The Story of a Stuffed Elephant | Page 7

get back with the Christmas presents.
Archie will surely like that Stuffed Elephant."
And then, never thinking that the Elephant had been tossed out of the
broken window into a bank of snow, Mr. Dunn started his car off on
another road, leaving the poor Elephant stuck in the drift.
"Oh, this is dreadful! Terrible!" thought the Elephant. "I am freezing to
death! Santa Claus wanted me to have adventures, but none like this,
I'm sure! What shall I do?"
If the Elephant had only been allowed to come to life and call out when
Mr. Dunn was around all would have been well. For, though Archie's
father might have been surprised at hearing a toy speak, he never would
have gone away and left it in the snow.
But the toy Elephant did not dare call out, though, now that no one
could see him, he pretended to come to life and began to struggle to get
out of the snow. It was getting dark, and growing colder, and even a toy
Elephant does not like to be left all night in a snowdrift.
"Oh, if only I can pull my trunk out and get the snow from my left eye,

maybe I can see which path Mr. Dunn took and follow him home,"
thought the Elephant. "I don't want to stay here alone! It is dark, and no
human eyes can see me moving. I must get out!"
He struggled and wiggled, but he seemed to be sinking deeper into the
snow instead of getting out. Down, down, down into the white flakes
sank the poor Stuffed Elephant, farther and farther,
down--down--down----
Knowing nothing of having lost the fine new Elephant out of his auto,
Mr. Dunn went along by an easier road, where there were not so many
drifts. He was driving past a garage when a man outside called:
"Hey, mister! Your car door is open!"
"I guess you mean the window is broken, don't you?" asked Archie's
father. "I know about that, thank you. I ran into a drift."
"No, your door is wide open, and is swinging to and fro," the garage
man went on. "It may bang against something and break off. Wait a
minute and I'll close it for you."
Mr. Dunn had slowed his car as the man called to him, and now he
brought it to a stop.
"So the door is open, is it?" Mr. Dunn asked. "Well, that's too bad. I
didn't know about that. It must have come open after the glass was
broken. And if the door is open some of the things may have fallen out.
I'd better get down and take a look."
And no sooner had Mr. Dunn looked within the car than he cried:
"The Elephant is gone!"
"Elephant!" exclaimed the garage man. "Elephant?"
"Surely! An Elephant I was taking home to my boy Archie," went on
Mr. Dunn. "I had the Elephant in the car and----"

"Oh, my!" cried the garage man, backing away, and nearly falling into
a snowdrift himself. "Do you mean to tell me you had an elephant in
that machine?"
"Oh, I see what you're thinking of! You mean a real elephant, and I'm
speaking of the Stuffed Elephant that I bought in the toy store. It's a toy
Elephant that is lost," Mr. Dunn explained.
"Oh, that's different!" laughed the man. "I was wondering how a real
elephant could get inside your car--unless he was a baby one."
"No, this was a toy one," said Mr. Dunn. "And I think I know where he
must have slipped out--back at the big drift where I broke the glass of
the door, trying to smash my way through. I'll go back there and see if I
can find Archie's Christmas present."
Back through the storm drove Mr. Dunn. The snow was coming down
thicker and faster, and the wind was piling it into more drifts. It was
dark, too, but the headlights on the car made the road bright enough,
especially on account of the white snow, for Mr. Dunn to see his way.
Soon he was back again at the same drift which had made him turn
about and take another road.
"Now to find that Elephant," said Mr. Dunn.
All this while the Stuffed Elephant had been trying to wiggle out of the
snowdrift. But, not being used to such work, he was not having very
good luck. The snow was soft, and the more he wiggled the deeper in
he sank.
"Oh, dear!" sighed the poor Elephant. "What am I going to do? The
snowflakes are getting in my trunk! And they tickle me and make me
want to sneeze. It's no fun to be in a snowdrift. I used to like to look at
them through