Into the water fell the toy, and, a moment later, when the wave washed
back into the ocean, it took Mr. Bruin with it. Right out to sea the
Plush Bear was washed, on the top of the big wave!

"Oh! Oh, dear! What is going to happen to me now?" thought the poor
Plush Bear.

CHAPTER X

SAVED AT LAST

When the big wave knocked Arthur down and the little fat boy dropped the
Plush Bear into the sea, that toy expected he would at once sink to the
bottom and be drowned. It was the first time he had ever fallen into the
water. At the North Pole, where he had been made in the workshop of
Santa Claus, it is so cold nearly all the time that all water is frozen
into ice, and there is very little into which one may fall.

"This is the last of me!" thought the poor Plush Bear, as he felt the
water closing over his head. Faintly he heard the screams of Arthur, as
the waves rolled the fat boy over and over on the beach. But Arthur's
father quickly sprang in and picked up his little fat son, saving him.

There was no one at hand just then to save the Plush Bear.

"Yes, this is the last of me!" thought Mr. Bruin. But, to his surprise,
he found that, after his first drop into the ocean when the waters
closed over his head, he bobbed up again and floated nicely like a piece
of wood.

Much of what was inside the Plush Bear was sawdust and cork, making him
very light, so that, though he did not know it, he was a better floater
than was Arthur.

The Plush Bear had been careful not to breathe when he fell into the
sea, so he did not sniff any water up his nose. And after the first
shock he did not feel bad. The water was warm, and by keeping his mouth
closed the Plush Bear did not taste any of the salt. There he was,
floating on his back, his big, yellow eyes staring up at the sun and
the blue sky. And now, as the tide had turned and was going out, the
Bear was carried out to sea with it.

Back on the beach there was much excitement when Arthur's father had
pulled the fat boy out of the sea. But it was soon found that Arthur was
all right, except that he had swallowed a little salt water.

"But where's my Plush Bear?" Arthur cried, when he had been dried and
comforted by his mother. "Where's my Plush Bear?"

Where, indeed? Well might Arthur ask that, for his Plush Bear was being
carried far, far out to sea on the waves.

"Oh, Arthur! did you drop Mr. Bruin when the wave knocked you down?"
asked Nettie.

"I guess--I