e her away 'fore she tumbles in."

Elsie reached over to take her toy from the side of the oat bin where
the Christmas Doll had been put by her mistress. But Elsie's foot
slipped on some hay on the floor, she tried to save herself from
falling, her arm struck her Doll, and, a moment later, the Doll was
sliding down the stream of smooth oats as the Elephant had done.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Archie. "Look at your Doll! She went down just like my
Elephant!"

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" wailed Elsie. "Where has she gone?"

"Down into the oat bin on the first floor," explained Archie. "The oats
go from this big bin to the little bin where Jake takes them out to give
to the horses. Don't cry, Elsie. We'll get your Doll back."

Archie had almost been going to cry himself when he saw his Elephant
being buried in the rushing stream of oats. But when he heard his
sister's sobs he made up his mind to be brave and try to help her.

Archie was so excited that he still held up the sliding door of the oat
bin, and the grains kept on sliding down the chute, carrying with them
the Elephant and Doll, though now the toys were not in sight.

"Come on downstairs and get my Doll!" begged Elsie, tugging at her
brother's hand. "Come on and get your Elephant and my Doll."

"Yes, we'd better do that," Archie agreed.

Then he saw that he was still holding open the little door in the oat
bin, so that pecks and bushels of the grains were still sliding down the
chute.

"I'd better close that, or the Elephant and the Doll will be buried away
down under so many oats they'll never get out," said the little boy.

He let go the handle that they had pulled to raise the door, and it
dropped shut, thus preventing any more oats from sliding down the chute.
Then he took Elsie's hand and hurried toward the stairs that led to the
lower floor of the barn.

Meanwhile, as you have guessed, the Elephant and the Doll were not
having a very good time. At first, when the Elephant felt himself fall
in with the sliding oats, he did not know what had happened.

"I wonder what sort of adventure this is!" thought the Elephant. "It's
almost as bad as being pitched out into a snow drift, though I'm glad it
isn't cold. These oats are very scratchy, though, and they make me want
to sneeze. But where am I going?"

The Elephant did not know. All he could tell was that he was being
hurried along in the dark with a lot of oats, for it was dark inside the
grain chute.

Down, d