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"
Good gracious!" exclaimed Glossie; "then we shall not be home by daybreak,
and the Knooks will punish us and never let us come again."
"
We must race for the Laughing Valley and make our best speed," returned
Flossie; "so hold fast, friend Claus!"
Claus held fast and the next moment was flying so swiftly over the snow that
he could not see the trees as they whirled past. Up hill and down dale, swift
as an arrow shot from a bow they dashed, and Claus shut his eyes to keep the
wind out of them and left the deer to find their own way.
It seemed to him they were plunging through space, but he was not at all
afraid. The Knooks were severe masters, and must be obeyed at all hazards,
and the gray streak in the sky was growing brighter every moment.
Finally the sledge came to a sudden stop and Claus, who was taken
unawares, tumbled from his seat into a snowdrift. As he picked himself up he
heard the deer crying:
"
Quick, friend, quick! Cut away our harness!"
He drew his knife and rapidly severed the cords, and then he wiped the
moisture from his eyes and looked around him.
The sledge had come to a stop in the Laughing Valley, only a few feet, he
found, from his own door. In the East the day was breaking, and turning to
the edge of Burzee he saw Glossie and Flossie just disappearing in the Forest.
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