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“There you are!” laughed the Stuffed Elephant in his hearty voice. “There you are, Miss Mouse!”

“Yes, but where am I? Oh, so high up as I am! Oh, where am I?” squeaked the little mouse.

“You’re up on my back,” laughed the jolly Elephant toy. “Don’t be afraid. Stay there and I’ll give you a ride to where you came from. On what shelf do you belong?”

“Oh, put me down! Oh, I’m so afraid I’ll fall off!” cried the tiny mouse. “It is almost as high up here, on your back, as it would be to fall to the floor from the shelf. Do please put me down, kind Mr. Elephant!”

“Don’t be silly, Miss Mouse!” brayed the Nodding Donkey. “The Elephant is good and strong, and he is also careful. He will not let you fall.”

“Are you sure?” asked the little Mouse, trembling.

“Of course I will not let you fall!” chuckled the Elephant. “Just stay quietly on my back, and I’ll take you where you came from.”

“But maybe her wheels will go around again and make her roll off,” remarked the Sawdust Doll.

“No, the spring unwound as I slid across the shelf,” said the Rolling Mouse. “I’m all right now. Mr. Mugg wound me up to-day to show me to a little boy. But the boy wanted a pair of skates, and not a mouse like me. So Mr. Mugg put me down on the shelf without letting my spring unwind. He stuck me up against a Tin Soldier, and the Soldier kept me from rolling around. But just now the Soldier came out to look at the new Stuffed Elephant. That left nothing to hold me back, and away I rolled.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said the Tin Soldier, touching his red cap in a salute to Miss Mouse.

“I’ll forgive you, as I know you didn’t mean to do it,” said the Mouse toy, with a smile that made her whiskers wiggle. “But I do wish you’d put me down, Mr. Elephant. I am nervous up on your back, broad and big as it is.”

“All right, Miss Rolling Mouse, I’ll lift you down,” trumpeted the Elephant. “And here you are at your own place on the shelf.”

The big toy, stuffed as he was with cotton, reached back with his trunk, gently picked up the mouse in it, and set her down where she had started to roll from. As she had said, the wheels no longer whizzed around, as the spring which made them move had all uncoiled. It had “run down,” as it is called.

“There you are!” went on the Elephant, after he had gently put down the Mouse toy. “Any time you are afraid of falling off the shelf, just call for me and I’ll save you with my trunk.”

“You are very kind,” said the Mouse. “And so big and strong!”

“Isn’t he big, though!” giggled the Sawdust Doll. “I wonder if he is strong enough to give me a ride on his back?”

“Of course he is!” brayed the Nodding Donkey.

“Do you want a ride on my back, Miss Sawdust Doll?” asked the good-natured Elephant. “All right! Up you go!”

With a swing of his trunk he set the Doll on his back as he had done with the Mouse. Then the Stuffed Elephant carefully walked around among the other toys, taking care not to step on any of them.

“I’m glad the Elephant has come to stay with us,” whispered a little Celluloid Doll. “I’d love to ride on his back, but I don’t like to ask him.”

“I’ll ask for you if you’re too bashful to do it,” said the Calico Clown, and he did.

“Why, of course I’ll ride you, too, Miss Celluloid Doll,” chuckled the Elephant. “I’ll ride all of you in turn–that is all but the very largest toys. They might make my seams come open and the cotton stuffing puff out.”

For the Elephant was made of gray cloth, you know, and he was sewed together, his tusks of wood being stuck in on either side of his trunk.