sleep, Uncle Rufus," added Agnes.

"Sho', chillen, dis ain't nottin' fo' ol' Unc' Rufus. He sit up many a
night afore dis. An' somebody has ter watch de Christmas goose."

"Oh! The Christmas goose?" cried Agnes. "Has it come?"

"You wanter see him, chillen?" asked the old colored man, shuffling to
the door. "Looker yere."

They followed him to the woodshed door. There, roosting on one leg and
blinking at them in the lamplight, was a huge gray goose. It hissed
softly at them, objecting to their presence, and they went back into the
warm kitchen.

"Why does it stand that way--on one leg--Uncle Rufus?" asked Agnes.

"Perhaps it's resting the other foot," Ruth said, laughing.

"Maybe it has only one leg," Neale observed.

At that Uncle Rufus began chuckling enormously to himself. His eyes
rolled, and his cheeks "blew out," and he showed himself to be very
"tickled."

The door latch clicked and here appeared Tess and Dot in their warm
robes and slippers. They had managed to wake up when the big girls and
Neale came in, and had now stolen down to hear about the party.

Mrs. MacCall had left a nice little lunch, and a pot of cocoa to warm
them up. The girls gathered their chairs in a half circle about the
front of the kitchen range, with Neale, and while Uncle Rufus got the
refreshments ready, Ruth and Agnes told their sisters something about
the barn dance.

But Neale had his eye on the old colored man. "What's the matter,
Uncle?" he asked. "What's amusing you so much?"

"I done been t'inkin' ob 'way back dar befo' de wah--yas-sir. I done
been t'inkin' ob das Christmas goose--he! he! he! das de funniest
t'ing----"

"Oh, tell us about it, Uncle Rufus!" cried Ruth.

"Do tell us," added Agnes, "for we're not a bit sleepy yet."

"Make room for Uncle Rufus' armchair," commanded Ruth. "Come, Uncle
Rufus: we're ready."

Nothing loath the old fellow settled into his creaking chair and looked
into the glowing coals behind the grated fire-box door.

"Disher happen' befo' de wah," he said, slowly. "I warn't mo' dan a
pickerninny--jes' knee-high to a mus'rat, as yo' might say. But I kin
member ol' Mars' Colby's plantation de bery yeah befo' de wah.

"Well, chillen, as I was sayin', disher Christmas I kin 'member lak' it
was yestidy. My ol' mammy was de sho' 'nuff cook at de big house, an'
Mars' Colby t'ought a heap ob her. But she done tuk down wid de mis'ry
in her back jes' two days fore Christmas--an' de big hous