s coat, pulled his cap over his eyes and opened
the door. The wind dashed in and scattered the embers over the hearth,
at the same time blowing Blinkie's fur so furiously that she crept
under the table to escape. Then the door was closed and Claus was
outside, peering anxiously into the darkness.

The wind laughed and scolded and tried to push him over, but he stood
firm. The helpless flakes stumbled against his eyes and dimmed his
sight, but he rubbed them away and looked again. Snow was everywhere,
white and glittering. It covered the earth and filled the air.

The cry was not repeated.

Claus turned to go back into the house, but the wind caught him
unawares and he stumbled and fell across a snowdrift. His hand plunged
into the drift and touched something that was not snow. This he seized
and, pulling it gently toward him, found it to be a child. The next
moment he had lifted it in his arms and carried it into the house.

The wind followed him through the door, but Claus shut it out quickly.
He laid the rescued child on the hearth, and brushing away the snow he
discovered it to be Weekum, a little boy who lived in a house beyond
the Valley.

Claus wrapped a warm blanket around the little one and rubbed the frost
from its limbs. Before long the child opened his eyes and, seeing
where he was, smiled happily. Then Claus warmed milk and fed it to the
boy slowly, while the cat looked on with sober curiosity. Finally the
little one curled up in his friend's arms and sighed and fell asleep,
and Claus, filled with gladness that he had found the wanderer, held
him closely while he slumbered.

The wind, finding no more mischief to do, climbed the hill and swept on
toward the north. This gave the weary snowflakes time to settle down
to earth, and the Valley became still again.

The boy, having slept well in the arms of his friend, opened his eyes
and sat up. Then, as a child will, he looked around the room and saw
all that it contained.

"Your cat is a nice cat, Claus," he said, at last. "Let me hold it."

But puss objected and ran away.

"The other cat won't run, Claus," continued the boy. "Let me hold that
one." Claus placed the toy in his arms, and the boy held it lovingly
and kissed the tip of its wooden ear.

"How did you get lost in the storm, Weekum?" asked Claus.

"I started to walk to my auntie's house and lost my way," answered
Weekum.

"Were you frightened?"

"It was cold," said Weeku