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“Oh, I want him! I want him!” the eager voice went on, and the Plush Bear was caught up by a fat boy–the very fattest and jolliest boy that the toy had ever seen. “I want this Plush Bear for my very own!” cried the fat boy. “He’s the best toy I ever saw!”

CHAPTER VI

OUT OF THE WINDOW

“Don’t squeeze the Bear so hard, Arthur,” said a lady who was with the fat boy. “You may break the toy before I have paid for him.”

“The Plush Bear is strong and well-made, Mrs. Rowe,” said Mr. Mugg. “He is one of the newest of the Christmas toys, and I only put him in the show window this morning.”

“And I saw him when I was walking along!” exclaimed Arthur Rowe, the jolly fat boy. “As soon as I saw him I knew I’d like him! Oh, Mother, hear him growl! And see him wave his paws!”

Indeed the Plush Bear was doing all his tricks, for he had been wound up by Mr. Mugg for that very purpose. There he sat on the top of the glass showcase, growling away (make believe of course) and waving his paws like a real bear.

Other persons in the toy store crowded up to the showcase to watch the Plush Bear do his tricks, and Arthur, the jolly fat boy, laughed loud and long as his plaything amused the throng. For the Plush Bear was to belong to Arthur. Passing down the street early that Winter morning, he had seen the toy in Mr. Mugg’s window, and had begged his mother to stop and go in and inquire about him.

“Wrap him up, Mr. Mugg, please,” said Arthur, when the spring was all unwound and the wheels inside the Plush Bear no longer moved his paws and head and caused him to growl. “Wrap him up, and I’ll take him home. I guess Dick and Arnold and Herbert and Sidney will wish they had a toy like this!”

The Plush Bear again felt himself being lifted up by Mr. Mugg, who put him in tissue paper and then in the same box in which the Bear had traveled to Earth from the shop of Santa Claus.

“Good-by, Wax Doll! Good-by, Jumping Jack, Elephant and all my friends,” said the Plush Bear to himself as the tissue paper covered his eyes and shut out the sight of the other toys in the store. “Good-by! I don’t know when I shall see you again!”

Of course the Plush Bear dared not say this out loud, for he was being watched. And he dared not move of his own accord for the same reason. He felt a little sad at leaving all his toy friends, but he liked the looks of the fat boy, and Arthur seemed like one who would make a kind master.

“Oh, what fun I’ll have with my Plush Bear!” said the fat boy, as he walked out of the toy store with his mother. “I’ll invite Dick over with his White Rocking Horse, Arnold with his Bold Tin Soldiers, Herbert with his Monkey on a Stick, and Sidney with his Calico Clown. We’ll have a lot of fun!”

“I thought you said Sidney’s Calico Clown was broken,” remarked Mrs. Rowe as she and Arthur got into their automobile.

“Only the Clown’s cap was torn off when they were playing circus the other day,” said Arthur. “Mirabell’s Lamb on Wheels was broken, too, and I guess they’re both in Mr. Mugg’s toy shop being fixed.”

“Indeed they are there,” thought the Plush Bear, who could hear all that was said through the tissue paper and his box. “I was talking to the Lamb and the Clown only last night. Well, it will not be so bad if I can see them once in a while. I should also like to meet the Wax Doll again, and the Elephant. I hope nice fat boys get them for presents.”