The Story of a Plush Bear | Page 9

pass 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 pass 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 passed. 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
passed 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 shifted toys here and there, and then he looked under his bench.
"What are you looking for?" asked Santa Claus, as he passed up and
down the aisles.
"Why, yesterday, I finished a fine Plush Bear," answered the workman.
"I set it over here, but now it is gone. You did not take it to Earth, did
you?"
"Oh, no," answered Santa Claus. "I have not been to Earth for some
time. But I am going soon again. Ha! I know what may have
happened," he said suddenly. "The windows were open yesterday. The
Plush Bear may have fallen out of the window!"
It did not take the workman more than an instant to raise the sash and
poke out his head. He looked down into the bank of snow under the
window.
"Here he is!" he cried. "Just as you thought,