"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]
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