and shining like two eyes. It was the
last thing he saw when he got into bed, and he would say to himself in a
bold way, as if to show any ghosts or goblins that might possibly be
about, how undaunted he was, "Two Eyes! come here and swallow me up!"
and then he would draw the bed-clothes over his head for a minute or
two, and peep out to reassure himself that Two Eyes had not taken him at
his word and come to swallow him up. But Two Eyes never came, and this
gave him fresh courage, so that of late he had become quite bold in the
dark.

As he climbed up the staircase this night, his little head was full of
the idea of Santa Klaus. The chimney was convenient, he thought to
himself, for it passed through the loft and there was a large open
fire-place in it never used. But then, suppose he should come down
before the fire in the room below was fairly out! he would get scorched.
But it was too cold to sit long guessing about such matters, so he
undressed himself quickly. Last of all, he drew off his right stocking.
This he held in his hand--"Oh!" said he, "it has got a hole in it; the
things will all come out!" Indeed, it was almost all hole, for beside
the proper hole which every stocking has or it isn't a stocking, there
was a hole in the heel and another very large one in the toes. He looked
at it in despair, and then took up the other one; but that was even
worse. He consoled himself, finally, as well as he could, by the
reflection that Santa Klaus would probably put all the large things in
first, and thus they would stop the holes up and nothing would be lost.

He cast about now for a place to hang it. The little boy in the picture
hung his on the door, but that was out of the question, for there was no
nail there. He remembered finally a hook in the wall not far from the
chimney. It was a dreadful place to go to, so near Two Eyes! but he
mustered courage, especially when he considered how very convenient it
would be for Santa Klaus. His heart went pit-a-pat as he stole over the
floor; the boards under his feet creaked and every bone in his body
seemed to be going off like a firecracker. It seemed to him as if Two
Eyes and all his friends were starting from every corner of the room.

Going back was not so bad as all the ghosts were now behind him. He
shivered into his cold bed, and drew his knees up to his chin. So
excited was he about Santa Klaus, that when he looked presently toward
the other end of the room and saw