A VOYAGE HOME
Down pelted more and more rain, harder and harder, until the back yard,
where Archie had been playing with the Stuffed Elephant, was almost a
little lake of water. The puddle rose higher and higher around the
Stuffed Elephant as he lay on his side, unable to move because he was so
soaked with water--like a sponge.
Inside the house where Archie lived there was trouble, because the
little boy was hurt worse in his fall than was at first supposed. They
had to send for the doctor, and of course no one thought of the poor
Elephant.
"I'm glad I'm not out in this rain with my Doll," said Elsie, as she sat
at the window after the doctor had gone.
"Yes, it is a regular flood," said Mother, sadly thinking of her little
boy.
And still no one thought of the Elephant out in all the storm.
If Elsie remembered anything at all, she probably thought that Archie
had brought his Elephant into the house. As for Archie, the doctor had
given him something to make him sleep, and the little boy was too ill
even to dream of his Christmas toy.
As for the Elephant; well, he was in a sad state! The wet cotton
stuffing inside him was cold and clammy. His trunk was like a wet piece
of paper, and he feared his wooden tusks would come out, if the glue
that held them in got too much soaked.
"Oh, dear! What am I to do?" thought the poor toy.
Now it happened that Jeff, the colored boy who had once taken the China
Cat from Mr. Mugg's store after a fire, lived not far from Archie's
home. Jeff and his folks had moved to the country from the city. And
about this time Jeff's mother sent him to the store.
"Has Ah done gotta go in all dis rain?" asked the little colored boy.
"Yo' suah has, Honey!" replied his mother. "Yo' isn't salt or sugah, an'
yo' won't melt. Put on yo' ole coat an' go to de sto'!"
So Jeff went. He took a "short cut" which led across the Dunn's back
yard, and Jeff passed the place where the poor Elephant lay in a puddle
of water.
"Oh, golly!" cried Jeff, his white teeth glistening against his funny
black face as he laughed. "Ah'd done gone an' found annuder playtoy!
Only dis one Ah done found in de rain, but de udder one was in a fiah!
Ah knows whut Ah's gwine to do. I'll put dis Leffelant on a board till
Ah comes back from de sto'. Den Ah'll take him home wif me!"
Jeff looked around until he found a flat board, large enough to hold the
elephant. Putting the toy on this board, Jeff laid it to one side, and
ran on to the store. He did not want to take the Elephant with him for
fear some one would see it and ask him about it.
But Jeff was not to have that Elephant. While the colored boy was at the
store the rain came down harder than ever, making so much water that the
little brook in Archie's back yard rose higher and higher.
So high did the brook rise that the water reached the board on which the
limp and soaking Elephant was lying on his side. And then the water
lifted up the board, Elephant and all, and floated them down stream.
"Oh, my!" thought the poor Stuffed Elephant. "This is the last of me! I
am going on a long voyage! I shall never see Archie again!"
Down the stream he floated on the board which was like a boat. Once a
fish poked his head out of the water and called:
"Who are you and where are you going?"
Before the Elephant could answer the swift current had carried him
farther downstream and away from the fish.
Once the board with the Elephant on it bumped against a big Water Rat.
"Be careful who you're bumping!" snarled the Rat.
[Illustration: "Be Careful Who You're Bumping!" Snarled the Rat.
_The Story of a Stuffed Elephant._ _Page_ 114]
"Excuse me," replied the Elephant. "I didn't mean to."
The Rat tried to bite the Elephant's trunk, but again the swift current
carried the boat downstream.
Finally the rain stopped, after a day or so, but by that time the
Elephant had been carried a long way down the brook, at last coming to a
stop when the board was caught in the roots of an overhanging tree. By
now the Elephant was almost glued fast to the board, so wet and soaking
was he.
The rain stopped, the brook went down, the sun came out, and the
Elephant dried. But he still lay on the board, on the bank of the
stream, under the roots of the tree.
A man, who happened to be passing, saw the Elephant, picked him off the
board, and, seeing that he was an expensive toy, took the plaything to
his home.
"What a fine Elephant!" said the man's wife. "I'll put him on the
mantel, over the stove, so he'll dry out more. Some child lost this. We
haven't any children small enough to want to keep it. I wish I could
find out who owned this Elephant."
"I wish so, myself," thought the Elephant. "Oh, shall I ever get back to
Archie?"
It was a day or so after the big storm that Archie was able to be up and
around, and the first thing he thought of, when he could go outdoors,
was his Elephant.
"Oh, where is he?" cried the little boy. "I 'member I left him in the
yard when we heard the hand-organ music and ran to see the monkey. And
then it rained and I fell down and bumped my nose. Oh, where is my
Elephant?"
"If you left him out here in the yard I fear the Elephant has floated
away," said Mrs. Dunn. "The brook rose very high--almost up to our back
steps--and it probably carried your Elephant away."
"Oh, shall I ever get him back?" cried Archie, feeling sad.
"I'm afraid not," his mother answered.
Archie felt so bad about his toy that his father put an advertisement in
the paper, asking whoever found the Elephant to please bring him back
and get a reward.
If Jeff, the colored boy, had been able to read, he might have seen the
advertisement and have told what he did with the toy.
But Jeff never read the papers. And, besides, it rained so hard when the
colored boy went back from the store, after putting the Elephant on the
board, that Jeff had to go home another way, and he forgot all about the
stuffed plaything he had set aside.
But the man who had taken the Elephant home read the paper, and he saw
the advertisement Mr. Dunn put in.
"There!" called the man to his wife. "Now I know where that Elephant
belongs. I'll take him back to the little boy."
"Well, he's good and dry," said his wife. "I mean the Elephant is good
and dry. He's almost as good as new." And, in fact, the Elephant was,
for she had brushed off all the mud, and the heat had dried out the
water.
Carrying the Stuffed Elephant, the man who had found the toy took it to
Archie's house.
"Oh, here he is! My Christmas Elephant! He's come back to me! Oh, how
glad I am!" cried Archie, as he clasped the cotton creature in his arms.
"Oh, how glad I am!"
"And I'm glad, too!" thought the Elephant. "I feared I would never see
Archie and Elsie again! And I'm even glad to see Nip!" for the dog came
to the door, wagging his tail.
And so, after several adventures, the Stuffed Elephant was back home
again, but many more things happened to him, though I have no room for
them in this book. The Elephant even acted again as Judge in the dispute
of the Rake, the Shovel and the Pick, but who won the prize I cannot
tell. I think each should have had a prize. Don't you?
Once again there was happiness in the Dunn house, for the lost Elephant
was back, and Elsie gave her brother a pink ribbon to tie on his toy's
neck.
"It may look pretty, but it tickles me," thought the Elephant, as Archie
pulled him about.
THE END
THE STORY LADY SERIES
By GEORGENE FAULKNER
* * * * *
=Illustrated. Every Volume Complete in Itself=
* * * * *
What child does not love to hear again and again these charming and
thrilling tales that have been handed down through the ages from
generation to generation--the best liked and the most famous of the
world's myths, legends and fairy lore about animals, birds, witches,
fairies, giants, dwarfs and beloved heroes and heroines from many
different countries. These are the stories that children read and
re-read with wonder and delight. In these volumes they are told in
simple, charming language by Georgene Faulkner, known by thousands of
youngsters and grown-ups as "The Story Lady."
_THE STORY LADY BOOKS_
SQUEAKY AND THE SCARE BOX
THE FLYING SHIP
THE SNOW MAIDEN
THE GOLDEN FISH
THE GINGERBREAD BOY
THE THREE BEARS
THE LITTLE RED HEN AND THE FOX
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
THE HONEY BUNCH BOOKS
By HELEN LOUISE THORNDYKE
* * * * *
Individual Colored Wrappers and Text Illustrations Drawn by
WALTER S. ROGERS
* * * * *
Honey Bunch is a dainty, thoughtful little girl, and to know her is to
take her to your heart at once.
Little girls everywhere will want to discover what interesting
experiences she is having wherever she goes.
HONEY BUNCH: JUST A LITTLE GIRL
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST VISIT TO THE CITY
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST DAYS ON THE FARM
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST VISIT TO THE SEASHORE
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST LITTLE GARDEN
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST DAYS IN CAMP
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST AUTO TOUR
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST TRIP ON THE OCEAN
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST TRIP WEST
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST SUMMER ON AN ISLAND
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST TRIP TO THE GREAT LAKES
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST TRIP IN AN AIRPLANE
HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST VISIT TO THE ZOO
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
* * * * *
End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of a Stuffed Elephant, by Laura Lee Hope