After a while Vrouw Vedder said,

"It's time to go home. Not too much the first time." So they all
went back home with their cheeks as red as roses, and their noses
too, and such an appetite for dinner!

But the Twins were a little lame next day.

Every day after that, Kit and Kat went out with their skates to
the ditches and tried and tried to skate as Father and Mother did
they did so want to skate to town and see the sights before the
feast of St. Nicholas! They worked so hard that in a week they
could skate very well; and then they planned a surprise for their
mother.

"If you will watch at the window, you'll see a great sight on the
canal very soon," said Kit to his mother one day.

Of course Vrouw Vedder hadn't the least idea what it would be!

Kit and Kat slipped out through the stable and ran down to the
ditch. They put on their skates and skated from the ditch out to
the big canal.

Vrouw Vedder was watching at the window. Soon she saw Kit and Kat
go flying by, hand in hand, on the canal! They waved their hands
to her. Vrouw Vedder was so pleased that she went to call Father
Vedder, who was in the hay-loft over the stable.

"Come and see Kit and Kat," she cried.

Father Vedder came down from the loft and looked too. Then Kit
cut a figure like this, S, and Kat cut one like this, 6. The
round spot is where she sat down hard, just as she was almost
around.

When they came into the kitchen Father said,

"I think we could take such a fine pair of skaters as that to the
Vink with us on our way to town! The ice is very hard and thick
for so early in the season, and we will go to-morrow."

"We can see the shops too. St. Nicholas is coming, and the shops
are full of fine things," said Vrouw Vedder.

Kit and Kat could hardly wait for tomorrow to come. They polished
their skates and made everything ready.

"What do you suppose the Vink is?" said Kat to Kit.

"I think it is something like a church," said Kit.

"You don't know what a Vink is, so there," said Kat. "I think
it's something to eat."

Then Kit changed the subject.

"I'll race you to-morrow," he said.

"I'll beat," said Kat.

"We'll see," said Kit.

The next day they started, all four, quite early in the morning:
Vrouw Vedder took her basket on her arm.

"I shall want to buy some things," she said.

Father Vedder lighted his pipe "To keep my nose warm," he said.

Then they all went down to the canal and put on their skates.

"Kat and I are going to race to the first windmill," said Kit.

"I'll tell you when to start," said Father Vedder.

"And I'll get a cake for the one who wins," said the mother.

"One, two, three!" Away they flew like the wind! Father and
Mother Vedder came close behind.

Kit was so sure he would beat that he thought he would show off a
little. He went zigzag across the canal; once or twice he stopped
to skate in curves.

Kat didn't stop for anything. She kept her eyes on the windmill,
and she skated as hard as she could.

They were getting quite near the mill now. Kit stopped playing
and began to skate as fast as he could. But Kat had got the start
of him.

"I'll soon get ahead of her," he thought. "She 's a girl, and I'm
a boy." He struck out with great long sweeps, as long as such
short legs could make, but Kat kept ahead; and in another minute
there she was at the windmill, quite out of breath, and pointing
her finger at Kit!

"I beat, I beat," she said.

"Well, I could have beaten if I wanted to," said Kit.

"I'll get the cake," said Kat.

"I don't care," said Kit. But Kat knew that he did.

"I'll give you a piece," she said.

Father and Mother Vedder came along then; and when Kit and Kat
were rested, they all skated for along time without saying
anything. Then Father Vedder said proudly to his wife,

"They keep up as well as anybody! Were there ever such Twins!"
And Mother Vedder said,

"Never!"

By and by other people appeared on the canal men and women and
children, all skating. They were going to the town to see the
sights too.

One woman skated by with her baby in her arms. One man was
smoking a long pipe, and his wife was carrying a basket of eggs.
But the man and woman were good skaters. They flew along,
laughing; and no one could get near enough to upset them.

As they came nearer to the town, Kit and Kat saw a tent near the
place where one canal opened into another. A man stood near the
tent. He put his hands together and shouted through them to the
skaters,

    "Come in, come in, and get a drink
     Of warm sweet milk on your way to the Vink:"

"We must be getting quite near the Vink," Kat said. "I do wonder
what it looks like Do you think it's alive?"

They passed another tent. There a man was shouting,

    "Come buy a sweet cake; it costs but a cent,
     Come buy, come buy, from the man in the tent."

Vrouw Vedder said,

"I promised a cake to the one who beat in the race. We'll go in
here and get it."

So they went to the tent.

They bought two cakes, and each ate half of one. Kat broke the
cakes and gave them to the others, because she won the race.

When they had eaten the cakes, they skated on. The canals grew
more and more crowded. There were a good many tents; flags were
flying, and the whole place was very gay.

At last they saw a big building, with crowds of merry skaters
about it. Many people were going in and out.

"There's the Vink," said Father Vedder.

"Where?" said Kit and Kat.

He pointed to the building.

"Oh!" said Kit. He never said another word about what they had
thought it was like.

Soon they were inside the Vink. It was a large restaurant. There
were many little tables about, crowded with people, eating and
drinking. Father Vedder found a table, and they all sat down.

"Bring us some pea soup," he said to the waiter. Soon they were
eating the hot soup.

"This is the best thing I ever had," said Kit.

When they had eaten their soup; they went out of the building and
walked through the streets of the town. All the shops were filled
with pretty things. The bake shops had wonderful cakes with
little candies on top, and there were great cakes made like St.
Nicholas himself in his long robes.

Kit and Kat flattened their noses against all the shop windows,
and looked at the toys and cakes.

"I wish St. Nicholas would bring me that," said kit, pointing to
a very large St. Nicholas cake.

"And I want some of those," Kat said, pointing to some cakes made
in the shapes of birds and fish.

Vrouw Vedder had gone with her basket on an errand. Father Vedder
and Kit and Kat walked slowly along, waiting for her. Soon there
was a great noise up the street. There were shouts, and the
clatter of wooden shoes.

"Look! Look!" cried Kit.

There, in the midst of the crowd, was a great white horse; and
riding on it was the good St. Nicholas himself! He had a long
white beard and red cheeks, and long robes, with a mitre on his
head; and he smiled at the children, who crowded around him and
followed him in a noisy procession down the street.

Behind St. Nicholas came a cart, filled with packages of all
sizes. The children were all shouting at once, "Give me a cake,
good St. Nicholas!" or, "Give me a new pair of shoes!" or
whatever each one wanted most.

"Where is he going?" asked Kit and Kat.

"He's carrying presents to houses where there are good girls and
boys," Father Vedder said. "For bad children, there is only a rod
in the shoe."

"I'm glad we're so good," said Kit.

"When will he come to our house?" asked Kat.

"Not until to-morrow," said Father Vedder. "But you must fill
your wooden shoes with beans or hay for his good horse, tonight;
and then perhaps he will come down the chimney and leave
something in them. It's worth trying."

Kit and hat were in a hurry to get home, for fear the Saint would
get there first.

It was growing late, so they all went to a waffle shop for their
supper.

In the shop a woman sat before an open fire. On the fire was a
big waffle iron. She made the waffles, put sugar and butter on
them, and passed a plate of them to each one. Oh, how good they
were!

When they had eaten their waffles, Father and Mother Vedder and
the Twins went back to the canal and put on their skates. It was
late in the afternoon: They took hold of hands and began to skate
toward home, four in a row. Father and Mother Vedder were on the
outside, and the Twins in the middle.

It was dark when they reached home. Vrouw Vedder lighted the
fire, while Father Vedder went to feed the cow and see that the
chickens and ducks and geese were all safe for the night.

Kit and Kat ran for their wooden shoes. They each took one and
put some hay in it. This was for St. Nicholas to give to his
horse. Father Vedder put the shoes on the mantel. Then they
hurried to bed to make morning come quicker.

Father and Mother Vedder sat up late that night. Mother Vedder
said it was to prepare the goose for dinner the next day.

When the Twins woke the next morning, the fire was already
roaring up the chimney, and the kitchen was warm as toast. They
hopped out of bed and ran for their wooden shoes. Mother Vedder
reached up to the mantel shelf for them. Truly, the hay was gone
and there in each shoe was a package done up in paper!

"Oh, he did come! He did come!" cried Kat. "O Mother, you're sure
you didn't build the fire before he had got out of the chimney?"

"I'm sure," said Vrouw Vedder. "I've made the fire on many a St.
Nicholas morning, and I've never burned him yet!"

The Twins climbed up the steps to their cupboard bed and sat on
the edge of it to open their packages. In Kit's was a big St.
Nicholas cake, like the one in the shop window! And in Kat's were
three cakes like birds, and two like fish!

"Just what we wanted!" said Kit and Kat. "Do you suppose he heard
us say so?"

"St. Nicholas can hear what people think," said Vrouw Vedder. "He
is coming to see you to-night at six o'clock, and you must be
ready to sing him a little song and answer any questions he asks
you."

"How glad I am that we are so good!" said Kat.

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