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Story of a Plush Bear

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<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> <h3>ON THE BOARDWALK</h3> Down, down, down out of the window of the moving train fell the Plush Bear! He heard Arthur cry as his toy was jerked from his hands, and the toy had a strange feeling inside him as he turned over and over in his plunge. "Talk about somersaults!" thought Mr. Bruin as he sailed downward. "The Polar Bear should see me now! I wonder what is going to happen to me! I have turned more somersaults in a minute than he turned in a whole evening at the North Pole!" "Arthur! Arthur! what is the matter?" called the fat boy's mother, when she heard him cry.[Pg 79] "Oh, Mother! my Plush Bear has fallen out of the window!" Arthur answered. "I was showing him the sights, and the train jiggled him out of my hand!" "And my Rag Doll almost went out of my window, but I held on to her," added Nettie. "Oh, you have lost your nice new Plush Bear!" exclaimed Mrs. Rowe. "I wonder if we can get him back?" "I fancy so," said Mr. Rowe, who was taking his family to the seashore. "The train is going to stop at this station, and I can run back and pick up Arthur's toy." The fat boy felt better when he heard his father say this, but still he was afraid lest perhaps his plaything might have been broken in the tumble. It was the sudden slowing of the train for the station stop that had caused Arthur to drop his Plush Bear. With a grinding of the brakes the cars came to a standstill, and Mr. Rowe, followed by[Pg 80] Arthur, started for the door. Nettie also got down out of her seat. "No, dear, you had better stay with me," her mother said. "Daddy will get the Plush Bear back if it can be found." "Where you s'pose he is?" asked the little girl. And now we must find that out ourselves. Down! down! down! turning somersault after somersault, the Plush Bear fell. Arthur had held the toy up to the window just as the train was crossing a high bridge, beneath which ran a street. The railroad tracks were on an embankment, and in the street below trees were growing. The train ran over the bridge, or trestle, above the trees. And it was into one of these trees, growing down in the street, that the Plush Bear fell. Right down among the branches he plunged, but as it was now Summer, and there were leaves on the [Pg 81]trees, it was almost like falling on a soft sofa cushion. "I'm glad this tree was here!" thought the Plush Bear, as he landed on a branch among the soft leaves. "If I had struck on the hard street or on the sidewalk there is no telling what would have happened. I don't believe I'm at all hurt now." And indeed he was not. Aside from being shaken up and having his plush ruffled, the Bear was not in the least harmed. But had he landed on the road one of his springs inside or some of his wheels might have been broken or twisted, and he never could have growled again or moved his head or paws. That is, unless Mr. Mugg could have mended him. As it was, the Plush Bear fell down into the tree, and there he stuck on a branch not far from the ground. The Plush Bear sat astraddle the limb. "Oh, I am not safe yet!" he thought. "Maybe I'll fall after all! I must keep [Pg 82]very still and quiet until I see what will happen next." By this time the train had stopped and Arthur and his father were alighting at the small station. "This isn't where you get off," said the conductor to Mr. Rowe. "This isn't the seashore." "I know it," said Mr. Rowe. "But my little boy dropped his Plush Bear out of the window, and we're going back to see if we can get it. Have we time?" "Yes," answered the conductor. "The train has to wait here five minutes to have some trunks taken off. But don't be too long. I hope you may find the little boy's toy." Arthur hoped so himself, as he hurried down to the street level. "Where do you think my Bear is, Daddy?" he asked. "It must be somewhere near the bridge," was the answer. "I heard you call out as the train rumbled over it."[Pg 83] Along the street which ran near the railroad walked Arthur and his father. As they walked they looked carefully on the ground for sight of the Plush Bear, but he was not to be found. "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.[Pg 84] 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 wishing 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, [Pg 85]as he ran away down the street, the shining 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 seashore, 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.[Pg 86] "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 seashore," 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!"[Pg 87] Suddenly he found himself shut up with the two children and the Rag Doll in a sort of iron cage. And, all of a sudden, it began to go down. "Goodness! am I falling again?" thought the Plush Bear. He looked at the Rag Doll, but she did not seem to be startled. And then he heard Nettie say: "Don't you like to go down in the elevator, Arthur?" "Yes, it's lots of fun," answered the fat boy. "Oh, it seems I am in an elevator," thought the Plush Bear. "Something else new!" He soon grew used to the motion, and a little later he and Arthur, with Nettie and her Doll, were seated in a big chair on Wheels, and were being pushed along a broad wooden walk by a colored man. "Isn't there a big crowd on the boardwalk?" said Arthur to his sister, as they were being wheeled along.[Pg 88] "Yes, but not as large as this time last year," replied the little girl. "Look out, Arthur!" she suddenly cried. "Your Bear is slipping! If he falls under the wheels he'll be run over!" Arthur made a grab for his toy, which had been resting in his lap, but he was not quick enough. Down out of the wheeled chair slipped the Plush Bear! Down to the boardwalk, and right toward him rumbled another big double chair, in which sat a fat man and a large woman. "I guess this is the last of me!" thought the Plush Bear.[Pg 89] <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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