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“Oh, he’s a fine Horse!” cried Arnold, as he came over to play, bringing his toy train of cars with him. And Mirabell brought her wax doll. “Let me ride him, Dick, will you?”

After Dick and Arnold had taken turns riding on the White Horse, they left him on the edge of the porch to play with the toy train. Suddenly Carlo, the fuzzy dog that had once carried the Sawdust Doll out to his kennel, hiding her in the straw, ran around the corner of the house, barking loudly.

“Bow-wow! Bow-wow!” barked Carlo, and he ran straight for the White Rocking Horse.

How it happened no one seemed to know, but Carlo upset the Horse, which tumbled down the porch steps with many a bang and bump.

“Dear me!” thought the Horse, “This is not a pleasant adventure at all! What is going to happen?”

“Bang! Bump! Crack!” sounded he rolled over and over down the steps.

“Oh, what a pain in my leg!” said White Rocking Horse to himself.

Dick ran over to his toy, and when he saw his White Horse lying on the sidewalk at the foot of the steps, the little boy cried:

“Oh, his leg is broken! Oh, the leg of my White Rocking Horse is broken! I can never ride him again!”

CHAPTER VII

IN THE TOY HOSPITAL

Dick made such a fuss out on the porch, crying, when he saw his toy lying at the foot of the steps, that the boy’s mother hurried out to see what the trouble was.

“Dear me! Did you fall off?” asked Mother, as she saw the Horse lying on its side and Dick standing at the bottom of the porch steps near his toy. “Are you hurt, Sonny?”

“Oh, no, Mother. But my Horse is! My Christmas Horse is hurt.”

“You can’t hurt a wooden rocking horse,” said Mother, as she went over to see what had happened.

“Oh, yes you can!” sobbed Dick, for he was so little a boy that he was not ashamed to cry. “My Horse’s leg is broken! I can never ride him again! Oh, dear!”

Mother looked at the Horse lying on its side at the foot of the steps. If there had been no one there to look on, the Horse might have tried to get up, even with all his pain. But, as it was against the rules to move or say anything as long as human eyes were watching, the poor White Rocking Horse just had to lie there.

“Dear me, one of the legs really is broken,” said Mother, as she set the Horse upright. And, being a wooden horse with rockers under him, such as some chairs have, the Horse could stand upright, even though one of his legs was cracked clear through.

“Yes, his leg is broken, and now I can never have a ride on him any more!” sobbed Dick. “Oh, dear!”

“Oh, it isn’t as bad as all that,” said Mother, with a kind smile as she patted her little boy’s head. “I think we can have the broken leg mended. But how did it happen? Did you ride your Horse off the porch, Dick?”

“No, Mother,” he answered. “I was playing with Arnold’s train, and Carlo ran around the corner, barking, and he ran between my Horse’s legs, I guess, and upset him. Oh, isn’t it too bad?”

“Yes; but it might be worse,” replied Mother. “If your leg had been broken, or Dorothy’s or Mirabell’s or Arnold’s, it could not so easily be mended.”

“Can you mend the broken leg of my White Rocking Horse?” asked Dick eagerly.

“I cannot mend it, myself,” Mother answered. “But I will have Daddy take your Horse to the hospital.”

“I was in the hospital once,” put in Arnold, “and I had some bread and jelly.”

“Will they give my Horse bread and jelly in the hospital?” asked Dick of Mother.

“Hardly that,” she replied with a smile. “It is not the same kind of hospital. The one where I will have Daddy take your White Rocking Horse is a toy hospital, where all sorts of broken playthings are mended. There your Horse will be made as good as new.”