Part 3 (2/2)

”No! No! It would be dangerous! It would bring us bad luck! There is a witch in that bear!” murmured Ski's mother.

”Never have I seen such a thing!” went on Ski's father in awe and wonder. ”We must not keep it! If we allowed it to stay in this igloo we should freeze, I should never catch any seals, and our blubber fat would become so hard we could not eat it. I must take this magic bear that moves back to the big igloo!”

So, though Ski begged his father to be allowed to keep the toy, the Eskimo man thrust the bear under his fur coat and crawled out of the igloo into the glow of the Northern Lights.

”I must take it back to the big igloo,” murmured Ski's father. ”Then will the bad magic pa.s.s away.”

You see he did not know, never having seen such a toy before, and never having heard of machinery--Ski's father did not know what a delightful toy the Plush Bear was. All he thought of was bad luck and magic.

Quickly Ski's father hitched his team of dogs to the long, low wooden sled.

Crack! went the long whip over their heads, but the Eskimo man did not let the lash fall on the animals.

Over the snow and ice they drew the sled, on which Ski's father sat well wrapped in fur blankets. Nearer they came to the workshop of Santa Claus--the ”big igloo” as Ski had called it.

”I will leave the magic bear that moves beneath one of the windows,”

murmured Ski's father. ”Then will the bad luck pa.s.s from us.”

He guided his dog team up under the very window out of which Ski had taken the bear, for the man could see Ski's footprints in the snow.

”There! Now I am done with you!” whispered Ski's father, as he dropped the Plush Bear in the snow and turned his dog team around to go back to his igloo.

As for the Plush Bear, his head moved, he growled, and his paws waved to and fro as long as the spring was wound up. But when it ran down, as it did in a little while, he was motionless. Except that now, as no one could see him, he was allowed to make believe come to life and could do as he pleased.

”Well, this is certainly a fine state of affairs!” said the Plush Bear to himself, speaking out loud, as there were no human ears to hear.

”Taken away to an ice house, scaring an Eskimo family half to death, and then to be brought back here and dumped in a snow bank! It's a good thing I have on a warm plush coat, or I'd surely freeze! I wonder if I can get back into the shop?”

But this the Bear could not do. The window had been pulled down and shut by the Jumping Jacks, and the hole Ski had breathed in the icy pane was too small for the Plush Bear to crawl through, even if he could have reached it. He tried to call out, to make the toys inside hear him, so they might rescue him, but they had gone to sleep after their evening of fun.

So the Plush Bear had to stay out in the snow bank near the workshop of Santa Claus all night. It was cold and dreary, but he made the best of it.

”When morning comes they will take me in,” he thought. ”The night can not last forever.”

CHAPTER IV

IN THE TOY SHOP

Slowly the night pa.s.sed. Well it was for the Plush Bear that he was warmly clad in such a warm coat, or he might have been frozen stiff. As it was, his wheels and springs had to be oiled several times after his long night spent in a snowdrift.

In the morning Santa Claus and his men hurried into the workshop after breakfast. There was a hum and a bustle, whistling and singing, and the sound of many tools being used.

”Lively, my merry men, lively!” cried Santa Claus, with a laugh, as he pa.s.sed from bench to bench. ”I will soon make a trip to Earth, and I shall need many toys to take with me. I want a big bagful to load into my sleigh. My reindeer are waiting. All I need is toys--more toys--all the toys you can make!”

”You shall have them, Santa Claus! You shall have them!” cried the merry little men, and they began to work as fast as they could.

At one of the benches Santa Claus observed a little man looking about as though in search of something. The little man moved his tools to one side, he s.h.i.+fted toys here and there, and then he looked under his bench.

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