"Oh, my dear friend Nodding Donkey! I am in a terrible state! The rope is so tight it is squeezing all the cotton stuffing out of me! Oh, what shall I do?"
Anxious as the Nodding Donkey was to help his friend the Stuffed Elephant, nothing could be done. For the rope had suddenly been pulled up, taking the Elephant with it. And there he swung, dangling to and fro, the coil of the rope getting tighter and tighter around his neck, choking the poor toy.
"Oh, I know all the stuffing will be squeezed out of me! I just know it will!" sighed the Elephant. "Then I'll look like a balloon with all the air out of it! Oh dear!"
"Can't you get yourself loose?" asked the Donkey. "I wish I could climb up and help you, but I can't."
"And I'd help you, for I am a good climber, only I can't get off my stick. I'm fastened on tight just now," chattered Herbert's Monkey.
"Well, something will have to be done, if I am to be saved!" called the Elephant, of course not speaking loudly enough for the children, in another part of the barn, to hear.
Archie and his friends were still having fun sliding down the slippery hay, and they were making a great deal of noise. But you know how it is yourself. You often get tired of playing one game and want to go to another.
It was this way with Archie and his friends. They slid and slid and slid on the hay until they had had enough of it. Then Elsie said:
"Let's go back and get our playthings. I want to see my Christmas Dollie."
Back to where they had left the toys trooped the children, and Archie, who ran ahead, was just in time to see his StuffedElephant swaying on the rope that was choking him.
"Oh, look! Look at my Elephant!" cried Archie. "He's hung on a rope! Oh, he'll be killed! Oh, dear!"
"Run and grab him down! Pull him down!" shouted Joe.
Archie ran, but by this time the rope was pulled up still farther and the Elephant was so far above the barn floor that even Herbert, who was taller than Archie, could not reach the plaything.
"Oh, stop!" cried Archie. "Stop hurting my nice Elephant, Rope!"
Archie's voice was loud and clear. Suddenly the rope which had been winding up, around the big wheel, came to a stop, and a voice called:
"What's the matter down there? Are any of you children hurt?"
"Oh, that's Jake!" exclaimed Elsie. "It's our man Jake!"
"What's the trouble there, Archie?"Jake asked. He was somewhere in the loft of the barn.
"It's my Elephant!" Archie answered, trying to keep from crying. "My nice, Stuffed Christmas Elephant. He's hanging on a rope!"
"On a rope!" exclaimed Jake. "Do you mean this wheel rope that I use to hoist up bags of oats to the bin here? Is it that rope?"
"I don't know—but it's some rope!" Archie answered. "Can't you save my Elephant?"
"Of course I can!" called Jake. "Don't worry! Your Elephant isn't alive—choking with a rope can't hurt him!"
"Yes, it can, too!" insisted Archie. "It can choke all the stuffing out of him and make him flat like a pancake."
"Well, yes, that might happen," admitted Jake. "But I didn't know any of your toys were tangled in the hoisting rope, or I would not have pulled it. Waita minute, now, and I'll turn the wheel the other way and let your Elephant down to you."
Slowly the big wheel turned in the other direction, and the end of the rope that was about the Elephant's neck dropped toward the barn floor. The Elephant, also, began slowly to come down.
"Thank goodness!" said the toy to himself. "I could not have stood being hanged much longer. I'm glad it's over!"
And it was over a moment later when Archie could reach up, take the loop of rope from around his plaything's neck and set the Elephant down on the barn floor.
"How did it happen?" asked Jake. He came down out of the loft, or place where he stored the bags of oats. The oats were hauled to the lower floor of the barn. There a rope was put about each bag and it was lifted to the upper floor where it was stored in a bin. The lifting rope wentaround a big wheel, acting like a dumbwaiter in some houses.
Jake had turned the wheel by pulling on a second rope upstairs in the barn, and as the wheel turned it wound up the longer rope. It was the end of this rope that had looped itself about the Elephant.
"How did it happen?" asked Jake again.
"I don't know," Archie replied. "I left my Elephant here when I went to slide down the hay. When I came back he was on the rope."
"Some of you children must have left the Elephant too near the end of the rope," said Jake. "When I wound it up the Elephant became tangled in a loop, and of course he was lifted up."
"Nope! We didn't any of us leave the Elephant near the rope; did we?" asked Archie of his little friends.
"Nope!" they all answered.
"Well, that's queer," said Jake. "ThatElephant never got on the rope by himself, I'm sure."
But that is just what the Elephant did, as we know.
"Anyhow I'm glad he's all right now," said Archie, as he looked carefully at his new toy. "None of the stuffing came out."
But it might have, if the Elephant had been left hanging much longer on the rope.
Finding that everything was all right and that none of the children was in danger, Jake went back to the oat bin. There was a long chute, or slide, from the upper bin to a box on the first floor of the barn. And the oats came rushing down this slide when a door in the top bin was opened. This door could be opened by pulling a rope near the horse stalls, and sometimes Archie was allowed to pull the rope, open the door of the large grain bin, and let the oats slide down the chute to the smaller bin on the lower floor.
But this day Jake was putting a newsupply of oats in the upper bin, and Archie was not allowed to play near it. The little boy and his friends soon began having more fun with their Christmas toys, giving the Clown and smaller dolls rides on the back of the Stuffed Elephant.
Thus Christmas passed, New Year's came, and the Elephant lived and was happy in Archie's home. The Elephant did not often think of Mr. Mugg and his daughters Geraldine and Angelina. He liked it much better, did the Elephant, in Archie's house than in the store. Of course the toy store was a jolly place, but no boys or girls were permitted to play with the toys. They were there for sale, and could only be played with after being bought and taken home.
So the Elephant was glad he belonged to Archie, who was a boy that took very good care of his playthings. Nearly every day Joe, Dick or Arnold would come over to see Archie, bringing their playthings, and in this way the Elephant met manyfriends whose adventures are related in the other books of this series.
And at night, when Archie and Elsie were in bed, of course the Elephant, and the other toys in the Dunn house, had their usual fun. They would make believe come to life and talk and play about in the nursery or in the closet—wherever they happened to be left at the close of the day.
It was still winter, though Archie and Elsie wished spring would come so they might play oftener out of doors. And one rainy day, when it was too cold and stormy to be out, Archie and Elsie went to the big, warm barn to have fun. Archie carried his Elephant and Elsie had her Doll.
"Let's go upstairs to the grain bins," suggested Elsie, when they had played about in the hay for a time.
"Maybe Jake will let us open the bin door from up there, and we can watch the oats slide down the chute," said Archie. "I like to watch the oats slide."
"So do I," Elsie admitted. The grainbin was so built that the door of the chute could be opened from above or below.
Up to the upper floor of the barn went the two children, with the Elephant and the Doll.
"Are you here, Jake?" called Archie, but there was no answer.
"I don't guess he's around," said Elsie.
"I don't guess so, either," replied Archie. "But I don't guess he'd care if I let down some oats. I looked in the lower bin and there's hardly any there. I'm going to let some down the chute."
"I'll watch you," offered Elsie, as she set her Doll on top of a big oat box.
The cover to the box was open. Archie liked this because he could see the smooth oats go down the wooden chute, or slide, like so much water.
"I'll let a lot of oats down," the little boy said to his sister. He placed his Elephant on the edge of the bin, near the Doll. Then Archie pulled on the handle that opened the door. It was hard work, forthe oats pressed against the door. Elsie came to help him, and at last the children managed to get it open.
"There they go!" cried Archie, as the oats began to pour down the chute.
"Yes, and there goes your Elephant!" shouted Elsie. As she spoke, the stuffed toy fell into the oat bin, and, a moment later, the poor chap was sucked into the smooth chute, with the running grain, and the oats closed over his head. Lost to the sight of the children, the Stuffed Elephant was taking a dangerous slide.
Archie was so surprised at what happened that, for a moment, he could do nothing but stand and look at the stream of oats gliding down the wooden chute to the bin on the floor below.
"There goes your Elephant!" cried Elsie again. "He fell right into the oats, Archie!"
"Yes—yes—I—I see he did!" stammered the little boy.
"I'm glad my Doll didn't go, too!" went on Elsie. "I guess I'd better take her away 'fore she tumbles in."
Elsie reached over to take her toy from the side of the oat bin where the Christmas Doll had been put by her mistress.But Elsie's foot slipped on some hay on the floor, she tried to save herself from falling, her arm struck her Doll, and, a moment later, the Doll was sliding down the stream of smooth oats as the Elephant had done.
"Oh! Oh!" cried Archie. "Look at your Doll! She went down just like my Elephant!"
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" wailed Elsie. "Where has she gone?"
"Down into the oat bin on the first floor," explained Archie. "The oats go from this big bin to the little bin where Jake takes them out to give to the horses. Don't cry, Elsie. We'll get your Doll back."
Archie had almost been going to cry himself when he saw his Elephant being buried in the rushing stream of oats. But when he heard his sister's sobs he made up his mind to be brave and try to help her.
Archie was so excited that he still heldup the sliding door of the oat bin, and the grains kept on sliding down the chute, carrying with them the Elephant and Doll, though now the toys were not in sight.
"Come on downstairs and get my Doll!" begged Elsie, tugging at her brother's hand. "Come on and get your Elephant and my Doll."
"Yes, we'd better do that," Archie agreed.
Then he saw that he was still holding open the little door in the oat bin, so that pecks and bushels of the grains were still sliding down the chute.
"I'd better close that, or the Elephant and the Doll will be buried away down under so many oats they'll never get out," said the little boy.
He let go the handle that they had pulled to raise the door, and it dropped shut, thus preventing any more oats from sliding down the chute. Then he took Elsie's hand and hurried toward the stairs that led to the lower floor of the barn.
Meanwhile, as you have guessed, the Elephant and the Doll were not having a very good time. At first, when the Elephant felt himself fall in with the sliding oats, he did not know what had happened.
"I wonder what sort of adventure this is!" thought the Elephant. "It's almost as bad as being pitched out into a snow drift, though I'm glad it isn't cold. These oats are very scratchy, though, and they make me want to sneeze. But where am I going?"
The Elephant did not know. All he could tell was that he was being hurried along in the dark with a lot of oats, for it was dark inside the grain chute.
Down, down, down went the Elephant, just as he had gone up, up, up on the rope.
"Where shall I land?" thought the Elephant.
A moment later he found out, for he was shot from the chute into the almost empty grain bin on the lower floor. Out of the chute tumbled the Elephant, and he wasvery glad to be in an open space once more.
"But it is almost as dark as it was before," he said. A little light came from the top of the bin which did not close tightly, but it was only a little light.
But the Elephant's troubles were not over. For no sooner had he been slid clear of the chute, landing on his feet, very luckily, than more oats poured out, for Archie was still holding open the door of the grain bin up above. So many oats came sliding down the chute that they rose all around the Elephant like rising water around a rock. The oats rose to his knees, to his stomach, where they tickled him a little, and then began to rise over his back.
"Oh!" he trumpeted, raising his trunk as high as he could. "I am going to be covered from sight in the oats!"
And then, when the oats almost covered his eyes, he had a glimpse of the Doll coming down the chute, in a shower of oats.
"Oh, you poor child!" called the Elephant.
"Yes, isn't this terrible!" exclaimed the Doll. "Oh, how are we ever going to get out?"
The Elephant tried to answer, but now the oats rose over his mouth and he could not speak. Only the top of his head and the tip of his trunk stuck out above the oats.
The Doll, having come down a little later, was not so deeply covered by the grains. She tried to stand up, to keep her head as far above the oats as she could, but it was hard work. Around and around she slipped, from side to side.
More and more oats poured down, for Archie still held open the door, and at last the poor Doll was covered from sight, as was the Elephant.
And it was now that Archie and Elsie came racing down the stairs. Archie called:
"Jake! Jake! Come here! Where are you? Oh, my Elephant is in the oat bin,and so is Elsie's Doll, and we've got to get 'em out!"
"What's that? Elsie in the oat bin?" cried Jake, who had just come back to the barn.
"No, not Elsie, but her Doll!" shouted Archie. "And so is my Stuffed Elephant."
"Well, that isn't so bad as if one of you children were in the bin," replied Jake. "I'll help you, though. Show me which bin."
Archie told what he had done, and when Jake opened the bin on the lower floor it was brim full and running over with oats.
"You surely let down enough grain," said Jake.
"How are you going to get my Doll?" Elsie asked.
"And my Elephant?" added Archie.
"Oh, I'll shovel them out," said Jake. "Don't be afraid. I'll get the Doll and the Elephant."
"Well, you'd better hurry, 'cause they may smother," Elsie said.
"I'll hurry," promised Jake.
With a shovel he carefully took some of the oats from the bin, so that first Elsie's Doll could be seen, and then the Elephant came into view.
"There you are!" said kind Jake, as he handed the toys back to the children.
"My, wasn't that a terrible time?" said the Doll to the Elephant that night, when they were left by themselves in a closet.
"I should say so!" agreed the Elephant. "I never want anything like that to happen again! I hope I have no more adventures!"
But he was to have more.
For a time, however, nothing very exciting happened. Archie played with his Elephant and Elsie with her Doll, and their boy and girl friends brought over their toys to have fun with. Often they amused themselves in the big, warm barn,though never again did Archie go near the grain bin.
Sometimes Nip, the big dog, would go to the barn to play with the children, and once, though not meaning to, the Elephant gave the dog a scare. It was this way.
Archie had set his elephant down on the barn floor, near a big box. Nip, the dog, coming suddenly around the corner of the box, did not know the Elephant was there until a draft of wind swayed the Elephant's trunk, making it wiggle to and fro.
"Oh, my! A snake! A snake!" cried Nip, who was afraid of the crawling creatures. "It's a big snake!"
"Nonsense! I'm not a snake," said the Elephant, who could speak, since Elsie and Archie were in another part of the barn.
"What was it that looked like a snake?" howled Nip.
"It was my trunk. The wind blew it," was the answer.
"Hum!" said Nip, who, now that he took a second look, saw that there was really no snake, and nothing to frighten him. "Hum! I believe you did that on purpose, just to scare me!"
"No, really I didn't!" said the Elephant.
"Yes, you did, too!" barked Nip. "And, just for that, I'm going to play a trick on you!"
"Please don't!" begged the Elephant.
"Yes, I will!" growled Nip, who was a little angry, and not as kind as he might have been. "I'm going to carry you away off!" he barked.
Then, before the Elephant could do anything to save himself, Nip, the big dog, caught the soft Stuffed Elephant up by his back and carried him into a dark and distant part of the barn.
"Let me go! Oh, please put me down! Where are you taking me?" called the Stuffed Elephant to Nip, the big dog.
Nip did not answer. This was not because he could not speak the toy language or the language of Stuffed Elephants. But Nip held Archie's Christmas plaything in his mouth, and you know a dog can't even bark when he has anything in his mouth. He can only growl.
Now, Nip was not a bad dog. And though he was playing a trick on the Stuffed Elephant, still Nip was not cross enough to do any growling. So he just kept still, and trotted along the barn floor, carrying the Elephant.
Nip, being a big dog, had no trouble in carrying the Stuffed Elephant, though the toy was rather large. Stuffed with cotton, as the Elephant was, he was not very heavy, you see.
"Stop! Oh, please let me go! Where are you taking me?" asked the Elephant again.
But Nip answered never a word. All the dog had said at first was:
"I am going to carry you away off!"
And he seemed to be doing this.
Through the barn he trotted with the Stuffed Elephant in his mouth. The Elephant had never been in this part of the barn before. Archie and Elsie never came here to play. It was too dark, and rather dusty and dirty, with cobwebs hanging down from the walls and ceiling.
Down the stairs trotted Nip, still carrying the Elephant. The dog trotted over to a dim and dusty corner, dropped the Christmas toy upside down on the floor and then barked:
"There you are! Now let's see you find your way back! I'll teach you to scare me by making believe your trunk is a snake!"
"Oh, but I didn't do that! Really I didn't!" exclaimed the Elephant, as he scrambled to his feet. He could move about and talk now, because no human eyes were there to watch him. "It was all an accident," he went on. "The wind blew my trunk! I didn't wave it at you to scare you by making you think it was a snake. Really I didn't!"
"Yes, you did!" said Nip, and away he ran, soon being lost to sight in the darkness of this part of the barn.
For a little while the Stuffed Elephant stood there, swaying slowly to and fro, as real elephants do. He reached out with his trunk and gently touched the wooden walls. He could dimly see things all about him, but he did not know what they were.
"Oh, dear!" sighed the poor Stuffed Elephant. "I don't like this at all! I wonder what I had better do?"
He was trying to think, and wondering if he could walk up the stairs and find his way back to the place where Archie had left him before Nip carried him away, when, suddenly, the Stuffed Elephant heard voices talking.
"Maybe he could settle it," said one voice.
"Well, I'm willing to leave it to him if you are," said a second.
"Who is he, anyhow?" asked a third voice.
"Oh, he's some sort of animal," went on the first voice. "He isn't an angleworm, I know that much, but just what sort he is I don't know. But he looks smart, and maybe he can settle this dispute for us."
"I am a Stuffed Elephant, that's who I am," said Archie's pet, speaking for himself. "And who are you, if you please? I can't see any one, but I hear you talking. Who are you?"
"I am the Garden Shovel," answeredthe first voice; "and I claim to be the most useful tool in all the world. Without me there never would be any garden, and things would not grow."
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the second voice. "I am the Garden Rake, and I claim to be the most useful tool the gardener ever uses. Without me the ground would never be raked nice and smooth, so the seeds could be put in. I should get the prize for being the most useful."
"How foolishly you talk!" put in the third voice. "Every one knows that I am entitled to the prize. Talk about shoveling the ground, and raking the ground! What can you two do by yourselves, or together, for that matter, if the ground is hard? Answer me that. You must send for me, you know you must!"
"And who are you?" asked the Stuffed Elephant, for this tool had not yet named himself.
"I am the Pick," was the answer. "And with my sharp points the hardest groundcan be made soft, so the Rake and the Shovel can work. I am the most useful tool of all."
"No, I am!" cried the Rake.
"Indeed you are not! I am!" exclaimed the Shovel.
"Well, there we are! Just where we started!" complained the Pick. "Why not leave it to this gentleman animal here. What did you say your name was?" he asked politely, and then Archie's toy saw the Pick, the Rake and the Shovel step out from a dark corner and stand in a row before him.
"I am the Stuffed Elephant," was the answer. "This is my first visit to this part of the barn. What is it you want me to do?"
"If this is your first visit you have never seen any of us before, have you?" asked the Shovel.
"Never before did I see any of you," the Elephant replied.
"Just the proper one for a Judge!" declared the Rake. "He will be honest and fair."
"I'm willing to have him if you two are," said the Pick.
"What's it all about?" asked the Elephant. "I don't understand. What is a Judge?"
"Some one who tells the right from the wrong," answered the Rake. "Listen, Mr. Stuffed Elephant! Get up on that box, for a Judge must be above every one else, and we will tell you what the trouble is."
The Elephant got up on a strong, empty onion crate, and stood there with the Shovel, the Rake and the Pick standing in a row in front of him.
"You must say 'Ahem!' and bang on the box, like a real Judge," said the Shovel.
"Ahem!" coughed the Elephant, as loudly as he could. Then he took up a piece of wood in the end of his trunk, and banged on the side of the onion crate.
"Now this is like a real court," said the Rake, "and we shall have our quarrel settled."
"Oh, have you three been quarreling?" asked the Elephant Judge.
"Well, not exactly; and the quarrel is not an angry one," replied the Shovel. "You see," he went on, "we three tools work in the garden. Or, rather, Jake, the man, uses us when he works. Now I claim I am the most useful of the three. Jake always takes me out when there is a bit of ground to be spaded up, or turned over, when he wants to make the garden in the spring. So I think, Mr. Judge Elephant, Your Honor, that I am entitled to the prize."
"Hum! Let me see now," said the Elephant, trying to look very wise. "I suppose I must listen to what the others have to say."
"Oh, yes, indeed!" exclaimed the Rake. "We must each state our case, as in a real court, and then you shall decide who isright. Now, for myself—Oh, by the way, had you quite finished?" he asked of the Shovel, politely.
"Yes," was the answer, "I think I said enough to have the Elephant Judge give me the prize. Go on, Mr. Rake."
"Well," said the Rake, smiling a little to show his teeth, "I claim to be more useful than the Shovel. It is true Jake uses him to turn the ground over. But before the ground can be turned Jake uses me to take away the dead leaves and sticks that are not wanted. And even after the Shovel is used to turn the ground over, no seeds can be planted, and the garden can not really be made, until I am used again to smooth things over. So I claim to be the most useful tool."
The Rake stepped back in line with the others, and they all waited for the Elephant to speak.
"Ahem!" said the animal judge very loudly. "There is one more to be heard. Proceed, Mr. Pick."
The Pick, who had at least two good points in his favor, stepped forward, made a stiff little bow with his handle, and said:
"What my friends Rake and Shovel have told you, of course is true. They are useful, each in his own way. But I do the really hard work of the garden. When the earth is packed hard and dry, so that neither the Shovel nor the Rake can be used, Jake always comes and gets me. I am larger and stronger than either the Rake or the Shovel, though of course the Rake has a longer handle. But it is a very thin handle, and if Jake struck as hard a blow with the Rake as he strikes with me, the Rake's handle would break. And no matter how hard he digs the Shovel into the hard ground, no earth can be turned over until I first loosen it. So I claim the prize."
The Pick stepped back in line with the other two, all three bowed politely and waited.
"What am I to do now?" asked the Elephant.
"You must act as Judge and tell which of us is the most useful, to decide who gets the prize," said the Rake.
"That is it," chimed in the Pick and the Shovel.
"This is very hard—very hard indeed," sighed the Elephant. "In fact I never before knew how hard it was to decide between right and wrong. Let me think a minute."
He passed his trunk over his head, which was beginning to ache with all the talk he had listened to.
"Hum! Let me see now," the Elephant spoke slowly. "It is true, Mr. Shovel, that you are very useful. Without you the ground could not be turned."
"There! See! I told you I'd get the prize!" cried the Shovel.
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" trumpeted the Elephant. "I have not finished. It is also true," he went on, "that the Rake is very useful. Before the Shovel can be used the ground must be raked clean, and after the Shovel has spaded the earth, it must be raked smooth."
"There! I knew it! Oh, what a fine Judge! He is going to say I am entitled to the prize!" exclaimed the Rake, laughing.
"Not yet! Wait a minute!" cried the Elephant. "I have not finished! I want to say that the Pick used very good arguments. He is right when he says without him, in case the ground is hard, nothing can be done. And he certainly is the strongest, so I think——"
"Oh, ho! What did I tell you! I get the prize!" cried the Pick.
"Wait a minute! I have not finished!" said the Elephant Judge. "What I was going to say was that before I could decide who wins I must see the prize. What is the prize? Bring it here that I may see it,and then I will decide who is to get it."
"Wait a Minute!" Trumpeted the Elephant."Wait a Minute!" Trumpeted the Elephant.
The Story of a Stuffed Elephant.Page97
"Oh, the prize!" cried the Shovel.
"That's so, we forgot all about it!" gasped the Rake.
"What was the prize to be?" asked the Pick. "I declare we did not settle on any. How stupid!"
"Until I see the prize I cannot give judgment," said the Elephant; "so the case will have to 'go over,' as I believe they say in Court, until the prize is brought here. Stop disputing now, and get me the prize!"
"Yes! Yes! The prize! The prize!" cried the Rake, the Shovel and the Pick, and away they scurried.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed another voice in the corner whence had come the three tools.
"What silly chaps!" came in another voice.
"To forget the most important thing of all—the prize!" added another.
"Who are you, if you please?" askedthe Elephant, stepping down off the onion crate.
"I'm the Hoe," was the answer of the first. "If I had wished I could have told how useful I am. In fact, I think I will have a try for the prize."
"I'm just as much entitled to it as you are," some one else said. "You needn't think you can get ahead of me!"
"Who are you?" asked the Elephant.
"The Wheelbarrow," was the reply. "You ought to see the loads I carry. I ought to get the prize!"
"What about me?" asked a third voice.
"Who are you?" asked the Elephant.
"The Lawn Mower. Just think what an ugly place this estate would be unless I kept the grass trim and neat. It should be my prize."
"Oh, my goodness!" exclaimed the poor Elephant. "If there are to be more disputes, and more evidence in this case, I shall go mad. Stop!" he cried, as the Wheelbarrow, the Hoe, and the LawnMower came forward, all talking at once. "Stop! I will do nothing until I see the prize! Court is adjourned!"
And as the Elephant said this the sound of loud barking sounded through the barn.
"Oh, maybe that is Nip coming to carry me back," thought the Elephant. "I certainly hope so!"
You remember that Nip, the big dog, had carried away the Stuffed Elephant when Archie set his Christmas toy down on the barn floor for a moment. And, coming back, after having gone to look for the nest of a cackling hen, Archie did not find his Elephant awaiting him as he expected to.
"Oh, Elsie!" exclaimed the little boy. "Didn't I leave my Elephant right here?" and he pointed to the place where he had set it.
"Why, yes, I think you did," Elsie answered. "I saw you put it there. I was going to leave my Doll there, too, but she isn't feeling very well, and has a littlecold, so I carried her in my arms. I have her here now," she added, as she held up her Christmas toy.
"Well, my Elephant is gone!" exclaimed Archie. "And I know I left it here! Yes, you can see where his feet stood," he added, as he pointed to some marks in the dust of the barn floor.
Elsie, holding her Doll, stooped down beside her brother and looked at the dust.
"There are lots of marks," said the little girl. "Your Elephant must have been walking around. Oh, Archie!" she cried, with shining eyes, "maybe he came to life and walked away!"
"Nope! He couldn't do that!" Archie said. Of course he knew nothing of what the toys did after dark—how they made believe come to life, talked, and had fun among themselves.
"But now I know what has happened!" Archie exclaimed. "I can tell by the marks in the dust."
"What did happen?" asked Elsie.
"Nip has been here," went on the little boy. "I can tell his paw marks in the dust. It wasn't my Elephant walking around, it was Nip! And Nip has carried off my Elephant!"
"Oh, just as he did once with my old Rag Doll!" cried Elsie.
"That's it!" her brother said. "Nip has carried away my Elephant. Come here, Nip! Where are you?" called Archie.
Now Nip was always ready to come when Archie called, for he and the little boy had many good times together, romping and playing tag in the yard. So, when he heard his name called, Nip came running into the barn to where Elsie and Archie were standing.
"Nip!" sternly said Archie, as he shook his finger at his big dog, "did you take my Elephant? Did you carry him away?"
Now Nip understood a great deal that was said to him. He knew when he was being scolded for having done wrong, andhe knew he was being scolded now. He also knew that he had taken away the Elephant. So, when Archie talked this way, Nip hung his head and put his tail between his legs.
"Nip!" went on Archie, "where is my Stuffed Elephant? Go get it! Bring back my Elephant! Go on, Nip!"
Nip gave a little bark. He sprang up, barked again, louder than before, and off he ran to a dim and distant part of the barn.
"Is he going after your Elephant?" asked Elsie.
"I hope so," her brother answered. "We'll follow him and see where he goes."
But Nip ran too fast for the children to follow. Down the stairs, into the dark corner of that part of the barn where the garden tools were kept, ran Nip. He knew he had been found out, and that he must bring back Archie's Elephant.
So, just as the Shovel, the Rake and the Pick had hurried away to look for theprize, and while the Wheelbarrow, the Hoe and the Lawn Mower were fussing to see why they couldn't have a chance to win, Nip pounced down on the Elephant, lifted him up, and started back with him to Archie.
"Oh, I'm so glad you came to get me!" said the Elephant. "I was just going to try to find my way back myself, for I have had a most dreadful time trying to settle a dispute among the garden tools. Oh, I never should like to be a Judge!"
Nip did not answer, because he had the Stuffed Elephant in his mouth.
"I hope we are going to be friends, Mr. Nip," went on the Elephant. "Please don't carry me away again."
Nip wanted to say that he would not, for he felt sorry because of the trick he had played. But just then Elsie and Archie came running up, and the dog could not talk, nor could the Elephant pretend to be alive, for the eyes of the children were upon them.
"Oh, he has my Elephant!" joyfully cried Archie. "I guess you must have hidden him, Nip, for you knew where to find him! Bring my Elephant here!"
Nip put the Elephant down on the barn floor at Archie's feet, and then the dog wagged his tail.
"He's asking you to forgive him," said Elsie.
"And I will," promised Archie. "But don't do it again!" he added, shaking his finger at Nip.
"Bow wow!" barked the dog, and perhaps that meant he would not.
"Oh, I'm so glad to have my Elephant back!" said Archie, as he began playing with his toy.
"And I'm glad to be back," thought the Elephant. "That Judge business was a great trial!"
Through the spring and into the summer Archie had fun with his Christmas Elephant. Then one day something very exciting happened. Archie was playingout in the back yard, near a little brook, with his Elephant, when along the front road came a hand-organ man and a monkey. Archie and his sister ran to hear the music and see the monkey, and Archie left his Elephant in the grass.
Soon after this it began to rain very hard and the children hurried into the house. Going up the steps Archie fell and bumped his head, making his nose bleed, and there was so much excitement for a time that the Elephant was forgotten. He was left out in the storm, and the rain came down harder and harder, making little puddles and tiny brooks in the yard; brooks that flowed into the large one.
"Oh, this is dreadful!" thought the poor Elephant, as the rain pelted down on him. "Of course if I was real I wouldn't mind the rain, for real Elephants like water. But I'm getting soaking wet! It's beginning to come through my stuffing. I'm feeling like a sponge!
"Oh, why doesn't Archie come and getme, or at least give me an umbrella! I think I'll try to walk under a toadstool to keep out of the wet. If I can only find one large enough."
As no one was watching him, the Elephant had a chance to move about and make believe come to life. But he had waited too long. The rain had soaked into his cotton stuffing making him so heavy that now he could not move.
"Oh, what is going to happen?" he thought.
He tried to lift first one leg, then another, but it was hard work. The water was beginning to rise about him. His feet were in mud puddles. He struggled hard to pull them out, and then, all at once, he lurched to one side, and fell over flat—right into a pool of water!
Down pelted more and more rain, harder and harder, until the back yard, where Archie had been playing with the Stuffed Elephant, was almost a little lake of water. The puddle rose higher and higher around the Stuffed Elephant as he lay on his side, unable to move because he was so soaked with water—like a sponge.
Inside the house where Archie lived there was trouble, because the little boy was hurt worse in his fall than was at first supposed. They had to send for the doctor, and of course no one thought of the poor Elephant.
"I'm glad I'm not out in this rain with my Doll," said Elsie, as she sat at the window after the doctor had gone.
"Yes, it is a regular flood," said Mother, sadly thinking of her little boy.
And still no one thought of the Elephant out in all the storm.
If Elsie remembered anything at all, she probably thought that Archie had brought his Elephant into the house. As for Archie, the doctor had given him something to make him sleep, and the little boy was too ill even to dream of his Christmas toy.
As for the Elephant; well, he was in a sad state! The wet cotton stuffing inside him was cold and clammy. His trunk was like a wet piece of paper, and he feared his wooden tusks would come out, if the glue that held them in got too much soaked.
"Oh, dear! What am I to do?" thought the poor toy.
Now it happened that Jeff, the colored boy who had once taken the China Cat from Mr. Mugg's store after a fire, lived not far from Archie's home. Jeff and his folks had moved to the country from thecity. And about this time Jeff's mother sent him to the store.
"Has Ah done gotta go in all dis rain?" asked the little colored boy.
"Yo' suah has, Honey!" replied his mother. "Yo' isn't salt or sugah, an' yo' won't melt. Put on yo' ole coat an' go to de sto'!"
So Jeff went. He took a "short cut" which led across the Dunn's back yard, and Jeff passed the place where the poor Elephant lay in a puddle of water.
"Oh, golly!" cried Jeff, his white teeth glistening against his funny black face as he laughed. "Ah'd done gone an' found annuder playtoy! Only dis one Ah done found in de rain, but de udder one was in a fiah! Ah knows whut Ah's gwine to do. I'll put dis Leffelant on a board till Ah comes back from de sto'. Den Ah'll take him home wif me!"
Jeff looked around until he found a flat board, large enough to hold the elephant. Putting the toy on this board, Jeff laidit to one side, and ran on to the store. He did not want to take the Elephant with him for fear some one would see it and ask him about it.
But Jeff was not to have that Elephant. While the colored boy was at the store the rain came down harder than ever, making so much water that the little brook in Archie's back yard rose higher and higher.
So high did the brook rise that the water reached the board on which the limp and soaking Elephant was lying on his side. And then the water lifted up the board, Elephant and all, and floated them down stream.
"Oh, my!" thought the poor Stuffed Elephant. "This is the last of me! I am going on a long voyage! I shall never see Archie again!"
Down the stream he floated on the board which was like a boat. Once a fish poked his head out of the water and called:
"Who are you and where are you going?"
Before the Elephant could answer the swift current had carried him farther downstream and away from the fish.
Once the board with the Elephant on it bumped against a big Water Rat.
"Be careful who you're bumping!" snarled the Rat.