FOURTEENTH NIGHT

THE SLEIGH AND THE TINY REINDEER


Marmaduke had played too long in the snow.

He was very wet.

He was very cold.

And he felt very funny and hot all over.

"Mother, my throat's got a rubber ball stuck in it," he said.

Mother looked at it.

"No, dear, there's no rubber ball there, but your throat's all swollen and
there are little spots in it. You mustn't get up today."

Marmaduke lay very still for a while. Soon he heard sleigh-bells tinkling
past the window, then far down the road. Father had hitched Teddy, the
buckskin horse, to the big sleigh and was going for the Doctor.

Away ticked the clock. After a while-a long time it seemed--Marmaduke heard
the sleigh-bells again, at first far off, then coming nearer and nearer,
until they jingled before the porch--then stopped. He heard voices and the
sound of feet upon the porch, shaking off the snow.