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One day the Master Woodsman came back to the forest of Burzee. He had visited, in turn, all his forests throughout the world, and they were many and broad. Not until he entered the glade where the Queen and her nymphs were assembled to greet him did Ak remember the child he had permitted Necile to adopt.
To his delight he found his old friend, the Master Woodsman, seated in the circle of Nymphs. Ak listened to the story of the night journey to the children and of the great assistance the deer had been to Claus by drawing his sledge over the frozen snow. "I do not wish my friends to be punished if I can save them," said the toy-maker, when he had finished the relation.
The pods split under their fingers, click, cluck; the peas fell into the bowl like shot at first, dull as the bowl grew full. Click, cluck, click, cluck . . . Anna began to dream again. "Oh, do wake up," said her mother; "one would think . . ." Anna's hands went startled into the peas. "I must be in love," she said with half a smile. Mrs. Barly sighed. "Ak," she said. Anna began to laugh.
Then Ak came to him and told of the Mantle of Immortality and how Claus had won it through his love for little children. It made old Santa look grave for a moment to think he had been so favored; but it also made him glad to realize that now he need never fear being parted from his dear ones.
These words caused Claus to marvel, for until now he had thought himself the only one of his kind upon the earth; yet in silence he grasped firmly the girdle of the great Ak, his astonishment forbidding speech. Then the vast forest of Burzee seemed to fall away from their feet, and the youth found himself passing swiftly through the air at a great height.
"Here, in the Forest of Burzee," replied the nymph, boldly. "It is my home, and I am weary for lack of occupation. Let me care for the babe! See how weak and helpless it is. Surely it can not harm Burzee nor the Master Woodsman of the World!" "But the Law, child, the Law!" cried Ak, sternly.
Ere long there were spires beneath them, while buildings of many shapes and colors met their downward view. It was a city of men, and Ak, pausing to descend, led Claus to its inclosure. Said the Master: "So long as you hold fast to my girdle you will remain unseen by all mankind, though seeing clearly yourself.
The wish might possibly have been no more attained than theirs, had he not secured the support of the most capable soldier in Khokand, Mahomed Yakoob, the defender of Ak Musjid against the Russians. It was not until the early part of the year 1865 that this Khoja pretender, with his small body of Khokandian officers and a considerable number of Kirghiz allies, appeared upon the scene.
"No, indeed!" replied Glossie; "we enjoyed the trip very much." "And we tried to get home by daybreak," added Flossie, "but were unfortunately a minute too late." "A minute lost at daybreak doesn't matter," said Ak. "You are forgiven for that delay." "Provided it does not happen again," said the Prince of the Knooks, sternly.
"Thought to be filled with explosive!" The Scotchman looked up sarcastically from the letter he was censoring. "What's it likely to be filled with?" "Marmalade, ducky," remarked the Doctor, still harping on his grievance. "In addition to that the Pumpkin desires my presence at the Centre Battalion Head-quarters at 10 ak emma." The C.O. was prodding his second egg suspiciously.
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