ough only the hoar dew rested there, and glittered in the
moonlight.

"Bur-r-r!" growled the north wind, as he flew through the forest.
"Hollo! Captain Jack; many thanks for the Ice King's message which thou
broughtest me. Come, wilt thou ride on my back in return?"

"Many thanks!" replied Captain Jack; "I prefer to travel on foot, and
amuse myself by the way."

"Well, be that as thou wilt!" replied the wind, and he flew off in a
huff; for he considered that he had made a very honorable offer, and had
been slighted.

But Captain Jack ran gayly from the forest; taking long strides over the
grass, and sowing it with little white pearls, breathing on the bare
branches of the trees, and sheathing them in glittering mail, pouncing
slyly on stray wayfarers, and pinching their ears and noses till they
roared again! Then Captain Jack laughed; it sounded like the sharp crack
of a pistol through the still air.

By the banks of the river hares were creeping, and complaining bitterly
of the cold. "Ah!" said they, "if we could but find a warm hole to creep
into, or if we had but thick, curly coats, like the bears!"

"Do you think I have a warm coat to give any one?" quoth Captain Jack,
and he breathed on their long whiskers, which now stood quite stiffly.
"Oh hute-tute-tute-tu!" cried they, hopping up and down with pain; "oh
my toes! my poor toes!"

Captain Jack also danced with merriment; he had neither soul nor
feeling, and couldn't understand being sorry for any one.

Over the river, the lights of the town were gleaming. They shone like
stars that had stooped a little lower from heaven. Captain Jack skipped
lightly across the waves rolling so softly from shore to shore, and as
he passed, the water smoothed out under his feet; it was as though some
one had placed upon it a thin sheet of glass.

He ran through the silent streets of the town, where all the world had
gone to sleep, and peered in at many casements. Sometimes he beheld the
good folks dreaming, with the hard, ugly frown still on their faces
which they had worn when they were awake; and then he slipped into the
room--yes, a key hole was large enough for him to creep through if he
chose! and breathed upon them so, that they shivered in their beds, in
spite of the warm eider down they had tucked around them. "The window
was open on a crack," they would say on the following day; but it needed
not a crack for Captain Jack to enter if he thought they deserved it!