ighed the poor Stuffed Elephant. "I don't like this at all!
I wonder what I had better do?"

He was trying to think, and wondering if he could walk up the stairs and
find his way back to the place where Archie had left him before Nip
carried him away, when, suddenly, the Stuffed Elephant heard voices
talking.

"Maybe he could settle it," said one voice.

"Well, I'm willing to leave it to him if you are," said a second.

"Who is he, anyhow?" asked a third voice.

"Oh, he's some sort of animal," went on the first voice. "He isn't an
angleworm, I know that much, but just what sort he is I don't know. But
he looks smart, and maybe he can settle this dispute for us."

"I am a Stuffed Elephant, that's who I am," said Archie's pet, speaking
for himself. "And who are you, if you please? I can't see any one, but I
hear you talking. Who are you?"

"I am the Garden Shovel," answered the first voice; "and I claim to be
the most useful tool in all the world. Without me there never would be
any garden, and things would not grow."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the second voice. "I am the Garden Rake, and I
claim to be the most useful tool the gardener ever uses. Without me the
ground would never be raked nice and smooth, so the seeds could be put
in. I should get the prize for being the most useful."

"How foolishly you talk!" put in the third voice. "Every one knows that
I am entitled to the prize. Talk about shoveling the ground, and raking
the ground! What can you two do by yourselves, or together, for that
matter, if the ground is hard? Answer me that. You must send for me, you
know you must!"

"And who are you?" asked the Stuffed Elephant, for this tool had not yet
named himself.

"I am the Pick," was the answer. "And with my sharp points the hardest
ground can be made soft, so the Rake and the Shovel can work. I am the
most useful tool of all."

"No, I am!" cried the Rake.

"Indeed you are not! I am!" exclaimed the Shovel.

"Well, there we are! Just where we started!" complained the Pick. "Why
not leave it to this gentleman animal here. What did you say your name
was?" he asked politely, and then Archie's toy saw the Pick, the Rake
and the Shovel step out from a dark corner and stand in a row before
him.

"I am the Stuffed Elephant," was the answer. "This is my first visit to
this part of the barn. What is it you want me to do?"

"If this is your first visit you have never seen any of us before, have
you?" asked th