r the end of
the rope," said Jake. "When I wound it up the Elephant became tangled in
a loop, and of course he was lifted up."

"Nope! We didn't any of us leave the Elephant near the rope; did we?"
asked Archie of his little friends.

"Nope!" they all answered.

"Well, that's queer," said Jake. "That Elephant never got on the rope
by himself, I'm sure."

But that is just what the Elephant did, as we know.

"Anyhow I'm glad he's all right now," said Archie, as he looked
carefully at his new toy. "None of the stuffing came out."

But it might have, if the Elephant had been left hanging much longer on
the rope.

Finding that everything was all right and that none of the children was
in danger, Jake went back to the oat bin. There was a long chute, or
slide, from the upper bin to a box on the first floor of the barn. And
the oats came rushing down this slide when a door in the top bin was
opened. This door could be opened by pulling a rope near the horse
stalls, and sometimes Archie was allowed to pull the rope, open the door
of the large grain bin, and let the oats slide down the chute to the
smaller bin on the lower floor.

But this day Jake was putting a new supply of oats in the upper bin,
and Archie was not allowed to play near it. The little boy and his
friends soon began having more fun with their Christmas toys, giving the
Clown and smaller dolls rides on the back of the Stuffed Elephant.

Thus Christmas passed, New Year's came, and the Elephant lived and was
happy in Archie's home. The Elephant did not often think of Mr. Mugg and
his daughters Geraldine and Angelina. He liked it much better, did the
Elephant, in Archie's house than in the store. Of course the toy store
was a jolly place, but no boys or girls were permitted to play with the
toys. They were there for sale, and could only be played with after
being bought and taken home.

So the Elephant was glad he belonged to Archie, who was a boy that took
very good care of his playthings. Nearly every day Joe, Dick or Arnold
would come over to see Archie, bringing their playthings, and in this
way the Elephant met many friends whose adventures are related in the
other books of this series.

And at night, when Archie and Elsie were in bed, of course the Elephant,
and the other toys in the Dunn house, had their usual fun. They would
make believe come to life and talk and play about in the nursery or in
the closet--wherever they happened to be left at t