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“The Plush Bear can do as well!” squealed the Flannel Pig, making his nose wrinkle up in a funny way. “Come on, Plush Bear!” he cried. “Show them how you turn somersaults!”

This talk took place just after the Polar Bear had done his trick, and right after the Eskimo boy had opened the window and taken away the toy he so much wanted.

None of the toys, except the Plush Bear, had seen the Eskimo boy, and the boy had not looked at any of the other toys, so they did not have to stop what they were doing. And as the Eskimo boy popped his hand out of the window, almost as soon as he had popped it in, the toys kept right on with what they were doing.

“Come, let’s see you turn a somersault, Plush Bear!” called the Polar Bear to his friend.

“Yes! Yes!” cried the other playthings! “Let’s have a somersault race!”

They turned toward that part of the work bench where they thought the Plush Bear would be standing, but the Plush Bear was not there.

“Oh, he’s gone!” squealed the Flannel Pig.

“Maybe he got down on the floor to practice a somersault, so he can beat me! But he’ll have hard work!” growled the Polar Bear. But he was not cross when he growled. It was just his way of speaking, as it was also that of the Plush Bear.

“No, he isn’t on the floor!” said the Wax Doll, leaning over the edge of the table to look down.

“Oh, he has fallen out of the window!” suddenly cried the Flannel Pig. “See, the window is open! The Plush Bear must have fallen into the snow outside.”

“We must get him back!”

“Throw him a piece of a doll’s clothes-line and haul him up!”

“Get a ladder from one of the toy fire engines!”

“Let’s all go down after him! Maybe he bumped his nose!”

These were only a few of the shouts and cries that came when it was discovered that the window was open and that the Plush Bear was gone.

The Eskimo boy had not stopped to close the window after opening it to take the toy he so much wanted. And now the toys, crowding on the sill, which was close to the work bench, looked out in the snow under the window. It was light enough for them to see quite well.

“Come on back here, Plush Bear!” called the Flannel Pig, who was quite friendly with the big toy. “I want to see you turn a somersault.”

“Yes, come on back, unless you’re afraid that I can beat you!” growled the Polar Bear.

“Maybe he is afraid, and ran away,” suggested the Wax Doll, who seemed more friendly to the Polar Bear.

“No, indeed!” squealed the Flannel Pig. “The Plush Bear is a brave fellow, and he is very wise! He would not run away. The window must have come open and he tumbled out.”

“But he isn’t down there in the snow,” said a toy Fireman, looking carefully below. “If he was down there I could fix a ladder for him so he could climb up. But he isn’t there.”

“Where can he be?” asked the Flannel Pig. “He was standing near me one minute, saying how he was going to turn a somersault, and when next I looked he was gone.”

“See! There are footprints in the snow under the window,” said the Polar Bear, who had come to the sill. “Maybe Santa Claus or some of his men came along outside, and took the Plush Bear away.”

“They would not do that,” declared the Wax Doll. “Santa Claus would not take just one of us toys. When he takes any, he takes a whole sleigh-load to Earth for the children. No, there is something strange about this!”

And indeed there was, as we know. The Eskimo boy had the Plush Bear, but the toys knew nothing of this. However, there was nothing they could do.