ore sand came in.

"What shall I do?" thought the Plush Bear to himself, not opening his
mouth to say anything this time. "How am I ever going to get out of
here?"

Well might he ask himself that, for the sand was so closely packed in
about him that he could hardly move. Even though the spring inside him
was wound up, the Plush Bear could not turn his head nor wave his paws.
As for growling, he knew better than to try that.

"Well, something must be done!" thought the Plush Bear. "If I stay in
this sand hole too long I'll smother! I wonder why Arthur doesn't come
and take me out? He always said he was fond of me!"

But Arthur, the fat boy, was just then having a glorious ride on a pony,
and Nettie, his sister, was also having a ride. For the time being the
children had forgotten about their toys. Nettie had left her Rag Doll
and Arthur his Plush Bear. But the Rag Doll was not buried in the sand.

Up and down along the sand rode the children on the backs of the beach
ponies. But at last Mrs. Rowe decided that Nettie and Arthur had had fun
enough, so she helped them out of the little saddles.

"Get your playthings and come to the hotel. We must dress for dinner,"
she said. "Where is your Rag Doll, Nettie? And your Plush Bear, Arthur?"

"I left my Rag Doll on the sand," answered Nettie. "I'll get her."

"And I left my Plush Bear--Oh, I left him in the sand circus cage, where
I was playing he was a wild Bear!" cried Arthur. "Oh, I forgot, I left
my nice Plush Bear in a hole!"

"You'd better get him out as soon as you can," said his mother.

The children remembered the spot where they had been playing on the sand
before they took the pony rides. Nettie ran back there, and soon found
her Rag Doll.

"But where's my Plush Bear?" asked Arthur anxiously, looking up and down
the beach. "I made a hole here, right by Nettie's Doll, and I put sticks
in the hole, like bars in a circus cage, and I left my Plush Bear in the
hole."

"Are you sure this is the place?" asked Mrs. Rowe, as she, too, looked
searchingly up and down the sand. She did not want Arthur to lose his
toy.

"It was right here," declared the fat boy.

"I don't see any hole," went on Mrs. Rowe. Of course she did not know
that the pony had scattered the sand, filling up the little cave Arthur
had made.

"Oh, where is my Plush Bear?" cried the little fat boy, and he was
almost ready to cry. His mother and Nettie helped him look. So did other
children, w