Part 8 (1/2)

”I'm sure you must have dropped him about here,” said Mr. Rowe, as he and the fat boy stood beneath the railroad bridge. ”But he isn't in sight. Perhaps some one picked him up.”

”Oh, is my nice Plush Bear gone?” sighed Arthur.

He looked all around, but Mr. Bruin, as the Bear was sometimes called, was not in sight. Then a ragged little boy, who had been flying a kite, came running along the street.

”What's the matter?” asked the ragged lad. ”Did you lose your ball?”

”No; it's my Plush Bear,” answered Arthur. ”I dropped him out of the car window, but I don't see him now.”

The ragged boy looked up into the tree under which he and the fat boy and Mr. Rowe were standing. There, right over their heads, stretched out on a limb to which he seemed to be clinging with all four paws, was the Plush Bear. The toy had been looking down at Arthur and his father, and he had been wis.h.i.+ng he might call and tell them where he was, but of course this was not allowed.

”I see him! I'll get him for you!” cried the ragged boy.

In another moment he was climbing the tree, and a little later he tossed down the Plush Bear, Mr. Rowe catching the toy in his hands.

”Now I have him back again! Oh, I'm so glad! Now I have my Plush Bear!”

cried Arthur. ”I'll never let you fall out of a window again!”

”I should hope not!” said Mr. Rowe, as he gave his fat son the toy. ”And here is twenty-five cents for you, little man,” he added to the ragged boy.

”Oh, thanks!” cried the barefoot lad, as he ran away down the street, the s.h.i.+ning silver quarter held tightly in his hand. Then Arthur and his father went back to their train, the fat boy holding the Plush Bear in his arms.

”Oh, you found him! I'm so glad!” said Mrs. Rowe, as her husband and son took their seats and the train started. ”You must be careful after this, Arthur.”

”I will,” promised the little boy.

”And I'm going to be careful of my Rag Doll,” said Nettie, as she held her plaything on her lap.

There were no more accidents during the trip to the seash.o.r.e, which was reached in the afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe went to the hotel with their son and daughter, and of course the Plush Bear and the Rag Doll went also.

”Where is this ocean you talked about?” asked the Plush Bear of the Rag Doll when they had a moment alone together.

”Oh, it is outside. Did you think they kept the ocean in the hotel?”

asked the Doll, with a laugh.

”I didn't know,” the Bear remarked. ”Is this a hotel?”

”Yes; it's a great big house where the family lives while at the seash.o.r.e,” the Doll said. ”You'll like it here. This is my third summer, and I--”

But just then the door opened and Arthur and Nettie came running into the room. Of course the toys could no longer talk to each other.

”We're going down on the boardwalk in wheeled chairs!” cried Nettie.

”I'm going to take my Rag Doll.”

”And I'll take my Plush Bear,” said Arthur. ”To-morrow I'll play with him on the sand.”

”I wonder what all this means--wheeled chairs--sand--boardwalk?” thought the Plush Bear. ”So many things are happening I cannot keep track of them!”