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+Project Gutenberg's Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus, by Thomas Nelson Page
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus
+
+Author: Thomas Nelson Page
+
+Illustrator: Victor C. Anderson
+
+Release Date: June 25, 2008 [EBook #25896]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOMMY TROTS VISIT TO SANTA CLAUS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Ronnie Sahlberg, Joseph Cooper, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                         TOMMY TROT'S VISIT
+                                 TO
+                             SANTA CLAUS
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+  BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
+  BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE
+
+  PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+
+  Tommy Trot's Visit to Santa Claus.
+    Illustrated in color                    $1.50
+
+  Santa Claus's Partner
+    Illustrated in color                    $1.50
+
+  A Captured Santa Claus
+    Illustrated in color                    $ .75
+
+  Among the Camps. Illustrated              $1.50
+
+  Two Little Confederates. Illustrated      $1.50
+
+  The Page Story Book. Illustrated          $ .50
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+[Illustration: As wide awake as a boy could be who had made up his mind
+to keep awake until midnight.]
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+                         TOMMY TROT'S VISIT
+
+                                 TO
+
+                             SANTA CLAUS
+
+                                 BY
+
+                         THOMAS NELSON PAGE
+
+                           ILLUSTRATED BY
+                         VICTOR C. ANDERSON
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+
+                              NEW YORK
+                       CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+                                1908
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+                              1908, BY
+                       CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+
+                       Published October 1908
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+                                 TO
+                   THE GREATEST LOVER OF CHILDREN
+                      THE AUTHOR HAS EVER KNOWN
+                    AND TO THE CHILDREN SHE LOVES
+                        BEST IN ALL THE WORLD
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+As wide awake as a boy could be who had made up his mind
+to keep awake until midnight.                               Frontispiece
+
+Tommy had never before had any real coasting like this.               10
+
+They flew on, over fields of white snow.                              43
+
+"Look, Look! The captain has lent that little boy his
+'Seven Leaguers.'"                                                    54
+
+What was their horror to find that they both had forgotten
+to load their guns.                                                   84
+
+Santa Claus said to him, "I want to put Johnny in bed
+without waking him up."                                               93
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                 TOMMY TROT'S VISIT TO SANTA CLAUS
+
+                                 I
+
+
+The little boy whose story is told here lived in the beautiful country
+of "Once upon a Time." His name, as I heard it, was Tommy Trot; but I
+think that, maybe, this was only a nick-name. When he was about your
+age, he had, on Christmas Eve, the wonderful adventure of seeing Santa
+Claus in his own country, where he lives and makes all the beautiful
+things that boys and girls get at Christmas. In fact, he not only went
+to see him in his own wonderful city away up toward the North Pole,
+where the snow never melts and the Aurora lightens up the sky; but he
+and his friend, Johnny Stout, went with dogs and guns to hunt the
+great polar bear whose skin afterwards always lay in front of the big
+library fireplace in Tommy's home.
+
+This is the way it all happened.
+
+Tommy lived in a big house on top of quite a high hill, not far from a
+town which could be seen clearly from the front portico and windows.
+Around the house was a large lawn with trees and shrubbery in it, and
+at the back was a big lot, in one corner of which stood the stables
+and barns, while on the other side sloped down a long steep hill to a
+little stream bordered with willows and maples and with a tract of
+woodland beyond. This lot was known as the "cow-pasture," and the
+woodland was known as the "wood-lot," while yet beyond was a field
+which Peake, the farmer, always spoke of as the "big field." On the
+other side of the cow-lot, where the stables stood, was a road which
+ran down the hill and across the stream and beyond the woods, and on
+the other side of this road near the bottom of the hill was the little
+house in which lived Johnny Stout and his mother. They had no fields
+or lots, but only a backyard in which there were chickens and pigeons
+and, in the Fall, just before Tommy's visit to Santa Claus, two white
+goats, named "Billy" and "Carry," which Johnny had broken and used to
+drive to a little rough wagon which he had made himself out of a box
+set on four wheels.
+
+Tommy had no brothers or sisters, and the only cousins he had in town
+were little girls younger than himself, to whom he had to "give up"
+when any one was around, so he was not as fond of them as he should
+have been; and Sate, his dog, a terrier of temper and humours, was
+about his only real playmate. He used to play by himself and he was
+often very lonely, though he had more toys than any other boy he knew.
+In fact, he had so many toys that he was unable to enjoy any one of
+them very long, and after having them a little while he usually broke
+them up. He used to enjoy the stories which his father read to him out
+of Mother Goose and the fairy-books and the tales he told him of
+travellers and hunters who had shot lions and bears and Bengal tigers;
+but when he grew tired of this, he often wished he could go out in the
+street and play all the time like Johnny Stout and some of the other
+boys. Several times he slipped out into the road beyond the cow-lot to
+try to get a chance to play with Johnny who was only about a year
+older than he, but could do so many things which Tommy could not do
+that he quite envied him. It was one of the proudest days of his life
+when Johnny let him come over and drive his goats, and when he went
+home that evening, although he was quite cold, he was so full of
+having driven them that he could not think or talk of anything else,
+and when Christmas drew near, one of the first things he wrote to ask
+Santa Claus for, when he put the letter in the library fire, was a
+wagon and a pair of goats. Even his father's statement that he feared
+he was too small yet for Santa Claus to bring him such things, did not
+wholly dampen his hope.
+
+He even began to dream of being able to go out some time and join the
+bigger boys in coasting down the long hill on the other side from
+Johnny Stout's, for though his father and mother thought he was still
+rather small to do this, his father had promised that he might do it
+sometime, and Tommy thought "sometime" would be after his next
+birthday. When the heavy snow fell just before Christmas he began to
+be sorry that he had broken up the sled Santa Claus had given him the
+Christmas before. In fact, Tommy had never wanted a sled so much as he
+did the afternoon two days before Christmas, when he persuaded his
+father to take him out again to the coasting hill to see the boys
+coasting. There were all sorts of sleds: short sleds and long sleds,
+bob-sleds and flexible fliers. They held one, two, three, and
+sometimes even half a dozen boys and girls--for there were girls,
+too--all shouting and laughing as they went flying down the hill, some
+sitting and some lying down, but all flying and shouting, and none
+taking the least notice of Tommy. Sate made them take notice of him;
+for he would rush out after the sleds, barking just as if they had
+been cats, and several times he got bowled over--once, indeed, he got
+tangled up in the string of a sled and was dragged squealing with
+fright down the hill. Suddenly, however, Tommy gave a jump. Among the
+sleds flying by, most of them painted red, and very fine looking, was
+a plain, unpainted one, and lying full length upon it, on his stomach,
+with his heels high in the air, was Johnny Stout, with a red comforter
+around his neck, and a big cap pulled down over his ears. Tommy knew
+him at once.
+
+"Look, father, look!" he cried, pointing; but Johnny's sled was far
+down the hill before his father could see him. A few minutes later he
+came trudging up the hill again and, seeing Tommy, ran across and
+asked him if he would like to have a ride. Tommy's heart bounded, but
+sank within him again when his father said, "I am afraid he is rather
+little."
+
+"Oh! I'll take care of him, sir," said Johnny, whose cheeks were
+glowing. Tommy began to jump up and down.
+
+"Please, father, please," he urged. His father only smiled.
+
+"Why, you are not so very big yourself," he said to Johnny.
+
+"Big enough to take care of him," said Johnny.
+
+"Why, father, he's awful big," chimed in Tommy.
+
+"Do you think so?" laughed his father. He turned to Johnny. "What is
+your name?"
+
+"Johnny, sir. I live down below your house." He pointed across toward
+his own home.
+
+"I know him," said Tommy proudly. "He has got goats and he let me
+drive them."
+
+"Yes, he can drive," said Johnny, condescendingly, with a nod, and
+Tommy was proud of his praise. His father looked at him.
+
+"Is your sled strong?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, sir. I made it myself," said Johnny, and he gave the sled a good
+kick to show how strong it was.
+
+"All right," said Tommy's father. They followed Johnny to the top of
+the slide, and Tommy got on in front and his father tucked his coat
+in.
+
+"Hold on and don't be afraid," he said.
+
+"Afraid!" said Tommy contemptuously. Just then Johnny, with a whoop
+and a push which almost upset Tommy, flung himself on behind and away
+they went down the hill, as Johnny said, "just ski-uting."
+
+Tommy had had sledding in his own yard; but he had never before had
+any real coasting like this, and he had never dreamed before of
+anything like the thrill of dashing down that long hill, flying like
+the wind, with Johnny on behind, yelling "Look out!" to every one, and
+guiding so that the sled tore in and out among the others, and at the
+foot of the hill actually turned around the curve and went far on down
+the road.
+
+"You're all right," said Johnny, and Tommy had never felt prouder. His
+only regret was that the hill did not tilt up the other way so that
+they could coast back instead of having to trudge back on foot.
+
+[Illustration: Tommy had never before had any real coasting like this.]
+
+When they got back again to the top of the hill, Tommy's father wanted
+to know if they had had enough, but Tommy told him he never could have
+enough. So they coasted down again and again, until at length his
+father thought they had better be going home, and Johnny said he had
+to go home, too, "to help his mother."
+
+"How do you help?" asked Tommy's father, as they started off.
+
+"Oh, just little ways," said Johnny. "I get wood--and split it up--and
+go to Mr. Bucket's and get her things for her--draw water and feed the
+cow, when we had a cow--we ain't got a cow now since our cow
+died--and--oh--just a few little things like that."
+
+Tommy's father made no reply, and Tommy, himself, was divided between
+wonder that Johnny could call all that work "just a few little
+things," and shame that he should say, "ain't got," which he, himself,
+had been told he must never say.
+
+His father, however, presently asked, "Who is Mr. Bucket?"
+
+"Don't you know Mr. Bucket?" said Johnny. "He keeps that grocery on
+Hill Street. He gave me the box I made this old thing out of."
+
+"Oh," said Tommy's father, and turned and looked the sled over again.
+
+"What was the matter with your cow?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Broke her leg--right here," and Johnny pulled up his trousers and
+showed just where the leg was broken below the knee. "The doctor said
+she must be killed, and so she was; but Mr. Bucket said he could have
+saved her if the 'Siety would've let him. He'd 'a just swung her up
+until she got well."
+
+"How?" asked Tommy, much interested.
+
+"What Society?" asked his father.
+
+Johnny answered the last question first. "'Pervention of Cruelty,'" he
+said, shortly.
+
+"Oh," said Tommy's father.
+
+"I know how she broke her leg," said Johnny.
+
+"How did she break her leg?" inquired Tommy.
+
+"A boy done it. I know him and I know he done it, and some day I'm
+going to catch him when he ain't looking for me."
+
+"You have not had a cow since?" inquired Tommy's father. "Then you do
+not have to go and drive her up and milk her when the weather is
+cold?"
+
+"Oh, I would not mind that," said Johnny cheerily. "I'd drive her up
+if the weather was as cold as Greenland, and milk her, too, so I had
+her. I used to love to feed her and I didn't mind carryin' milk
+around; for I used to get money for it for my mother to buy things
+with; but now, since that boy broke her leg and the 'Siety killed
+her----"
+
+He did not say what there was since; he just stopped talking and
+presently Tommy's father said: "You do not have so much money since?"
+
+"No, sir!" said Johnny, "and my mother has to work a heap harder, you
+see."
+
+"And you work too?"
+
+"Some," said Johnny. "I sell papers and clean off the sidewalk when
+there is snow to clean off, and run errands for Mr. Bucket and do a
+few things. Well, I've got to go along," he added, "I've got some
+things to do now. I was just trying this old sled over on the hill to
+see how she would go. I've got some work to do now"; and he trotted
+off, whistling and dragging his sled behind him.
+
+As Tommy and his father turned into their grounds, his father asked,
+"Where did he say he lived?"
+
+"Wait, I'll show you," said Tommy, proud of his knowledge. "Down there
+[pointing]. See that little house down in the bottom, away over beyond
+the cow-pasture?"
+
+"How do you know he lives there?"
+
+"Because I've been there. He's got goats," said Tommy, "and he let me
+drive them. I wish I had some goats. I wish Santa Claus would bring me
+two goats like Johnny's."
+
+"Which would you rather have? Goats or a cow?" asked his father.
+
+"Goats," said Tommy, promptly.
+
+"I wonder if Johnny would!" laughed his father.
+
+"Father, where is Greenland?" said Tommy, presently.
+
+"A country away up at the North--away up in that direction." His
+father pointed far across the cow-pasture, which lay shining in the
+evening light. "I must show it to you on the map."
+
+"Is it very cold there?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Very cold in winter."
+
+"Colder than this?"
+
+"Oh, yes, because it is so far north that the sun never gets up in
+winter to warm it, and away up there the winter is just one long night
+and the summer one long day."
+
+"Why, that's where Santa Claus comes from," said Tommy. "Do people
+live up there?"
+
+"People called Eskimos," said his father, "who live by fishing and
+hunting."
+
+"Tell me about them," said Tommy. "What do they hunt?"
+
+"Bears," said his father, "polar bears--and walrus--and seals--and----"
+
+"Oh, tell me about them," said Tommy, eagerly.
+
+So, as they walked along, his father told him of the strange little,
+flat-faced people, who live all winter in houses made of ice and snow
+and hunted on the ice-floes for polar bears and seals and walrus, and
+in the summer got in their little kiaks and paddled around, hunting
+for seals and walrus with their arrows and harpoons, on the "pans" or
+smooth ice, where every family of "harps" or seals have their own
+private door, gnawed down through the ice with their teeth.
+
+"I wish I could go there," said Tommy, his eyes gazing across the
+long, white glistening fields with the dark border of the woodland
+beyond and the rich saffron of the winter sky above the tree-tops
+stretching across in a border below the steelly white of the upper
+heavens.
+
+"What would you do?" asked his father.
+
+"Hunt polar bears," said Tommy promptly. "I'd get one most as big as
+the library, so mother could give you the skin; because I heard her
+say she would like to have one in front of the library fire, and the
+only way she could get one would be to give it to you for Christmas."
+
+His father laughed. "All right, get a big one."
+
+"You will have to give me a gun. A real gun that will shoot. A big
+one--so big." Tommy measured with his arms out straight. "Bigger than
+that. And I tell you what I would do. I would get Johnny and we would
+hitch his goats to the sled and drive all the way up there and hunt
+polar bears, and I'd hunt for sealskins, too, so you could give mother
+a coat. I heard her say she wanted you to give her one. Wouldn't it be
+fine if I could get a great big bearskin and a sealskin, too! I wish I
+had Johnny's goats!"
+
+"You must have dogs up there to draw your sled," said his father.
+
+"All right! After I got there I would get Santa Claus to give me
+some," said Tommy. "But you give me the gun."
+
+His father laughed again. "Well, maybe--some day," said he.
+
+"'Some day' is too far away," said Tommy. "I want to go now."
+
+"Not so far away when you are my age," said his father smiling. "Ah,
+there is where the North Star is," he said, pointing. "You cannot see
+it yet. I will show it to you later, so you can steer by it."
+
+"That is the way Santa Claus comes," said Tommy, his eyes on the
+Northern sky. "I am going to wait for him tomorrow night."
+
+"You know he does not bring things to boys who keep awake!"
+
+"I know; but I won't let him see me."
+
+As they trudged along Tommy suddenly asked, "Don't you wish, Father,
+Santa Claus would bring Johnny a cow for his mother?"
+
+"Why, yes," said his father.
+
+"Like Cowslip or Rose or even old Crumpled Horn?"
+
+"Like our cows!" echoed his father, absently. "Why, yes."
+
+"Because they are all fine cows, you know. Peake says so, and Peake
+knows a good cow," said Tommy, proud of his intimacy with the farmer.
+"I tell you what I am going to do when I get home," he declared. "I am
+going to write another letter to Santa Claus and put it in the chimney
+and ask him to send Johnny a whole lot of things: a cow and a gun and
+all sorts of things. Do you think it's too late for him to get it
+now?"
+
+"I don't know. It is pretty late," said his father. "Why didn't you
+ask him to send these things to Johnny when you wrote your other
+letter?"
+
+"I did not think of it," said Tommy, frankly. "I forgot him."
+
+"Do you ask only for yourself?"
+
+"No. For little Sis and Mother and Peake and one other, but I'm not
+going to tell you who he is."
+
+His father smiled. "Not Johnny?"
+
+"No," said Tommy. "I forgot him."
+
+"I am afraid I did, too," said his father slowly. "Well, write
+another and try. You can never tell. Trying is better than crying."
+
+This was two days before Christmas. And the next afternoon Tommy went
+again with his father to the coasting-hill to see the boys and once
+more take a coast with Johnny. But no Johnny was there and no other
+boy asked Tommy if he wanted a ride. So, they returned home much
+disappointed, his father telling him more about the Eskimos and the
+polar bears. But, just as they were turning the corner before reaching
+the gate which led into their grounds, they came on Johnny struggling
+along through the snow, under the weight of a big basket full of
+bundles. At sight of them he swung the basket down in the snow with a
+loud, "Whew, that's heavy! I tell you." Tommy ran forward to meet him.
+
+"We have been looking for you," he said.
+
+"I could not go to-day," explained Johnny. "I had to work. I am
+working for Mr. Bucket to-day to make some money to buy Christmas
+things."
+
+"How much do you make?" asked Tommy's father.
+
+"Half a dollar to-day, if I work late. I generally make ten cents,
+sometimes fifteen."
+
+"That is a pretty heavy load--in the snow," said Tommy's father, as
+Johnny stooped and swung his basket up on his hip.
+
+"Oh, I can manage it," said the boy, cheerfully. "A boy stole my sled
+last night, or I would carry it on that."
+
+"Stole your sled!" cried Tommy.
+
+"Yes, I left it outside the door when I was getting my load to put on,
+and when I came out it was gone. I wish I could catch him."
+
+"I am going to watch for him, too," said Tommy.
+
+"If I had a box I could make another one," said Johnny. "Maybe, Mr.
+Bucket will give me one after Christmas. He said maybe he would. Then
+I will give you another ride." He called over his shoulder to them, as
+he trudged off, "Well, good-by. I hope you will have a merry
+Christmas, and that Santa Claus will bring you lots of things," and
+away he trudged. They wished him a merry Christmas, too, and then
+turned into their grounds.
+
+"Father," said Tommy, suddenly, "let's give Johnny a sled."
+
+"Yes," said his father, "you might give him yours--the one you got
+last Christmas."
+
+"I haven't got it now. It's gone," said Tommy.
+
+"Did some one take it--like Johnny's?"
+
+"No, I broke it," said Tommy, crestfallen.
+
+"You might mend it?" suggested his father.
+
+"I broke it all up," said Tommy, sadly.
+
+"Ah, that is a pity," said his father.
+
+Tommy was still thinking.
+
+"Father, why can't I give him a box?" he said. "The basement and the
+wood-shed are full of big boxes."
+
+"Why not give him the one I gave you a few days ago?"
+
+"I broke it up, too," said Tommy shamefacedly.
+
+"Oh," said his father. "That's a pity. Johnny could have made a sled
+out of it." Tommy felt very troubled, and he began to think what he
+might do.
+
+"If you will give me another, I will give it to Johnny," he said
+presently.
+
+"Why, I'll tell you what I will do," said his father. "I will furnish
+the box if you will carry it over to Johnny's home."
+
+"All right. I will do it," said Tommy promptly. So as soon as they
+reached home Tommy dived down into the basement and soon came out,
+puffing and blowing, dragging along with him a big box as high as his
+head.
+
+"I am afraid that is too big for you to carry," suggested his father.
+
+"Oh, I will make Richard carry it."
+
+"Richard is my servant, not yours," said his father. "Besides, you
+were to carry it yourself."
+
+"It is too big for me. The snow is too deep."
+
+"Now, if you had not broken up your sled you might carry it on that,"
+said his father.
+
+"Yes," said Tommy sadly. "I wish I had not broken it up. I'll be bound
+that I don't break up the next one I get."
+
+"That's a good beginning," said his father. "But wishing alone will
+never do anything, not even if you had the magical wishing-cap I read
+you about. You must not only wish; you must help yourself. Now, Johnny
+would make a sled out of that box."
+
+"I wish I could," said Tommy. "I would try if I had some tools. I wish
+I had some tools."
+
+"What tools would you need?"
+
+Tommy thought a minute. "Why, a hammer and some nails."
+
+"A hammer and nails would hardly make a sled by themselves."
+
+"Why, no. I wish I had a saw, too."
+
+"I thought Santa Claus brought you all these tools last Christmas?"
+suggested his father.
+
+"He did; but I lost them," said Tommy.
+
+"Did you ever hunt for them?"
+
+"Some. I have hunted for the hammer."
+
+"Well, suppose you hunt again. Look everywhere. If you find any I
+might lend you the others. You might look in my lumber room." Tommy
+ran off and soon returned with a hammer and some nails which he had
+found, and a few minutes later his father brought a saw and a hatchet,
+and they selected a good box, which Tommy could drag out, and put it
+in the back hall.
+
+"Now," said Tommy, "what shall we do next?"
+
+"That is for you to say," said his father. "Johnny does not ask that
+question. He thinks for himself."
+
+"Well, we must knock this box to pieces," said Tommy.
+
+"I think so, too," assented his father. "Very carefully, so as not to
+split the boards."
+
+"Yes, very carefully," said Tommy, and he began to hammer. The nails,
+however, were in very tight and there was a strip of iron along each
+of the edges, through which they were driven, so it was hard work; but
+when Tommy really tried and could not get the boards off, his father
+helped him, and soon the strips were off and the boards quickly
+followed.
+
+"Now what shall we do?" asked his father.
+
+"Why, we must make the sled."
+
+"Yes--but how?"
+
+"Why, we must have runners and then the top to sit on. That's all."
+
+"Very well. Go ahead," said his father. So Tommy picked up two boards
+and looked at them. But they were square at the ends.
+
+"We must make the runners," he said sadly.
+
+"That's so," said his father.
+
+"Will you saw them for me?" asked Tommy.
+
+"Yes, if you will show me where to saw." Tommy pondered.
+
+"Wait," he said, and he ran off, and in a moment came back with a
+picture of a sled in a magazine. "Now make it this way," he said,
+showing his father how he should saw the edges.
+
+He was surprised to see how well his father could do this, and his
+admiration for him increased as he found that he could handle the
+tools quite as well as Peake, the farmer; and soon the sled began to
+look like a real sled with runners, sawed true, and with cross-pieces
+for the feet to rest on, and even with a strip of iron, taken from the
+edges of the boxes, carefully nailed on the bottom of the runners.
+
+Suddenly Tommy cried, "Father, why not give Johnny this sled?"
+
+"The very thing!" exclaimed his father with a smile. And Tommy felt
+quite proud of having suggested it.
+
+"I wish it had a place to hitch on the goats," said Tommy, thoughtfully.
+
+"Let's make one," said his father; and in a few minutes two holes were
+bored in the front of the runners.
+
+It was now about dusk, and Tommy said he would like to take the sled
+down to Johnny's house and leave it at his door where he could find it
+when he came home from work, and, maybe, he might think Santa Claus
+had brought it. So he and his father went together, Tommy dragging the
+sled and, while his father waited at the gate, Tommy took the sled and
+put it in the yard at the little side-door of Johnny's home. As they
+were going along, he said, pointing to a small shed-like out-building
+at the end of the little yard, "That's the cow-house. He keeps his
+goats there, too. Don't you wish Santa Claus would bring his mother a
+cow? I don't see how he could get down that small chimney!" he said,
+gazing at the little flue which came out of the roof. "I wonder if he
+does?"
+
+"I wonder if he does?" said his father to himself.
+
+When Tommy slipped back again and found his father waiting for him at
+the gate, he thought he had never had so fine a time in all his life.
+He determined to make a sled for somebody every Christmas.
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                                 II
+
+
+When they reached home Tommy, after warming his hands and telling his
+mother about the sled, set to work to write a letter to Santa Claus on
+behalf of Johnny, and as he wrote, a number of things came to him that
+he thought Johnny would like to have. He remembered that he had no
+gloves and that his hands were very red; that his cap was very old and
+too small for him; that a real flexible flier would be a fine thing
+for him. Then, as he had asked for a gun for himself to hunt polar
+bears with and a fur coat to go out with in the snow, he added these
+in Johnny's letter also; in fact, he asked for Johnny just the things
+he had asked for himself, except the goats, and, as Johnny had two
+goats, it was not necessary to ask for them for him. Instead of goats,
+however, he asked that Santa Claus might give Johnny's mother a cow,
+as good as one of their cows. As he was not a very rapid writer it
+took him some time to write this letter, especially, as he did not
+know how to spell a good many words, and had to ask his mother how to
+spell them, for his father had gone out soon after their return from
+taking the sled to Johnny, and immediately after showing him the
+picture of the polar bear and the map of the North-pole region. Then
+when the letter was all done, signed and sealed, Tommy carefully
+dropped it in the fire in the library, and watched it as it first
+twisted up, then burst into a blaze, and finally disappeared in flame
+and smoke up the big chimney, hoping that it would blow away like the
+wind to Santa Claus to catch him before he started out that night on
+his round of visits.
+
+By this time his supper was ready and he found that he was very
+hungry. He had no sooner finished it than he drew up in a big chair by
+the warm fire, and began to wonder whether Santa Claus would get his
+letter in time, and, if so, what he would bring Johnny. The fire was
+warm and his eyes soon began "to draw straws," but he did not wish to
+go to bed quite yet and, indeed, had a lingering hope that when his
+father returned he might coax him into letting him go out again and
+slide with Johnny and then, perhaps, stand a chance of seeing Santa
+Claus come up the long hill, with his reindeer flying like the wind
+over the snow and taking the roofs of the houses with a single bound.
+So he moved over to the sofa where he could see better, and where it
+would not be likely his sleepiness would be observed.
+
+The last thing he recalled in the sitting-room was when he parted the
+heavy curtains at the foot of the sofa and looked out at the snow
+stretching away down the hill toward the woods, and shining in the
+light of the great round moon which had just come up over the side of
+the yard to the eastward. Then he curled up in the corner of the sofa
+as wide awake as a boy could be who had made up his mind to keep awake
+until midnight. The next thing he remembered was Sate jumping up and
+snuggling by him, and the next was his father coming in and telling
+him Johnny was waiting outside with his sled and the two goats hitched
+to it to take a long ride, and his wrapping him up carefully in his
+heavy overcoat. In a second he was out in the yard and made a dash for
+the cow-lot, and there, sure enough, was Johnny waiting for him at the
+gate in the cow-pasture with a curious little peaked cap on his head
+and his coat collar turned up around his chin and tied with a great
+red comforter, so that only his eyes and nose peeped over it. As Tommy
+had never seen Johnny with that cap on before, he asked him where he
+had got it, and he said he had swapped caps with a little old man he
+had met driving a cow in the road as he came home. He could not keep
+this cap on his head, so Johnny had given him his in place of it, as
+it fitted him very well. And there were the two goats hitched to the
+very sled Tommy had made. In a minute they were on the sled, Tommy in
+front with the reins and Johnny sitting behind. Just as they were
+about to start, to Tommy's horror, out came Sate, and do as they
+might, Sate would not go back; but jumped up on the sled and settled
+down at Tommy's feet, and as Johnny said he did not mind and that Sate
+would keep Tommy's feet warm, they let him stay, which proved in the
+end to be a very fortunate thing. Just after they had fixed themselves
+comfortably, Johnny said, "Are you ready?" "Ready!" said Tommy, and
+gathered up the reins, and the next moment the goats started off, at
+first at a walk and then at a little trot, while Tommy was telling
+Johnny what his father had told him about the night in Santa Claus's
+country being so long that sometimes the sun did not rise above the
+horizon for several months.
+
+"If it's as long as that," said Johnny, "we might go and see the old
+fellow and get back before midnight? I wish we could go."
+
+"So do I," said Tommy, "but I'm afraid we might not find our way." He
+remembered just then that all one had to do was to steer by the North
+Star, and at that moment he caught sight of the star right over the
+goats' heads.
+
+The coast was clear and the snow was up to the top of the fences. The
+moon made it as light as day and never again would there be such a
+chance. It came to him, too, that on the map all the lines ran
+together at the North Pole, so that one could hardly miss his way, and
+if he should, there were Eskimos to guide him. So when Johnny said,
+"Let's go and try," he agreed, for if they once got there, Santa
+Claus, himself, might bring them back with him.
+
+For a moment they went along as though they were coasting down a hill,
+with the little North Star shining directly in front of them as they
+glided along.
+
+Just then Tommy said, "I wish the goats were reindeer. Let's pretend
+they are."
+
+"So do I," said Johnny.
+
+At this instant something happened; the goats gave a jump which sent a
+cloud of fine snow up into the boys' faces; the sled gave a great leap
+and on a sudden they began to tear along like the wind. The snow-fields
+flew by them, and the trees, standing up to their knees in snow, simply
+tore along to the rear.
+
+"They are running away!" said Tommy, as soon as he could catch his
+breath.
+
+"All right. Let them run," said Johnny. "But steer by the North Star."
+And so they did.
+
+When the cloud of snow in their faces cleared away, Tommy could
+scarcely believe his eyes.
+
+"Look, Johnny!" he cried. "They are real reindeer. Real live ones.
+Look at their antlers."
+
+"I know," said Johnny. "That little man said he wanted to swap with
+me."
+
+So they flew on, up hill and down dale, over fields of white snow
+where the fences and rocks were buried and the cuts were filled up
+level; down frozen streams, winding through great forests where the
+pines were mantled with white; in between great walls of black rock
+towering above them, with the stars shining down like fires; out again
+across the vast stretches of snow with the Pole Star ever twisting and
+turning and coming before them again, until the sky seemed lit up with
+wonderful colours, and great bands of light were shooting up and
+sinking down only to shoot up again with a crackling like packs of
+pop-crackers in the distance.
+
+[Illustration: They flew on, over fields of white snow.]
+
+The wind sang in their ears, nipped their noses, and made Tommy
+drowsy, and presently he must have fallen asleep; for just as he was
+conscious that Johnny had taken the reins, and, with one arm on either
+side of him was holding him on his shoulder, there was a great jolt
+and a sort of crash as of breaking through. He would have fallen off
+the sled if Johnny had not held him tight.
+
+When he opened his eyes they seemed to be passing through a sort of
+silvery haze, as though the moonlight were shining through a fine mist
+of silvery drops which shed the softest radiance over everything. And
+suddenly through this enchanting light they came to a beautiful city,
+with walls around it of crystal, all rimmed with gold, like the clouds
+at sunset. Before them was a great gate through which shone a
+wonderful light, and inside they saw a wide street all lit up. As they
+reached the gate there was a sort of peal, as of bells, and out poured
+a guard of little men in uniform with little swords at their sides and
+guns in their hands, who saluted, while their officer, who had a
+letter in his hand, halted them with a challenge.
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+"Friends," said Tommy, standing up and saluting, as he had seen
+soldiers do at the fort.
+
+"Advance, friends, and give the countersign." Tommy thought they were
+lost and his heart sank.
+
+But Johnny said, "'Good-will.'"
+
+"All right," said the captain and stepped back.
+
+"Who gave you that sled?" he asked.
+
+"Tommy," said Johnny. "This little boy here made it and gave it to
+me."
+
+"This is the one," said the captain to a guard, looking at a letter in
+his hand. "Let them by."
+
+They drove in at the gate and found themselves in a broad street
+filled with enchanting things more beautiful than Tommy had ever
+dreamed of. The trees which lined it were Christmas trees, and the
+lights on them made the street as bright as noonday.
+
+Here the reindeer slackened their pace, and as they turned down the
+great street they could see through the windows rooms brilliantly
+lighted, in which were hosts of people bustling about as busy as bees,
+working at Christmas things of all sorts and descriptions. They
+suddenly came to the gate of a great palace-like place, which the
+reindeer appeared to know, for they turned in at the gate just as
+Tommy's father's horses always turned in at their gate at home, and as
+they drove up to the door, with a shout of, "Here they are!" out
+poured a number of the same little people--like those they had already
+seen at the gate. Some helped them out, some stood like a guard, and
+some took their reindeer to drive them to the stable.
+
+"You are just in time," said the captain of this party, as he stepped
+forward and saluted them. "The old Gentleman has been waiting for you,
+sending out to the gate to watch for you all evening."
+
+Tommy was about to ask, "How did he know we were coming?" but before
+he could get the words out, the little man said, "Oh, he knows all
+that boys do, especially about Christmas time. That's his business."
+
+"My!" thought Tommy, "I shall have to mind what I even think up here.
+He answers just as if I had said it. I hope he knows what I want for
+Christmas."
+
+"Wait and see," said the little man; and Tommy, though he was glad to
+hear it, determined not to think any more just then, but he was sorry
+he had not thought to wish for more things while he was wishing.
+
+"Oh, don't worry about that," said the guard. "Santa Claus doesn't
+care much what you ask for for yourself. Even if he gives those
+things, you soon get tired of them or lose them or break them up. It
+is the things one asks for for others that he gives pleasure with.
+That's the reason he has such a good time himself, because he gives
+all the things to others."
+
+Tommy tried to think what he had ever given to any one. He had given
+pieces of candy and cake when he had plenty, but the sled was the only
+thing he had ever really given. He was about to mention this when the
+guard mentioned it for him.
+
+"Oh, that sled was all right," he said, with a little nod. "Come in,"
+and the great ice-doors opened before them, and in they walked.
+
+They passed through a great hall, all ice, as transparent as glass,
+though curiously it was warm and dry and filled with every kind of
+Christmas "things:"--everything that Tommy had ever seen, and a myriad
+more that he had never dreamed of. They were packed and stacked on
+either side, and a lot of little people, like those he had already
+seen, were working among them, tossing them about and shouting to each
+other with glee to "Look out," just as the boys did when coasting on
+the hill.
+
+"I tell you," said one, "the Governor will have a busy time to-night.
+It beats last Christmas." And he made a run and a jump, and lit on a
+big pile of bundles which suddenly toppled over with him and nearly
+buried him as he sprawled on the slippery floor. This seemed a huge
+joke to all the others and they screamed with laughter at "Old
+Smartie," as they called him, and poured more bundles down on him,
+just as though they were having a pillow-fight. Then when Old Smartie
+had at last gotten on his feet, they had a great game of tag among the
+piles and over them, and the first thing Tommy knew he and Johnny were
+at it as hard as anybody. He was very proud because Johnny could jump
+over piles as high as the best of them. Tommy, himself, however, could
+not jump; for they led him to a pile so high that he could not see
+over it; and on top were the fragments of all the things he had ever
+had and had broken up. He could not help crying a little; but just
+then in dashed a number of little men and gathering them up, rushed
+out with them. Tommy was wondering what they were going to do with
+them, when his friend, the guard, said: "We mend some of them; and
+some we keep to remind you with. Now try again." Tommy tried and did
+very well, only his left foot had gone to sleep in the sled and had
+not quite waked up.
+
+"That was because Sate went to sleep on it," said his friend, the
+guard, and Tommy wondered how he knew Sate's name.
+
+"Why," said the guard, "we have to know dogs' names to keep them from
+barking at us and waking everybody up. Let me lend you these boots,"
+and with that he kicked off his boots. "Now, jump," and Tommy gave a
+jump and lit in them, as he sometimes did in his father's shoes. No
+sooner had Tommy put them on than he found that he could jump over the
+highest pile in the room.
+
+"Look, look!" cried several of the others. "The captain has lent that
+little boy his 'Seven Leaguers.'"
+
+"I know where he is going," said one; "to jump over the North Pole."
+
+"No," laughed another. "He is going to catch the cow that 'jumped over
+the moon,' for Johnny Stout's mother."
+
+Just then a message came that "Old Santa," as they called him, was
+waiting to see the two boys who had come in the new box-sled, as he
+wanted to know how their mothers were and what they wished for
+Christmas. So there was a great scurrying to get their heads brushed
+before the bell rang again, and Tommy got soap in his eyes wetting the
+brush to make his hair lie smooth, while Johnny's left shoe came off
+and dropped in a hole in the floor. Smartie, however, told him that
+that was for the "Old Woman who lived in a shoe" to feed her cow in,
+and this was considered a great joke.
+
+The next minute the door opened and they entered a great apartment,
+filled with the softest light from a blazing fire, and Tommy was sure
+it was his father's back before him at the fireplace; but when the man
+turned it was Santa Claus, only he did not have on his whiskers, and
+looked ever so much younger than in his pictures. At first he did not
+even look at them, he was so busy receiving mail that came fluttering
+down the chimney in a perfect snowstorm. As the letters came he
+gathered them up and handed them to a lady who was seated on the
+floor, saying, "Put that in," to which the lady always answered, "Just
+the thing," in a voice so like his mother's that Tommy felt quite at
+home. He was just wondering when "Sometime" would come, when Santa
+Claus picked up a letter, which had been thrown on the floor, and
+tossed it to the lady, saying, "Here's that letter from that little
+boy, Tommy Trot. Put some of those things in so he can break them up.
+He asked only for himself and much joy he will get out of them." Tommy
+shrank back behind Johnny. He wanted to say that he had written
+another letter to ask for things for others, but he had lost his
+tongue. Just then, however, Santa Claus put up his hand and pulled out
+another letter.
+
+[Illustration: "Look, Look! The captain has lent that little boy his
+'Seven Leaguers.'"]
+
+"Now," he said, as he glanced at it, "this is more like it. He is
+improving. I see he has asked for a lot of things for a friend of his
+named Johnny. Johnny Stout--who is he? It seems to me I hardly
+remember him or where he lives."
+
+"Yes," said Johnny, stepping up. "That's me. He gave me a sled, too,
+and he made it himself." Santa Claus turned and looked at him and his
+expression turned to a smile; in fact, Tommy thought he really winked
+at Johnny.
+
+"Oh, I know that sled. It was a pretty good sled, too," he said.
+
+This gave Tommy courage, and he stepped forward and said, "He lives in
+a little bit of a house near our place--just that way--" He turned and
+pointed. "I'll show it to you when you come."
+
+"Good," said Santa Claus. "I'll show it to you and you show it to me.
+We are apt to overlook those little houses. So you are Tommy Trot?" he
+said. "Glad to see you," and he turned and held out his hand to Tommy.
+"I sent my reindeer to fetch you and I am glad you made that sled, for
+it is only a sled made for others that can get up here. You see,
+everything here, except the North Pole, is made for some one else, and
+that's the reason we have such a good time up here. If you like, I'll
+take you around and show you and Johnny our shops." This was exactly
+what Tommy wanted, so he thanked him politely.
+
+"I'll be back in a little while," said Santa Claus to the lady, "for
+as soon as the boys are all asleep I must set out. I have a great many
+stockings to fill this year. See that everything is ready. Come along,
+boys," and next minute they were going through room after room and
+shop after shop, filled with so many things that Tommy could not keep
+them straight in his mind. He wondered how any one could have thought
+of so many things, except his mother, of course; she always thought of
+everything for everyone. Some of them he wished for, but every time he
+thought of wanting a thing for himself the lights got dim, so that he
+stopped thinking about himself at all, and turned to speak to Johnny,
+but he was gone.
+
+Presently Santa Claus said: "These are just my stores. Now we will go
+and see where some of these things are made." He gave a whistle, and
+the next second up dashed a sled with a team of reindeer in it, and
+who was there holding the reins but Johnny, with his little cap
+perched on the top of his head! At Tommy's surprise Santa Claus gave a
+laugh that made him shake all over like a bowl full of jelly, quite as
+Tommy had read he did in a poem he had learned the Christmas before,
+called "The Night Before Christmas, when all through the house."
+
+"That comes of knowing how to drive goats," said Santa Claus. "Johnny
+knows a lot and I am going to give him a job, because he works so
+hard," and with that Tommy's boots suddenly jumped him into the sled,
+and Santa Claus stepped in behind him and pulled up a big robe over
+them.
+
+"Here goes," he said, and at the word they turned the corner, and
+there was a gate of ice that looked like the mirrored doors in Tommy's
+mother's room, which opened before them, and they dashed along between
+great piles of things, throwing them on both sides like snow from a
+sled-runner, and before Tommy knew it they were gliding along a road,
+which Tommy felt he had seen somewhere before, though he could not
+remember where. The houses on the roadside did not seem to have any
+front-walls at all, and everywhere the people within were working like
+beavers; some sewing, some cutting out, some sawing and hammering, all
+making something, all laughing or smiling. They were mostly dressed
+like grown-up people, but when they turned their faces they all looked
+young. Tommy was wondering why this was, when Santa Claus said that
+was because they were "Working for others. They grow young every
+Christmas. This is Christmas Land and Kindness Town." They turned
+another corner and were whisking by a little house, inside of which
+was some one sewing for dear life on a jacket. Tommy knew the place by
+the little backyard.
+
+"Stop, stop!" he cried, pointing. "That's Johnny's home and that's
+Johnny's mother sewing. She's laughing. I expect she's making that for
+Johnny."
+
+"Where?" asked Santa Claus, turning. Tommy pointed back, "There,
+there!" but they had whisked around a corner.
+
+"I was so busy looking at that big house that I did not see it," said
+Santa Claus.
+
+"That's our house," said Tommy. "I tell you what," he said presently,
+"if I get anything--I'll give him some." Santa Claus smiled.
+
+So they dashed along, making all sorts of turns and curves, through
+streets lined with shops full of Christmas things and thronged with
+people hurrying along with their arms full of bundles; out again into
+the open; by little houses half buried in snow, with a light shining
+dimly through their upper windows; on through forests of Christmas
+trees, hung with toys and not yet lighted, and presently in a wink
+were again at Santa Claus's home, in a great hall. All along the sides
+were cases filled with all sorts of toys, guns, uniforms, sleds,
+skates, snow-shoes, fur gloves, fur coats, books, toy-dogs, ponies,
+goats, cows, everything.
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                                 III
+
+
+Tommy was just thinking how he would love to carry his mother a polar
+bearskin for his father, and his father a sealskin coat for his
+mother, when Santa Claus came up behind him and tweaked his ear.
+
+"Ah!" he said, "so you want something--something you can't get?"
+
+"Not for myself," said Tommy, shamefacedly.
+
+"So," said Santa Claus, with a look much like Tommy's father when he
+was pleased. "I know that. They don't have them exactly about here.
+The teddy-bears drove them out. You have to go away off to find them."
+He waved his hand to show how far off it was.
+
+"I should like to hunt them, if I only had a gun!" said Tommy;--"and
+one for Johnny, too," he added quickly.
+
+Santa Claus winked again. "Well," he said slowly, just as Tommy's father
+always did when Tommy asked for something and he was considering--"well,
+I'll think about it." He walked up and touched a spring, and the glass
+door flew open. "Try these guns," he said; and Tommy tipped up and took
+one out. It, however, seemed a little light to shoot polar bears with
+and he put it back and took another. That, however, was rather heavy.
+
+"Try this," said Santa Claus, handing him one, and it was the very
+thing. "Load right; aim right; and shoot right," said he, "and you'll
+get your prize every time. And, above all, stand your ground."
+
+"Now, if I only had some dogs!" thought Tommy, looking around at a
+case full of all sorts of animals; ponies and cows; and dogs and cats;
+some big, some little, and some middle-sized. "I wish those were real
+dogs."
+
+"Where's Sate?" asked Santa Claus.
+
+"Sate can't pull a sled," said Tommy. "He's too little. Besides, he
+ain't an Eskimo dog--I mean he isn't," he corrected quickly, seeing
+Santa Claus look at him. "But he's awful bad after cats." Just then,
+to his horror, he saw Sate in the show-case with his eye on a big,
+white cat. He could hardly keep from crying out; but he called to him
+very quietly, "Come here, come here, Sate. Don't you hear me, sir?
+Come here."
+
+He was just about to go up and seize him when Santa Claus said: "He's
+all right. He's just getting acquainted."
+
+"My! how much he talks like Peake," thought Tommy. "I wonder if he is
+his uncle."
+
+Just then Sate began to nose among some little brownish-gray dogs, and
+so, Tommy called, "Here--come here--come along," and out walked not
+only Sate, but six other dogs, and stood in a line just as though they
+were hitched to a sled, the six finest Eskimo dogs Tommy had ever
+seen.
+
+"Aren't they beauties!" said Santa Claus. "I never saw a finer lot;
+big-boned, broad-backed, husky fellows. They'll scale an ice-mountain
+like my reindeer. And if they ever get in sight of a bear!" He made a
+gesture as much as to say, "Let him look out."
+
+"What are their names?" said Tommy, who always wanted to know every
+one's name.
+
+"Buster and Muster and Fluster, and Joe and Rob and Mac."
+
+"Ain't one of them named Towser?" asked Tommy. "I thought one was
+always named Towser."
+
+"No, that's a book-name," said Santa Claus so scornfully that Tommy
+was sorry he had asked him, especially as he added, "Isn't, not
+ain't."
+
+"But they haint any harness," said Tommy, using the word Peake always
+used,--"I mean, hisn't any--no, I mean haven't any harness. I wish I
+had some harness for them."
+
+"Pooh! wishing doesn't do anything by itself," said Santa Claus.
+
+"Oh! I tell you. I've a lot of string that came off some Christmas
+things my mother got for some poor people. I put it in my pocket to
+give it to Johnny to mend his goat-harness with, and I never thought
+of it when I saw him last night."
+
+"So," said Santa Claus. "That's better. Let's see it."
+
+Tommy felt in his pocket, and at first he could not find it. "I've
+lost it," he said sorrowfully.
+
+"Try again," said Santa Claus.
+
+Tommy felt again in a careless sort of way.
+
+"No, I've lost it," he said. "It must have dropped out."
+
+"You're always losing something," said Santa Claus. "Now, Johnny would
+have used that. You are sure you had it?"
+
+Tommy nodded. "Sure; I put it right in this pocket."
+
+"Then you've got it now. Feel in your other pockets."
+
+"I've felt there two times," said Tommy.
+
+"Then feel again," said Santa Claus. And Tommy felt again, and sure
+enough, there it was. He pulled it out, and as it came it turned to
+harness--six sets of wonderful dog-harness, made of curious
+leather-thongs, and on every breast-strap was the name of the dog.
+
+As Tommy made a dive for it and began to put the harness on the dogs,
+Santa Claus said, "String on bundles bought for others sometimes comes
+in quite handy."
+
+Even then Tommy did not know how to put the harness on the dogs. As
+fast as he got it on one, Sate would begin to play with him and he
+would get all tangled up in it. Tommy could have cried with shame, but
+he remembered what his father had told him about, "Trying instead of
+crying"; so he kept on, and the first thing he knew they were all
+harnessed. Just then he heard a noise behind him and there was Johnny
+with another team of dogs just like his, hitched to his box-sled, on
+which they had come, and on it a great pile of things tied, and in his
+hand a list of what he had--food of all kinds in little cans; bread and
+butter, and even cake, like that he had given away; dried beef;
+pemmican; coffee and tea, all put up in little cases; cooking utensils;
+a frying-pan and a coffee-pot and a few other things--tin-cups and so
+forth; knives and everything that he had read that boys had when they
+went camping, matches and a flint-stone in a box with tinder, in case
+the matches gave out or got wet; hatchets and saws and tools to make
+ice-houses or to mend their sleds with, in fact, everything that
+Tommy's father had ever told him men used when they went into the
+woods. And on top of all, in cases, was the ammunition they would need.
+
+"Now, if we had a tent," said Johnny. But Santa Claus said, "You don't
+need tents up there."
+
+"I know," said Tommy. "You sleep in bags made of skin or in houses
+made of snow."
+
+Santa Claus gave Johnny a wink. "That boy is improving," he said. "He
+knows some things;" and with that he took out of the case and gave
+both Tommy and Johnny big heavy coats of whitish fur and two bags made
+of skin. "And now," he said, "you will have to be off if you want to
+get back here before I leave, for though the night is very long, I
+must be getting away soon," and all of a sudden the door opened and
+there was the North Star straight ahead, and at a whistle from Santa
+Claus away went the dogs, one sled right behind the other, and Sate,
+galloping for life and barking with joy, alongside.
+
+The last thing Tommy heard Santa Claus say was, "Load right, aim
+right, and shoot right; and stand your ground."
+
+In a short time they were out of the light of the buildings and on a
+great treeless waste of snow and ice, much rougher than anything Tommy
+had ever seen; where it was almost dark and the ice seemed to turn up
+on edge. They had to work their way along slowly between jagged
+ice-peaks, and sometimes they came to places which it seemed they
+could never get over, but by dint of pushing and hauling and pulling,
+they always got over in the end. The first meal they took was only a
+bite, because they did not want to waste time, and they were soon on
+their sleds again, dashing along, and Tommy was glad, when, after some
+hours of hard work, Johnny said he thought they had better turn in, as
+in a few hours they ought to be where Santa Claus had told them they
+could find polar bears, and they ought to be fresh when they struck
+their tracks. They set to work, unhitched the dogs, untied the packs
+and got out their camp-outfit, and having dug a great hole in the snow
+behind an ice-peak, where the wind did not blow so hard, and having
+gathered some dry wood, which seemed to have been caught in the ice as
+if on purpose for them, they lit a fire, and getting out their
+frying-pan they stuck two chops on sticks and toasted them, and had
+the best supper Tommy had ever eaten. The bones they gave to the dogs.
+Johnny suggested tying up the dogs, but Tommy was so sleepy, he said:
+"Oh, no, they won't go away. Besides, suppose a bear should come while
+we are asleep." They took their guns so as to be ready in case a polar
+bear should come nosing around, and each one crawled into his bag and
+was soon fast asleep, Sate having crawled into Tommy's bag with him
+and snuggled up close to keep him warm.
+
+It seemed to Tommy only a minute before he heard Johnny calling, and
+he crawled out to find him looking around in dismay. Every dog had
+disappeared except Sate.
+
+"We are lost!" said Johnny. "We must try to get back or we shall
+freeze to death." He climbed up on top of an ice-peak and looked
+around in every direction; but not a dog was in sight. "We must hurry
+up," he said, "and go back after them. Why didn't we tie them last
+night! We must take something to eat with us." So they set to work and
+got out of the bag all they could carry, and with their guns and
+ammunition were about to start back.
+
+"We must hide the rest of the things in a cache," said Tommy, "so that
+if we ever come back we may find them."
+
+"What's a cache?" said Johnny.
+
+Tommy was proud that he knew something Johnny did not know. He
+explained that a "cache" was a hiding-place.
+
+So they put the things back in the bag and covered them up with snow,
+and Tommy, taking up his gun and pack, gave a whistle to Sate, who was
+nosing around. Suddenly the snow around began to move, and out from
+under the snow appeared first the head of one dog and then of another,
+until every one--Buster and Muster and Fluster and the rest--had come
+up and stood shaking himself to get the snow out of his coat. Then
+Tommy remembered that his father had told him that that was the way
+the Eskimo dogs often kept themselves warm when they slept, by boring
+down deep in the snow. Never were two boys more delighted. In a jiffy
+they had uncovered the sled, eaten breakfast, fed the dogs and hitched
+them up again, and were once more on their way. They had not gone far,
+though it seemed to Tommy a long, long way, when the ice in the
+distance seemed to Tommy to turn to great mountain-like icebergs.
+"That's where they are," said Tommy. "They are always on icebergs in
+the pictures." Feeling sure that they must be near them, they tied
+their dogs to the biggest blocks of ice they could find, and even tied
+Sate, and taking each his gun and a bag of extra ammunition, they
+started forward on foot. As Tommy's ammunition was very heavy, he was
+glad when Johnny offered to carry it for him. Even so, they had not
+gone very far, though it seemed far enough to Tommy, when he proposed
+turning back and getting something to eat. As they turned they lost
+the North Star, and when they looked for it again they could not tell
+which it was. Johnny thought it was one, Tommy was sure it was
+another. So they tried first one and then the other, and finally gave
+themselves up as lost. They went supperless to bed that night or
+rather that time, and Tommy never wished himself in bed at home so
+much, or said his prayers harder, or prayed for the poor more
+earnestly. They were soon up again and were working along through the
+ice-peaks, growing hungrier and hungrier, when, going over a rise of
+ice, they saw not far off a little black dot on the snow which they
+thought might be bear or seal. With gun in hand they crept along
+slowly and watchfully, and soon they got close enough to see that
+there was a little man, an Eskimo, armed with a spear and bow and
+arrows and with four or five dogs and a rough little sled, something
+like Johnny's sled, but with runners made of frozen salmon. At first
+he appeared rather afraid of them, but they soon made signs to him
+that they were friends and were lost and very hungry. With a grin
+which showed his white teeth he pointed to his runners, and borrowing
+Tommy's knife, he clipped a piece off of them for each of them and
+handed it back with the knife; Tommy knew that he ought not to eat
+with his knife, but he was so hungry that he thought it would be
+overlooked. Having breakfasted on frozen runner, they were fortunate
+enough to make the Eskimo understand that they wanted to find a polar
+bear. He made signs to them to follow him and he would guide them
+where they would find one. "Can you shoot?" he asked, making a sign
+with his bow and arrow.
+
+"Can we shoot!" laughed both Tommy and Johnny. "Watch us. See that big
+green piece of ice there?" They pointed at an ice-peak near by. "Well,
+watch us!" And first Johnny and then Tommy blazed away at it, and the
+way the icicles came clattering down satisfied them. They wished all
+that trip that the ice-peak had been a bear. So they followed him, and
+a great guide he was. He showed them how to avoid the rough places in
+the ice-fields, and, in fact, seemed quite as much at home in that
+waste of ice and snow as Johnny was back in town.
+
+He always kept near the coast, he said, as he could find both bear and
+seal there. They had reached a very rough place, when, as they were
+going along, he stopped suddenly and pointed far off across the ice.
+Neither Tommy nor Johnny could see anything except ice and snow, try
+as they might. But they understood from his excitement that somewhere
+in the distance was a seal or possibly even a polar bear and, gun in
+hand, with beating hearts, they followed him as he stole carefully
+through the ice-peaks, working his way along, and every now and then
+cautioning them to stoop so as not to be seen.
+
+So they crept along until they reached the foot of a high ridge of ice
+piled up below a long ledge of black rock which seemed to rise out of
+the frozen sea. Up this they worked their way, stooping low, the guide
+in front, clutching his bow and arrow, Johnny next, clutching his gun,
+and Tommy behind, clutching his, each treading in the other's tracks.
+Suddenly, as he neared the top, the guide dropped flat on the snow.
+Johnny followed his example and Tommy did the same. They knew that
+they must be close to the bear and they held their breath; for the
+guide, having examined his bow and arrows carefully, began to wriggle
+along on his stomach. Johnny and Tommy wriggled along behind him,
+clutching their guns. Just at the top of the ledge the guide quietly
+slipped an arrow out of his quiver and held it in his hand, as he
+slowly raised his head and peeped over. Johnny and Tommy, guns in
+hand, crept up beside him to peep also. At that instant, however,
+before Tommy could see anything, the guide sprang to his feet. "Whiz,"
+by Tommy's ear went an arrow at a great white object towering above
+them at the entrance of what seemed a sort of cave, and two more
+arrows followed it, whizzing by his ear so quickly that they were all
+three sticking in deep before Tommy took in that the object was a
+great white polar bear, with his head turned from them, in the act of
+going in the cave. As the arrows struck him, he twisted himself and
+bit savagely at them, breaking off all but one, which was lodged back
+of his shoulder. As he reared up on his hind legs and tried to get at
+this arrow, he seemed to Tommy as high as the great wardrobe at home.
+Tommy, however, had no time to do much thinking, for in twisting
+around the bear caught sight of them. As he turned toward them, the
+guide with a yell that sounded like "Look out!" dodged behind, but
+both Tommy and Johnny threw up their guns and pulled the trigger. What
+was their horror to find that they both had forgotten to load their
+guns after showing the guide how they could shoot. The next second,
+with jaws wide open, the bear made a dash for them. Tommy's heart
+leapt into his throat. He glanced around to see if he could run and
+climb a tree, for he knew that grizzlies could not climb, and he hoped
+that polar bears could not climb either, while Tommy prided himself on
+climbing and had often climbed the apple-tree in the pasture at home;
+but there was not a tree or a shrub in sight, and all he saw was the
+little guide running for life and disappearing behind an ice-peak.
+
+"Run, Johnny!" cried Tommy, and, "Run, Tommy!" cried Johnny at the
+same moment. But they had no time to run, for the next second the bear
+was upon them, his eyes glaring, his great teeth gleaming, his huge
+jaws wide open, from which came a growl that shook the ice under their
+feet. As the bear sprang for them Johnny was more directly in his way,
+but, happily, his foot slipped from under him and he fell flat on his
+back just as the bear lit, or he would have been crushed instantly.
+Even as it was, he was stunned and lay quite still under the bear,
+which for the moment seemed to be dazed. Either he could not tell what
+had become of Johnny, or else he could not make up his mind whether to
+eat Johnny up at once or to leave him and catch Tommy first and then
+eat them both together. He seemed to decide on the latter, for,
+standing up, he fixed his eyes on Tommy and took a step across
+Johnny's prostrate body, with his mouth open wider than before, his
+eyes glaring more fiercely, and with a roar and a growl that made the
+ice-peaks shed a shower of icicles. Then it was that Tommy seemed to
+have become a different boy. In fact, no sooner had Johnny gone down
+than Tommy forgot all about himself and his own safety, and thought
+only of Johnny and how he could save him. And, oh, how sorry he was
+that he had let Johnny carry all the ammunition, even though it was
+heavy! For his gun was empty and Johnny had every cartridge. Tommy was
+never so scared in all his life. He tried to cry out, but his throat
+was parched, so he began to say his prayers, and remembering what
+Santa Claus had said about boys who asked only for themselves, he
+tried to pray for Johnny.
+
+[Illustration: What was their horror to find that they both had
+forgotten to load their guns.]
+
+At this moment happened what appeared almost a miracle. By Tommy
+dashed a little hairy ball and flew at the bear like a tiger; and
+there was Sate, a part of his rope still about his neck, clinging to
+the bear for life. The bear deliberately stopped and looked around as
+if he were too surprised to move; but Sate's teeth were in him, and
+then the efforts of the bear to catch him were really funny. He
+snapped and snarled and snarled and snapped; but Sate was artful
+enough to dodge him, and the bear's huge paws simply beat the air and
+knocked up the snow. Do what he might, he could not touch Sate.
+Finally the bear did what bears always do when bees settle on them
+when they are robbing their hives--he began to roll over and over, and
+the more he rolled the more he tied himself up in the rope around
+Sate. As he rolled away from Johnny, Tommy dashed forward and picked
+up Johnny's gun, coolly loaded it, loading it right, too, and,
+springing forward, raised the gun to his shoulder. The bear, however,
+rolled so rapidly that Tommy was afraid he might shoot Sate, and
+before he could fire, the bear, with Sate still clinging to him,
+rolled inside the mouth of the cave. Tommy was in despair. At this
+moment, however, he heard a sound, and there was Johnny just getting
+on his feet. He had never been so glad to see any one.
+
+"Where is the bear?" asked Johnny, looking around, still a little
+dazed. Tommy pointed to the cave.
+
+"In there, with Sate tied to him."
+
+"We must save him," said Johnny.
+
+Carefully dividing the ammunition now, both boys loaded their guns,
+and hurrying down the icy slope, carefully approached the mouth of the
+cave, guns in hand, in case the bear should appear.
+
+Inside it was so dark that they could at first see nothing, but they
+could hear the sound of the struggle going on between Sate and the
+bear. Suddenly Sate changed his note and gave a little cry as of pain.
+At the sound of his distress Tommy forgot himself.
+
+"Follow me!" he cried. "He is choking!" and not waiting even to look
+behind to see whether Johnny was with him, he dashed forward into the
+cave, gun in hand, thinking only to save Sate. Stumbling and slipping,
+he kept on, and turning a corner there right in front of him were the
+two eyes of the bear, glaring in the darkness like coals of fire.
+Pushing boldly up and aiming straight between the two eyes, Tommy
+pulled the trigger. With a growl which mingled with the sound of the
+gun, the bear made a spring for him and fell right at his feet, rolled
+up in a great ball. Happily for Sate, he lit just on top of the ball.
+Tommy whipped out his knife and cut the cord from about Sate's throat,
+and had him in his arms when Johnny came up.
+
+The next thing was to skin the bear, and this the boys expected to
+find as hard work as ever even Johnny had done; but, fortunately, the
+bear had been so surprised at Tommy's courage and skill in aiming that
+when the bullet hit him he had almost jumped out of his skin. So,
+after they had worked a little while, the skin came off quite easily.
+What surprised Johnny was that it was all tanned, but Tommy had always
+rather thought that bears wore their skin tanned on the inside and
+lined, too. The next thing was to have a dinner of bear-meat, for, as
+Tommy well remembered, all bear-hunters ate bear-steaks. They were
+about to go down to the shore to hunt along for driftwood, when, their
+eyes becoming accustomed to the darkness, they found a pile of wood in
+the corner of the cave, which satisfied them that at some time in the
+past this cave had been used by robbers or pirates, who probably had
+been driven away by this great bear, or possibly might even have been
+eaten up by him.
+
+At first they had some little difficulty in making a fire, as their
+matches, warranted water-proof, had all got damp when Tommy fell into
+the water--an incident I forgot to mention; but after trying and
+trying, the tinder caught from the flint and they quickly had a fine
+fire crackling in a corner of the cave, and here they cooked
+bear-steak and had the finest dinner they had had since they came into
+the Arctic Regions. They were just thinking of going after the dogs
+and the sleds, when up came the dogs dragging the sleds behind them,
+and without a word, pitched in to make a hearty meal of bear-meat
+themselves. It seemed as if they had got a whiff of the fresh steak
+and pulled the sleds loose from the ice points to which they were
+fastened. They were not, however, allowed to eat in any peace until
+they had all recognized that Sate was the hero of this bear fight, for
+he gave himself as many airs as though he had not only got the bear,
+but had shot and skinned it.
+
+It was at this moment that the Eskimo guide came back, jabbering with
+delight, and with his white teeth shining, just as if he had been as
+brave as Sate. At first, Tommy and Johnny were inclined to be very
+cold to him and pointed their fingers at him as a coward, but when he
+said he had only one arrow left and had wanted that to get a sealskin
+coat for Tommy's mother, and, as he had the sealskin coat, they could
+not contradict him, but graciously gave him, in exchange for the coat,
+the bear-meat which the dogs had not eaten.
+
+Having packed everything on the sled carefully, with the sealskin coat
+on top of the pack and the bear's fur on top of that, and having bid
+their Eskimo friend good-by, they turned their backs on the North Pole
+and struck out for home.
+
+They had hardly started, however, when the sound of sleigh-bells
+reached them, coming from far over the snow, and before they could
+tell where it was, who should appear, sailing along over the
+ice-peaks, but Santa Claus himself, in his own sleigh, all packed with
+Christmas things, his eight reindeer shining in the moonlight and his
+bells jingling merrily. Such a shout as he gave when he found that
+they had actually got the bear and had the robe to show for it! It did
+them good; and both Tommy and Johnny vied with each other in telling
+what the other had done. Santa Claus was so pleased that he made them
+both get in his sleigh to tell him about it. He let Sate get in too,
+and snuggle down right at their feet. Johnny's box-sled he hitched on
+behind. The dogs were turned loose. At first Tommy feared they might
+get lost, but Santa Claus said they would soon find their way home.
+
+"In fact," he said with a wink, "you have not been so far away as you
+think. Now tell me all about it," he said. So Tommy began to tell him,
+beginning at the very beginning when Johnny took him on his sled. But
+he had only got as far as the sofa, when he fell asleep, and he never
+knew how he got back home. When he waked up he was in bed.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+He never could recall exactly what happened. Afterward he recalled
+Santa Claus saying to him, "You must show me where Johnny lives, for
+I'm afraid I forgot him last Christmas." Then he remembered that once
+he heard Santa Claus calling to him in a whisper, "Tommy Trot, Tommy
+Trot," and though he was very sleepy he raised himself up to find
+Santa Claus standing up in the sled in Johnny's backyard, with Johnny
+fast asleep in his arms; and that Santa Claus said to him, "I want to
+put Johnny in bed without waking him up, and I want you to follow me,
+and put these things which I have piled up here on the sled you made
+for him, in his stocking by the fire." He remembered that at a whistle
+to the deer they sprang with a bound to the roof, the sled sailing
+behind them; but how he got down he never could recall, and he never
+knew how he got back home.
+
+[Illustration: Santa Claus said to him, "I want to put Johnny in bed
+without waking him up."]
+
+When he waked next morning there was the polar bearskin which he and
+Johnny had brought back with them, not to mention the sealskin coat,
+and though Johnny, when he next saw him, was too much excited at first
+by his new sled and the fine fresh cow which his mother had found in
+her cow-house that morning, to talk about anything else, yet, when he
+and his mother came over after breakfast to see Tommy's father and
+thank him for something, they said that Santa Claus had paid them a
+visit such as he never had paid before, and they brought with them
+Johnny's goats, which they insisted on giving Tommy as a Christmas
+present. So Tommy Trot knew that Santa Claus had got his letter.
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
+    |Transcriber's Note:                                            |
+    |                                                               |
+    |The page numbers in the list of Illustrations have been        |
+    |changed to match their position in this ebook.                 |
+    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus
+by Thomas Nelson Page
+
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