"Well, this is certainly a fine state of affairs!" said the Plush Bear
to himself, speaking out loud, as there were no human ears to hear.
"Taken away to an ice house, scaring an Eskimo family half to death, and
then to be brought back here and dumped in a snow bank! It's a good
thing I have on a warm plush coat, or I'd surely freeze! I wonder if I
can get back into the shop?"

But this the Bear could not do. The window had been pulled down and shut
by the Jumping Jacks, and the hole Ski had breathed in the icy pane was
too small for the Plush Bear to crawl through, even if he could have
reached it. He tried to call out, to make the toys inside hear him, so
they might rescue him, but they had gone to sleep after their evening of
fun.

So the Plush Bear had to stay out in the snow bank near the workshop of
Santa Claus all night. It was cold and dreary, but he made the best of
it.

"When morning comes they will take me in," he thought. "The night can
not last forever."




CHAPTER IV

IN THE TOY SHOP


Slowly the night passed. Well it was for the Plush Bear that he was