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“Mercy, no!” exclaimed the Elephant.

“Well, I did. And Mr. Mugg mended it for me,” went on the Donkey, proudly. “This Sawdust Doll here,” he went on, “has also had many adventures. Tell him about them, Sawdust Doll.”

“Oh, it would take too long,” replied Dorothy’s plaything. “But they are all in a book. And Dorothy’s brother Dick has a White Rocking Horse, and his adventures are in a book, too.”

“For that matter I have had a book written about me,” said the Donkey.

“So have I!” declared the Calico Clown, jumping up and down. “It tells about my trousers catching fire.”

“I wonder if I’ll ever have a book written about me,” sighed the Elephant.

“Perhaps,” answered the Lamb on Wheels. “You are much larger than I, and there is a book about me. But let’s have some fun, now that the children are out of the room.”

“All right,” agreed the Elephant. “This is like it used to be in Mr. Mugg’s store after closing time. What shall we do?”

“I know what I should like to do,” said the Calico Clown, as he looked at the big stuffed toy.

“What?” asked the Nodding Donkey.

“I should like to ride on the Elephant’s back,” went on the Clown. “All my life I have wanted a ride on an elephant’s back, and I never yet had the chance.”

“You shall have it now,” replied the kind Elephant. “I’ll come over and get you. Can you climb up? I’m pretty tall, you see.”

“I’ll stand on top of this toy trolley car,” said the Clown.

One of Archie’s presents was a toy trolley car, and by jumping up on this the Clown managed to reach the Elephant’s back.

“Now hold on tightly, and you won’t fall,” said the Elephant. “If I had thought, I could have lifted you up in my trunk, as I did the Rolling Mouse. But I’ll lift you down again. Sit tight now.”

So the Clown sat tight, and the Elephant walked around the room with him, giving the gay fellow a fine ride. The Sawdust Doll was just making up her mind that she would be brave enough to get on the Elephant’s back, when, all at once, the Nodding Donkey cried:

“Quick! Quiet every one! The children are coming back!”

“Oh, let me get off your back!” whispered the Clown to the Elephant. “They must never see me up here. It isn’t allowed!”

But he was too late! Before he could slide off the Stuffed Elephant, Archie, Elsie and the other children came running into the room!

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” they cried, as they saw the Calico Clown on the back of the Stuffed Elephant.

CHAPTER V

IN THE BARN

Hearing the shouts of the children as they hurried back into the room where the Christmas tree stood, Archie’s mother came to see what the matter was.

“Oh, Mother!” exclaimed Archie. “Look! The Clown is riding on my Elephant’s back! Isn’t he funny?”

“He looks very odd!” said Mrs. Dunn. “Who put him up there? Did you lift Sidney’s Calico Clown to your Stuffed Elephant’s back, Archie?”

“Oh, no, Mother!” Archie answered. “It wasn’t I.”

“Nor I,” said Elsie.

“And I didn’t, either,” said the other children in turn.

“Well,” said Mrs. Dunn, looking from one to the other, “of course the Clown couldn’t have gotten up on the Elephant’s back by himself, and of course the Elephant couldn’t have lifted him there with his trunk. Though I know a live clown could jump on a live elephant’s back, and a live elephant could lift a live clown up in his trunk. But these are only toys. They must be moved about.”

“Well, I didn’t put the Clown there,” said Archie again.

“Nor I!” echoed the other children.

And while this talk was going on the Elephant, the Clown, and the other Christmas toys were very much worried lest their part in the fun be found out. Of course we know how the Clown got on the Elephant’s back, but Mrs. Dunn did not, nor did the children. They didn’t know that the toys had the power to make believe come to life when no one was watching them.