"Thomas, do you think St. Nicholas knows that we're here?'' asked Catherine Greene.

Thomas looked at his bright-eyed little six-year-old younger sister, and said: "I don't know, Catherine. I really don't know''. He was not sure that any one knew where they were.

The children had been traveling to Virginia with their parents and other settlers when their ship, the Sea Venture , had been caught in a terrible storm.

The ship was wrecked on the tiny islands named the Bermudas but more commonly known as the Devil's Isles because many ships had fallen prey to the vicious reefs that surrounded them.

The settlers had been on the islands since July and it was now early December.

They lived in little huts; ate fish, berries, birds, and wild pigs. And they were in the process of building two ships to take them the rest of the way to Virginia.

Thomas had learned the truth about St. Nicholas but he decided that, even if there was a St. Nicholas, he probably would not bring presents to children on the Devil's Isles.

However, he did not want to upset Catherine so Thomas said as little as possible when she asked about him.

That night, after Catherine had gone to sleep, Thomas decided to talk to his father about her questions.

"How are we going to celebrate Christmas this year, father?'' asked Thomas.

"Catherine asked me if St. Nicholas would be visiting.'' "Well, Thomas,'' his father explained, "there will be a special Christmas church service and a feast on Christmas Day for everyone.

"That will be all, however, as there really isn't much else that we can do.

"There are no shops where I can buy toys for you children or jewels for your mother and no Christmas trees to decorate.

"Everyone is so busy working on the ships, exploring the islands, and gathering food that little time is being spent worrying about presents and decorations.

"Everyone just wants to get on to Virginia as fast as possible and once we're there we'll be able to celebrate Christmas as we used to.'' Thomas listened carefully and nodded in understanding.

A few minutes later he said good night to his parents and curled up in his potato sack bed.

He lay awake for several hours that night thinking about what his father had said and how upset he knew Catherine would be if there was nothing for her on Christmas Day.

Finally, he decided that the only thing to do would be to make Catherine something himself.

"But what,'' he thought, "could I possibly make her?'' Thomas' answer came the next day when hew as fishing off the rocks and Catherine was playing in the sand on the beach nearby.

Before long, he had five large, bright-coloured fish to take home for dinner.

He wandered over to his sister and sat down next to her in the soft, pink sand.

"I miss Evelyn,'' Catherine said suddenly.

It took several moments before Thomas realised that Catherine was talking about her cherished china doll which had been lost when the ship sank.

"If St. Nicholas did come I would want him to bring me Evelyn,'' she said as she buried Thomas' foot in the sand. "I miss her. She must be lonely at the bottom of the sea.'' "Don't worry, Catherine,'' Thomas smiled. "Once we get to Virginia, father will buy you lots of new dolls and you can call them all Evelyn if you like.

Now, let's take these fish home to mother.'' As they trotted up the beach, Thomas smiled to himself. He knew exactly what to make for Catherine now.

The question was how and with what did he go about making a doll? Thomas gave serious consideration to this question over the next few days. He decided that he could not use any leaves to make the doll because they would die and go brown.

Sticks would not work either as they would not be very comfortable to hug. It was when he was lying in bed one night that he realised that the answer was literally right under his nose.

He and Catherine each slept on a palmetto leaf mattress covered with several potato sacks.

He could use one of the potato sacks to make the doll's body! Happy that he finally had a plan, Thomas drifted off to sleep.

The next morning he rose early and slipped quietly out of the hut carrying a potato sack form his bed and one of his mother's needles.

He went to a private little cove that he had discovered several months before and there, Thomas carefully cut the basic human shape out of the potato sack.

He cut out another shape of the same size. Thomas now had the front and the back of the doll. He just had to figure out how to sew them together.

The bottom of his pants had torn and were fraying so he managed to pull several long threads from them.

He tried to remember what his mother had done when he watched her sewing back in England.

Thomas found threading the needle the hardest part but once he had accomplished that, he was on his way.

Forty minutes later he had sewn the two doll shapes together except at the head. His stitches, although he tried to keep them small and neat, were nowhere near as pretty as his mother's but then again, Thomas had never sewn anything in his life before.

He realised that by now his parents would be up and wondering where he was so he stowed the doll and the rest of the potato sack in a hole in the rocks and then hurried back to the hut.

Over the next week, Thomas worked on the doll a bit each day.

He filled the doll with fine wood chips scraped from a cedar branch.

It gave the doll a sweet smell and it was lighter than it would have been if he had filled it with sand.

He sewed up the top of the doll's head once it was full and then had only to dress it.

Thomas took his red shirt, which Catherine loved, and cut out of it a simple straight dress for the doll. He put a tiny bit of red material on the doll's head to make a hat and stuck three tiny Cahow feathers in it to make a plume.

Finally, after he had added flower-dye eyes and a mouth to it, his creation was complete and Christmas was two days away.

On Christmas morning the children went to the church service and then to the feast.

When they had finished their delicious meal Thomas grabbed Catherine's hand and said: "Come with me. I've got a surprise for you''.

He led her to his private cove, but just smiled and shook his head whenever she asked where they were going and what the surprise was.

He sat her down in the sand and told her to cover her eyes.

Catherine giggled and peeked through her fingers as Thomas went to the hole and pulled out the doll that was wrapped in the remains of the potato sack.

"A present for me?'' Catherine squealed with delight.

She eagerly tore the sack open and then slowly pulled out the potato sack doll.

"Oh Thomas!'' she cried. "St. Nicholas did come and he helped you make me a new doll!'' Thomas chuckled and hugged her.

"That's right. St. Nick helped me out. I hope you like her.'' "She's prettier then Evelyn,'' Catherine said, hugging the doll. "And nicer to hug too because I know I won't break her.'' Thomas laughed and hugged her again.

"Maybe these Isles of the Devil aren't so bad after all,'' he thought to himself as he watched the sun sparkling on the water and Catherine sitting in the sand, hugging her doll.

Maybe he could even live there someday. But then again who would want to live on the Devil's Isles? SHORT STORY COMPETITION CPN