me from?" asked Joe, the boy who
had the Nodding Donkey.

"I think he must have fallen overboard out of some boat when some
children were being given a ride, just as you boys are having a ride,"
said the father of Herbert. Herbert, you know, owned the Monkey on a
Stick.

"I wish I could keep that Plush Bear," softly said Joe. "Now that I'm
not lame any more I could run around and have fun with him."

"It is a very nice Plush Bear," said Mr. Richmond, Joe's father, as he
examined the wet toy. "Some little boy or girl will be glad to get it
back. It doesn't seem to be much harmed." He wound up the spring and at
once the Plush Bear began to move his paws, wag his head, and growl. The
growl was a trifle rusty and a bit gritty from the sand still inside the
works, but that did not matter.

"We'll take the Plush Bear back to shore with us," said Joe's father.
"Perhaps some children stopping at one of the hotels, or even at our own
hotel, may claim this toy. We must find out. I'll put the Bear on his
back in the sun so he'll dry."

"And I'll put my Nodding Donkey back there, too, so Mr. Bruin won't be
lonesome," offered Joe.

"Put my Monkey there, too," said Herbert.

So the three toys were placed near each other on the back seat of the
boat, and then the two boys and their father gathered in the bow, or
front part, to look across the ocean. They were out for a pleasure ride.

"How did you come to be floating in the sea all by yourself?" asked the
Nodding Donkey in a whisper of the Plush Bear.

"A big wave knocked Arthur down and he dropped me," was the answer, in
the same low voice.

The Plush Bear was just going to tell more of his adventures when the
motor boat was run up alongside a dock, and the party got out.

"I'll carry the Plush Bear," said Joe's father. "He isn't quite dry yet.
We'll take him to our hotel, and I'll tell the clerk to post up a
notice, saying the toy was found at sea. Then whoever owns him may claim
him."

But matters were not going to turn out just that way. As it happened,
Joe and Herbert were stopping at the same hotel where Arthur and Nettie
were with their father and mother. Joe and Herbert had just arrived that
day, which was why Arthur and Nettie had not seen their little friends
before.

Coming back from their boat ride, on which they had rescued at sea the
Plush Bear, the two men and the two boys entered the hotel. As they
walked toward the desk, Mr. Richmond carrying the Plus