Part 7 (1/2)
”Oh! Oh! Oh!”
”What's the matter?” asked Mother, hurrying in.
”Somebody took my Doll out of bed, or else she got out herself in the night!” said Dorothy.
”She probably fell out,” said Mother, with a laugh. ”The Doll couldn't get out herself, and no one has been in your room.”
But we know what happened, don't we?
One day, about a week after Christmas, there came a warm, sunny day.
”May I take my Rocking Horse out on the porch and ride him?” asked d.i.c.k of his mother.
”Yes,” she answered.
”And I'll take my Sawdust Doll out there, and maybe Mirabell and Arnold will come over and we can have a play party,” said Dorothy.
The children went out on the porch, and they could look over next door and see their two little friends.
”See how fast I can ride my horse!” called d.i.c.k to Arnold.
The boy got up on the back of the White Horse and rocked to and fro.
And the Horse traveled across the porch, as a rocking chair sometimes travels across the room.
”Oh, he's a fine Horse!” cried Arnold, as he came over to play, bringing his toy train of cars with him. And Mirabell brought her wax doll. ”Let me ride him, d.i.c.k, will you?”
After d.i.c.k and Arnold had taken turns riding on the White Horse, they left him on the edge of the porch to play with the toy train. Suddenly Carlo, the fuzzy dog that had once carried the Sawdust Doll out to his kennel, hiding her in the straw, ran around the corner of the house, barking loudly.
”Bow-wow! Bow-wow!” barked Carlo, and he ran straight for the White Rocking Horse.
How it happened no one seemed to know, but Carlo upset the Horse, which tumbled down the porch steps with many a bang and b.u.mp.
”Dear me!” thought the Horse, ”This is not a pleasant adventure at all!
What is going to happen?”
”Bang! b.u.mp! Crack!” sounded he rolled over and over down the steps.
”Oh, what a pain in my leg!” said White Rocking Horse to himself.
d.i.c.k ran over to his toy, and when he saw his White Horse lying on the sidewalk at the foot of the steps, the little boy cried:
”Oh, his leg is broken! Oh, the leg of my White Rocking Horse is broken! I can never ride him again!”
CHAPTER VII
IN THE TOY HOSPITAL