himself, Nip, the
big dog, caught the soft Stuffed Elephant up by his back and carried him
into a dark and distant part of the barn.

CHAPTER VIII

AN ELEPHANT JUDGE

"Let me go! Oh, please put me down! Where are you taking me?" called the
Stuffed Elephant to Nip, the big dog.

Nip did not answer. This was not because he could not speak the toy
language or the language of Stuffed Elephants. But Nip held Archie's
Christmas plaything in his mouth, and you know a dog can't even bark
when he has anything in his mouth. He can only growl.

Now, Nip was not a bad dog. And though he was playing a trick on the
Stuffed Elephant, still Nip was not cross enough to do any growling. So
he just kept still, and trotted along the barn floor, carrying the
Elephant.

Nip, being a big dog, had no trouble in carrying the Stuffed Elephant,
though the toy was rather large. Stuffed with cotton, as the Elephant
was, he was not very heavy, you see.

"Stop! Oh, please let me go! Where are you taking me?" asked the
Elephant again.

But Nip answered never a word. All the dog had said at first was:

"I am going to carry you away off!"

And he seemed to be doing this.

Through the barn he trotted with the Stuffed Elephant in his mouth. The
Elephant had never been in this part of the barn before. Archie and
Elsie never came here to play. It was too dark, and rather dusty and
dirty, with cobwebs hanging down from the walls and ceiling.

Down the stairs trotted Nip, still carrying the Elephant. The dog
trotted over to a dim and dusty corner, dropped the Christmas toy upside
down on the floor and then barked:

"There you are! Now let's see you find your way back! I'll teach you to
scare me by making believe your trunk is a snake!"

"Oh, but I didn't do that! Really I didn't!" exclaimed the Elephant, as
he scrambled to his feet. He could move about and talk now, because no
human eyes were there to watch him. "It was all an accident," he went
on. "The wind blew my trunk! I didn't wave it at you to scare you by
making you think it was a snake. Really I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!" said Nip, and away he ran, soon being lost to sight in
the darkness of this part of the barn.

For a little while the Stuffed Elephant stood there, swaying slowly to
and fro, as real elephants do. He reached out with his trunk and gently
touched the wooden walls. He could dimly see things all about him, but
he did not know what they were.

"Oh, dear!" s