The Story of a Plush Bear | Page 7

down on the floor to practice a somersault, so he can
beat me! But he'll have hard work!" growled the Polar Bear. But he was
not cross when he growled. It was just his way of speaking, as it was
also that of the Plush Bear.
"No, he isn't on the floor!" said the Wax Doll, leaning over the edge of
the table to look down.
"Oh, he has fallen out of the window!" suddenly cried the Flannel Pig.
"See, the window is open! The Plush Bear must have fallen into the
snow outside."
"We must get him back!"
"Throw him a piece of a doll's clothes-line and haul him up!"
"Get a ladder from one of the toy fire engines!"
"Let's all go down after him! Maybe he bumped his nose!"

These were only a few of the shouts and cries that came when it was
discovered that the window was open and that the Plush Bear was
gone.
The Eskimo boy had not stopped to close the window after opening it
to take the toy he so much wanted. And now the toys, crowding on the
sill, which was close to the work bench, looked out in the snow under
the window. It was light enough for them to see quite well.
"Come on back here, Plush Bear!" called the Flannel Pig, who was
quite friendly with the big toy. "I want to see you turn a somersault."
"Yes, come on back, unless you're afraid that I can beat you!" growled
the Polar Bear.
"Maybe he is afraid, and ran away," suggested the Wax Doll, who
seemed more friendly to the Polar Bear.
"No, indeed!" squealed the Flannel Pig. "The Plush Bear is a brave
fellow, and he is very wise! He would not run away. The window must
have come open and he tumbled out."
"But he isn't down there in the snow," said a toy Fireman, looking
carefully below. "If he was down there I could fix a ladder for him so
he could climb up. But he isn't there."
"Where can he be?" asked the Flannel Pig. "He was standing near me
one minute, saying how he was going to turn a somersault, and when
next I looked he was gone."
"See! There are footprints in the snow under the window," said the
Polar Bear, who had come to the sill. "Maybe Santa Claus or some of
his men came along outside, and took the Plush Bear away."
"They would not do that," declared the Wax Doll. "Santa Claus would
not take just one of us toys. When he takes any, he takes a whole
sleigh-load to Earth for the children. No, there is something strange
about this!"

And indeed there was, as we know. The Eskimo boy had the Plush
Bear, but the toys knew nothing of this. However, there was nothing
they could do.
After calling softly to the Plush Bear to come back, but receiving no
answer, about a dozen of the Jumping Jacks, by climbing up and all
pulling together on the window, managed to close it to keep out the
cold, night air.
"Well, since there is no one else to turn somersaults with me, I'll do it
alone," said the Polar Bear. So he flipped and flopped over again, and
the other toys played games among themselves, but the nice Plush Bear
was not among them.
He was under the fur coat of the Eskimo boy, being carried across the
snow to the ice hut, or igloo. The door to this igloo was not like the
door to your home. It was just a hole, with some pieces of fur and skin
hung over it to keep out the cold wind. Ski, which was the name of the
Eskimo boy, pushed aside this curtain of fur as he crawled into the
igloo, with the Plush Bear beneath his warm jacket. The doorway, or
hole, was made small to keep out as much cold as possible, and Ski had
to stoop down and crawl on his hands and knees to get in.
Inside the igloo there were no tables and chairs, such as there are in
your house. There were just some slabs of ice set here and there, being
raised a little from the icy floor. On the floor were skins to make it as
warm as possible, and in the middle of the igloo was a sort of lamp, or
stove, made of stone, filled with oil in which floated a wick that was
burning. This lamp-stove was all the Eskimos had to heat and cook
with. But as they wore their fur clothes all winter long, never taking
them off, they did not catch cold.
"Look!" said Ski, the Eskimo boy, as he pulled the Plush Bear out from