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.