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“All right,” agreed the Plush Bear. “That’ll be fun!”

And there is no telling what mischief he and the Rag Doll might have got into, only, just then, in came Nettie and Arthur, having finished dinner.

“I’m going to play with my Plush Bear!” cried the fat boy.

“And I’m going to get my Rag Doll to sleep,” said Nettie. “It’s time she was in bed.”

The Doll and the Bear could only look slyly at one another. There was no chance now for them to have fun with the shiny handles in the bathroom. But perhaps it was just as well.

That night, when Arthur and Nettie, as well as their father and mother were asleep, the Bear and Doll had a chance to make believe come to life, move about, and speak.

“But we won’t turn the handles in the bathroom and splash the water now,” said the Doll. “It would make such a noise that they’d awaken and we’d be caught. But what can we do?”

“Let’s look out the windows,” suggested the Plush Bear. So, climbing up first on little stools, and then on chairs, the two toys looked from the hotel windows. They saw many lights sparkling, and out to sea was a tall lighthouse with a gleaming beacon which flickered like a giant lightning bug.

In the morning Arthur and Nettie went down on the sand to play, the little fat boy taking his Plush Bear and Nettie her Rag Doll.

“Oh, what a dandy Teddy Bear!” cried a small, red-haired chap as he ran along the beach to play with Arthur.

“This isn’t a Teddy Bear,” explained Arthur. “He’s a Plush Bear, and he can move his head and his paws and he can growl.”

“Let’s hear him!” begged the red-haired boy.

So Arthur wound up the spring, and, surely enough, the toy did all those things.

“Oh, he’s a dandy!” cried the red-haired lad. “If you let me play with him, I’ll let you take my airship that flies.”

“We’ll take turns playing with them,” said Arthur, and then began a happy time for the children. Some little girls came over to play with Nettie, and they had lots of fun on the sand.

After a while Arthur happened to think of what he had said he was going to do–dig a sand cave for his Bear.

“We’ll make a big one,” he said to the red-haired lad. “We’ll dig a big hole.”

“With clam shells!” cried the other lad, and, putting aside the Plush Bear and the airship, the two little friends began to make a large hole in the sand. When it was finished the Plush Bear was put down in it, and some sticks were stuck up in front.

“We’ll make believe the sticks are the bars of his cage,” said Arthur. “We’ll pretend he’s a circus Bear.”

“Oh, yes,” agreed the red-haired boy. “That’s lots of fun.”

So they played with the Plush Bear in the hole of the sand for some time. Then other boys and girls came along, joining in the fun, and pretty soon some children rode past on ponies.

“Oh, I’m going to ask mother if we can’t ride on the ponies!” cried Nettie.

“So’m I!” added her brother, and, forgetting all about the Plush Bear in the hole, away they ran to tease for ponies to ride. Mrs. Rowe was sitting on the sand not far from where the children had been playing.

“Yes, Arthur and Nettie, you may ride the ponies,” she said. “I’ll take you down and tell the man to put you on.”

And in the excitement of the pony ride Arthur forgot all about his Plush Bear in the sand cave. The toy was left there all alone, and he did not know what to think.

“I wonder if I dare knock down those sticks they call bars and climb out?” thought the toy. “I don’t believe any one is looking.” He was just going to do this when along the beach dashed one of the ponies with a little girl on his back. The pony stepped close to the hole where the Plush Bear was, and in another instant the sand caved in, covering Mr. Bruin from sight!