The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1875-12-25

the Arctic Circle Short made mn awful
Richard, Taking the iirrIm man be- could
lay hands on for horst he made the
rest Of M lly 10 our buuks for safety
and then We could nj help laughing to
see the black cooks eyes stick ont ~ ho
stood behind his c0ppeN 'Iahbng ut
Short with his longest bccl-lork to Keep |
him or
IN the midst of our fun, II .uunfc
voice hailed from on deck, and Wo all
Iumhlcd up Ia sec who WIS there nnd
what was the matter
Brholdl there stood Santa Claus Inn
self II could be no olhor II was just
like the pictures wc hud all seen Of him
and every one recognized him NJ once,
lie spoke to Short, whom he seemed to|
recognize ~ our leading man. IN u voice
that was thick with frost,
II ~ little late, said h~ bat was
sure Of getting here before sunrise, any
how, 50 thought II attend to nll the
others first Mighty hard driving up
this way Broke trace, crossing Win
niprg, and had to stop to mend IT, UP
set all my traps too coming down the
Suddlc,liack Mountains But ! m horc
at last, all right, and ityou yr gol any
onts 1t like to give my team feed be
fore begin to unlond
Haven't got an nt says Short hut
where + your team rrot II up
The heads of the team were visible,
and the next moment four curious-loO>-
na animals came M the inclined snow
plane TO the open mngway, drawing II
slcdge (Which looked very much like the
one We had built to use about the ship
and lcapcd upon deck The slrdgr was
loaded with packages and bundles, all
labeled, but the team was shat at first
most Interested us
Those animals were not reindeer, nor
dogS--unlcss they were new species
that we had not yet heard Of They had
only two legs, and they wore boots, Bat
their bodies and heads were covered with
fur and something that looked like ray
cled.out stockingyun, Their heads look
ed somewhat like dogs hoads, but rs
none of them had their tongues out, We
suspected they were not dogs at all, In
some respects especially in height they
rrscmbcd our four ho0t-stccrers, and
when wc remembered that we had not
seen the hont-stcercrS below for an hour
or more, We thought it Just possible that
they might have been transformed into
these strange animals.
The captain and the others who lived
in the cubin--al but the mate--cNme up
to look ut Santa Claus and his team. As
for the slcdge, we all felt sure we had
seen it before; but we were not going ia
accuse Santa Claus OF deception, or with
stealing, to begin with Evidently he
had brought ~ presents, and we ought
to be satisfied,
mo oats!" exclaimed he, as If aston
: ished, when his team stood stampngand
shaking themselves on deck, What
have You been living OH all winter
Nothing TO blug of rs yet said
Short. We vc been eating odds and
ends, mostly. The doctors got some
good beef in his coppers to-day, though
and if your hounds are hungry enough
to cat that, they can have some
j. Hungry Have stopped to eat on
/ drink, till now, since we left Kamschat
, la, almost twentv-iorr hours ago Been
clear round, you know Guess they'll
, pick your bones il you give III Il chance!
: And that reminds me, We got few
, tiXin's here that wont 50 bad with your
Christmas dinner, and guess may aS
well give en- to ye right away" And
ut once Santa Claus began to unpack.
The packages he drew out first were
labeled, III very bold letters, For Cen
? eral Distributions. There was Il lleg OF
, moasses two whole hams, frozen pickles,
t condensed milk, Il package Of cheese
Every old cheese, that had been packed
t i'll brmey, or something else that was
strong enough to keep III, pilot bread "a
better quality of bread than we got eve
ry day }, quantity OF preserved bananas,
somewhat resembling tieS, a box of mus
tarl, vinegar, picked potatoes, and a bag
OF dried apples,
All these Santa Claus unloaded while
, we crowded around him, and then came
articles of clothing each hearing in large
letters the name OF the crew. A pair OF
boots for one, n flannel shirt toranother,
Guernsey lrock for Il third, and so on.
: Every man of us got something to cheer
! his heart and show that he was not for
gotten, Old Santa Claus seemed to
know rs all, and handed to each his
particular package accompanying it
: with some appropriate remark.
We could not but admire the old fell
, low while he was doing this, but when
, il appeared that he Ind brought us lei.
ters from home, our enthusiasm almost up,
set him. From out u deop pocket he
drew letter after letter, and slowly read.
mo tho characterization hondod II to tbo