John Jay, sitting beside that wonderful fountain and surrounded by so
many strange, beautiful things, did not think it at all queer that such
an unheard-of person as a birthday Santa Claus should suddenly step out
from the midst of the enchantment and speak to him.

"A blue velvet cape on," he said to himself, thinking how he should
describe him to Bud. "An' gole buckles on his shoes, an' a sword on,
an' a long white feathah in his hat. Cricky! An' it was his hawse I done
held! Maybe it will be somethin' mighty fine what he's goin' to bring
me, 'cause I did that!"

Later he found his way to the kitchen, where Sheba was washing dishes.
The cook gave him a plate of ice-cream and some scraps of cake. She was
telling Sheba how beautiful Miss Hallie's birthday cake looked at
dinner, with its nineteen little wax candles all aflame. That was the
last thing John Jay remembered, until some one shook him, and told him
it was time to go home. He had fallen asleep with a spoon in his hand.

Mammy was afraid to take the short cut through the woods after dark, so
she led him away round by the toll-gate. He was so sleepy that he
staggered up against her every few steps, and he would have dropped down
on the first log he came to, if she had not kept tight hold of his hand
all the way.

When they reached Uncle Billy's house, he had just gone out to draw a
pitcher of water. Mammy stopped to get a drink, and John Jay leaned up
against the well-shed. The rumbling of the windlass and the fall of the
bucket against the water below aroused him somewhat, and by the time he
had swallowed half a gourdful of the cold well-water he was wide awake.