The Story of a White Rocking Horse Part 3

"No, you can't have anything until Christmas," said his mother. "Put it back, Reginald!"

The boy frowned and tossed the Calico Clown back on the counter so hard one of the cymbals struck the Candy Rabbit and chipped a little piece of sugar off one ear.

And all the toys were glad when the boy's mother finally took him away.

"I must get you a pair of shoes, Reginald," she said.

"I hope she gets him a pair that pinches his toes!" thought the Bold Tin Soldier. "Such boys should be taught not to break toys, and they never, never should be allowed to pull the ears off a rocking horse."

And if the White Rocking Horse could have spoken, he would have said the same thing, I am sure.

Other boys came in to try the White Rocking Horse, and they were all good boys. They took their place in the red saddle very quietly, and did not bang with their heels. Nor did they yank and seesaw on the reins that were fastened on the head of the Rocking Horse.

"I would rather belong to two, or even three, of these good, kind boys, than to that one rude chap," said the White Rocking Horse to himself, as he swayed backward and forward on the floor in the toy department. He and the Lamb on Wheels were too large to be set on the counter with the Calico Clown, the Monkey on a Stick, the Candy Rabbit and the Bold Tin Soldier and other smaller toys.

Slowly the day pa.s.sed, and night was again coming on. Lights began to glow, for the days were short and evening came quickly--even before the store was closed.

"I wonder if the Rocking Horse and the Elephant will finish their race tonight?" thought the Bold Tin Soldier, as he felt himself being taken out of his box to be looked at by a lady who was doing her Christmas shopping.

It was almost closing time in the store when the White Rocking Horse, who felt much better since his sides had been rubbed with oil, heard a gentleman's voice speaking near him.

"This is about what I want for d.i.c.k's Christmas," said the man to the young lady clerk. "Is this a good Rocking Horse?"

"The best in the store; yes, sir," was the answer. "The tail and mane are real hair, and the saddle and bridle are real leather. The rockers, too, are nice and smooth, so the Horse will go fast."

"Well, I don't want it to go too fast," said the man, smiling down at the White Rocking Horse as he patted its neck, "My son d.i.c.k is too small to ride even a rocking horse very fast. I think, though, that I will have Santa Claus bring him this one. And, as it is so near Christmas, and as you are so very busy, if you will have this wrapped up for me, I will take it home in my auto. I will help Santa Claus that much."

"I'm sure he'll be glad to have you help him," replied the young lady, with a smile. "And I hope d.i.c.k will like this Horse. I am glad our Horse is going to a boy who will be kind to him."

"Oh, d.i.c.k takes good care of his toys," said the man.

"Well, thank goodness for that!" thought the White Rocking Horse. "Now like the Sawdust Doll, my adventures are going to start."

And, if you will turn to the next chapter, you may read what happened.

CHAPTER IV

THE SURPRISE

Through all this talk between the young lady of the store and the father who was buying something for his son's Christmas, to help busy Santa Claus, the White Rocking Horse never said a word. But he was doing as much thinking as a wooden horse ever did; I am sure of that.

"I'll get some big sheets of paper and wrap the horse up for you,"

said the young lady clerk to the man. "Are you sure you can get him in your auto?"

"Oh, yes," the man answered. "I have plenty of room. There will be no one in the car but the horse and myself. We shall have a nice ride together. It will seem rather funny to be giving a horse a ride in an automobile. I have often seen a horse pull a broken or stalled automobile along the street, but I never saw a horse in an auto before," he said.

"And I never did, either," replied the young lady, with a laugh, as she went to get the wrapping paper. "But then you know," she added, "this is not a regular horse."

"No, he is a rocking chap," said the man. Then he turned to another part of the toy department.

And as the young lady clerk was gone to get the paper and as the man was around the corner, over near the table where the checkers and dominoes were arranged in piles, the toys about which I have been telling you were left to themselves for a moment. And, of course, as there was no one to see them, they could move about and talk, if they wished. And they certainly did.

"Where do you suppose you are going?" asked the Calico Clown of the

White Rocking Horse.

"I haven't the least idea," was the answer. "But I know one thing: I am very sorry to leave you, my friends. We have had some jolly times together. Only think--last night the Elephant and I were having a friendly race!"

"Yes, and I wish I could have seen the finish of it," said the Bold Tin Soldier. "I am sure you would have won. A Rocking Horse is always faster than an Elephant."

"I am not so sure about that," said the Monkey on a Stick. "I believe the Elephant would have beaten."

"Well, we can't have the race now, that's sure," neighed the Horse. "I shall soon be leaving you."

"Maybe I could race with the Elephant," suggested the woolly Lamb. "I have wheels on, and if the Elephant wears his roller skates that will make us both even. We could have the race to-night, perhaps."

"Well, I hope you have jolly times when I am gone," said the White Rocking Horse. "Try to amuse yourselves."

"We will," answered the Calico Clown. "But perhaps you will come back to see us, as the Sawdust Doll once did."

"I'm afraid not," neighed the Horse. "You see, the Sawdust Doll came back because the little girl, whose mother bought the toy, carried the Doll in her arms. But I am too big to be carried in a boy's arms."

"Yes, that is so," agreed the Bold Tin Soldier. "Horses have to travel along by themselves, or else ride in autos. But perhaps, my dear friend, you may get a chance to gallop back here to see us some night."

"I should like to," the White Rocking Horse said; "but I don't see how it can be done. Some one would be sure to be looking."

"Hus.h.!.+ Quiet, everybody!" whispered the Calico Clown. "The man is coming back!"

And back he came, having finished looking at the checkers and dominoes. The young lady clerk also returned, with some large sheets of wrapping paper and a ball of string.

The toys could talk among themselves no longer, but of course they could still think, and each one who was to be left behind thought how lonesome it would be with the White Rocking Horse gone.

As for that wonderful chap, he was soon covered from the sight of his friends in the wrappings of paper. One sheet was put over his head, so he could see nothing more. Then his body and legs were wrapped in other papers, and the red saddle and bridle of real leather were covered up, as were the mane and tail of real hair.

"There, I think he will ride very nicely in my auto now," said the man, as he paid the clerk for the White Rocking Horse. Then the man carried the Horse down in the elevator.

At first it made the White Rocking Horse a little dizzy to be carried down in the elevator. He had not ridden in one for a long time--not since he was first brought to the big store from the Land of the North Pole, where he had been made in the work-shop of Santa Claus. Then the White Rocking Horse had been carried up to the toy department in a big freight elevator, with many others like himself. But that freight elevator went more slowly than the pa.s.senger one in which the man now carried down his boy's Christmas present, thus helping St. Nicholas, who was to be very busy that year.

As the man went outside the store with his bundle the White Rocking Horse felt a cold chill run over him. He was so used to the warm store that he had forgotten the cold weather outside. It was snowing, too, and one or two white flakes sifted in through cracks of the wrapping paper, and fell on the Horse.

"Well, this is certainly a strange adventure," thought the White Horse; "being carried along this way, out into a storm. I wonder what will happen next?"

And the next he knew he was put in the back of an automobile and away he rode, faster than he ever could have traveled by himself--faster even than he had gone while racing with the Elephant on roller skates.

The ride in the automobile through the snow made the White Rocking Horse rather sleepy, so he really did not know much about what happened on his trip through the storm. All he remembered was that he went quite fast and at last the car stopped.