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So rocking softly over the thick carpet, and making no noise, the White Horse made his way out of Dick’s room, down the hall, and straight to where Dorothy was sleeping with the Sawdust Doll on the pillow beside her.

CHAPTER VI

THE BROKEN LEG

The White Rocking Horse stopped in the hall outside of Dorothy’s room. The door was open, and in the dim glow of a night-light the Horse could see the Sawdust Doll on the bed.

“Hi there! Hist! Come on out here and have a talk!” called the Rocking Horse.

“What’s that? Who is calling me?” asked the Sawdust Doll, for she had fallen asleep, being rather tired from having had so much Christmas fun that day.

“I am calling you,” answered the White Rocking Horse. “Come on out into the hall. I don’t want to come in, for fear some one might come along. And it would never do to let it be known that we toys can move and talk when no one sees us.”

“Indeed, no; never!” exclaimed the Sawdust Doll. “Wait a minute and I’ll come out to you. As you say, it would not do to be caught. I’ll slip down and come out.”

The White Rocking Horse waited in the hall. Soon he heard a little thud on the carpet. That was the Sawdust Doll sliding down out of Dorothy’s bed to the floor. A moment later she stood beside the Rocking Horse in the hall.

“I hope you won’t take cold,” said the Horse softly. “It is breezy in this hall.”

“Oh, no, I have a nice little warm shawl Dorothy made for me,” answered the Sawdust Doll. “Thank you for thinking of me, though.”

“Well, you see I want to be able to take a good report of you back to your friends in the toy store,” neighed the Horse.

“Do you think you will ever get back there again?” the Doll asked, as she snuggled up in a corner, wrapping the shawl around her.

“I don’t know,” the Horse replied. “Of course I could rock back to the store if no one saw me, but it is a long way, and if I went through the streets I’d almost certainly be seen.”

“I think so, too,” said the Doll. “I’m afraid we shall just have to stay here together the rest of our lives.”

“Well, I like it in this house since you are here,” said the Horse. “And who knows, perhaps some of the other toys may join us here on some future Christmas or birthday.”

“Wouldn’t that be fine!” exclaimed the Doll, clapping her hands. “I’d dearly love to see the Bold Tin Soldier again, and the Calico Clown, the Lamb on Wheels, the Candy Rabbit and the Monkey on a Stick.”

“I’d like to finish the race with the Elephant on his roller skates,” said the Horse, laughing softly. “But I don’t suppose I ever shall. He did look so funny when one skate came off!”

“I wish I had been there to see,” said the Sawdust Doll. “Now tell me all that happened in the store after I left.”

So the Horse told of the different happenings, how sometimes rough boys ran in and jumped on his back, and how one unpleasant chap punched the Calico Clown so hard that the cymbals were nearly broken, and how the Candy Rabbit had a bit of sugar chipped from one ear.

“Dear me! How exciting!” cried the Sawdust Doll.

“And now tell me about yourself,” urged the White Rocking Horse. “Have you had any adventures??”

“Oh, I should say I had! Yes, indeed!” was the answer. “Did I tell you about the time Dick ran over me with the rocking chair, pretending it was a Horse like you? My sawdust ran out of a hole in my side, and I fainted!”

“No! Really? Did you?”

“Indeed I did. It was the strangest feeling!”

“But I should think, if all your sawdust ran out–and, really, how terrible that must have been–you wouldn’t be here any more,” said the Horse.