g over the
brim!"

So, just as the moon arose, they dashed out of the Laughing Valley and
across the plain and over the hills to the south. The air was sharp
and frosty and the starlight touched the snowflakes and made them
glitter like countless diamonds. The reindeer leaped onward with
strong, steady bounds, and Claus' heart was so light and merry that he
laughed and sang while the wind whistled past his ears:

"With a ho, ho, ho!
And a ha, ha, ha!
And a ho, ho! ha, ha, hee!
Now away we go
O'er the frozen snow,
As merry as we can be!"

Jack Frost heard him and came racing up with his nippers, but when he
saw it was Claus he laughed and turned away again.

The mother owls heard him as he passed near a wood and stuck their
heads out of the hollow places in the tree-trunks; but when they saw
who it was they whispered to the owlets nestling near them that it was
only Santa Claus carrying toys to the children. It is strange how much
those mother owls know.

Claus stopped at some of the scattered farmhouses and climbed down the
chimneys to leave presents for the babies. Soon after he reached a
village and worked merrily for an hour distributing playthings among
the sleeping little ones. Then away again he went, signing his joyous
carol:

"Now away we go
O'er the gleaming snow,
While the deer run swift and free!
For to girls and boys
We carry the toys
That will fill their hearts with glee!"

The deer liked the sound of his deep bass voice and kept time to the
song with their hoofbeats on the hard snow; but soon they stopped at
another chimney and Santa Claus, with sparkling eyes and face brushed
red by the wind, climbed down its smoky sides and left a present for
every child the house contained.

It was a merry, happy night. Swiftly the deer ran, and busily their
driver worked to scatter his gifts among the sleeping children.

But the sack was empty at last, and the sledge headed homeward; and now
again the race with daybreak began. Glossie and Flossie had no mind to
be rebuked a second time for tardiness, so they fled with a swiftness
that enabled them to pass the gale on which the Frost King rode, and
soon brought them to the Laughing Valley.

It is true when Claus released his steeds from their harness the
eastern sky was streaked with gray, but Glossie and Flossie were deep
in the Forest before day fairly broke.

Claus was so wearied wi