The children crowded to the open door, through which the late afternoon wind blew little flakes of snow.
"It's your Grandmother's rocking chair!" added Rod. "Sure it is!"
"And here are her glasses!" cried Addie, slipping her hand in between the cushions, and taking out the spectacles.
"Well, I do declare!" cried Mrs. Chimney, looking wonderingly at the boys and girls. Thump shuffled out on the steps and barked a welcome to his old friend Racky, saying:
"I am sorry you can't run away any more. I led the children on your trail. I hope you will forgive me."
"It's all right," said Racky. "I'll forgive you. I'm glad they have found me. Or, rather, I am glad I came where the children were. I couldn't stand it to be out in the storm any longer. I was catching cold, and getting a pain in my legs and back. It wasn't your fault, Thump. I saw the children come in here, though, at first, I didn't believe they were the ones I knew. And I wasn't sure it was you, Thump. But I am tired of running away and having adventures. I have had enough. I am ready to go back to Happy Home!"
"I'm glad," barked the dog. "We'll all go together."
Of course this talk between Thump and Racky was not heard by the children, nor by Mrs. Chimney nor by Santa Claus, as the boys and girls still called the old man.
"This chair must have fallen off a moving wagon in the storm, and the wind blew it along, so you thought it was rocking itself," said Mrs. Chimney, making the same mistake as had the Singing Girl.
"I saw that chair, ma'am, as plainly as I see you, shuffle along until it got to your door," declared Santa Claus. "It was going to knock with its rockers or arms, I verily believe, so you would take it in."