasing,’ Alwyn told her, but Daisy enjoyed having a good fluster. “Oh,” she said and held her breath till only the whites of her eyes showed.
    Mr Jones gave us a leg-up on to Hubert. “I won’t lock the door,” he shouted, “and I’ll keep the stove going all winter in case anyone gets lost in the snow and wants to come inside and get warm.
    â€œI’ll just call the roll to see you’re all here. Daisy-Peter -Marie-Colleen-Alwyn-Bryce-Jack-Ann-Jazz- Beck-Jane -Isaac-David-Victor-Casey-Lizzie-Jared-Jessie!” We all answered, “Present!” except for Alwyn who always said, “Absent!” when the roll was called.
    â€œWhen are we going to hear some more about the Mole?” asked Lizzie.
    â€œWhat about our homework?” Daisy cried.
    â€œRead the rest of
The Wind in the Willows
!” Mr Jones handed his book up to Peter.
    â€œBut that’s not real homework!”
    â€œThere’s no better homework than reading a good book!” Mr Jones popped back inside. Through the window we watched him sit in his comfortable chair, put his feet on the table, the newspaper over his head, and go to sleep. The stove beside him glowed cherry red. Mr Jones had hibernated.
    â€œWe must tell Mrs Jones at once!” Daisy cried, but Peter said, “She must have hibernated after breakfast. She hasn’t shouted for Mr Jones all morning.”
    Just then the school bell thawed out on top of thestove and rang all the dings it had been too cold to ring at the end of playtime. “Ding-a-ding-a-ding-a-ding- a-ding !” Something in its sound set Daisy crying. “I was looking forward to the homework!” she sobbed.
    Jessie was the last on Hubert’s back, so she kicked the gate shut behind us, and Hubert’s tail almost got caught. “Here, watch it, Jessie!” he said, but only Peter heard. He repeated Hubert’s message over his shoulder to Marie: “Here, watch it, Jessie! Pass it on!”
    â€œBeer, watch it messy!” Marie said over her shoulder to Daisy. “Pass it on!”
    Daisy didn’t approve of strong drink or messes. She said over her shoulder to Colleen, “Cheer crops are misty. Pass it on!”
    By the time the message