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The sweet chap was just going to say he could see nothing, when
there
came a whinny from a big White Rocking Horse standing on the floor
near a lawn swing.
"Oh, you're here at last, are you?" neighed the White Rocking Horse.
"Yes, I'm here," answered a voice, and with it came again the
rumbling, rolling sound. "I'm sorry if I am late, but I had to go over
in the sporting goods section to get a pair to fit me."
"A pair of what to fit who? Who is it?" asked the Monkey on a Stick,
for he had taken a seat behind a pile of building blocks, and could
not see very well.
"What's going on here, anyhow?" he asked, as he began to climb up
to
the top of his stick.
Then all the toys looked at the White Rocking Horse, and they saw,
trundling toward him, an Elephant on roller skates.
"Oh, how funny he looks!" laughed the Calico Clown. "Oh, dear
me! This
is better than any joke I could tell! Oh, how funny!" And the Calico
Clown doubled up in such a kink of laughter that his cymbals tinkled
again and again.
"What is so funny?" asked the Elephant on roller skates.
"You are," replied the Clown. "Of course we are glad to see
you," he
added. "And please excuse me for laughing at you. But, really, I
cannot help it! You do look so funny! I--I never saw an elephant on
roller skates before."
"And I never before was on roller skates," answered the toy Elephant.
"I don't believe I'll ever put them on again, either," he said. "But
when the White Rocking Horse asked me to race with him, that was the
only way I could think of to make it fair, as he is so much faster
than I. He said I might put anything I liked on my feet."
"What's this? What's this?" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Is
there to
be a race between an Elephant on roller skates and the White Rocking
Horse?"
"Yes," answered the Horse himself, "we are going to have a little
race, just for fun, you know. I thought it would be amusing."
"Where are you going to run the race?" asked the Candy Rabbit.
"Down to the elevators and back again," answered the White Rocking
Horse. "You see, my friends, it came about in this way," he explained.
"The Elephant was always telling how fast he could run. He said the
real elephants in the jungle, after whom he is patterned, were swifter
than horses. I said I did not think so. I told him I could beat him in
a race, so we agreed to try it some night. I said he could put on
roller skates if he wished, since I had rockers, like those of a
chair, fastened on my hoofs."
The White Rocking Horse was a proud fellow, with his long tail and
mane of real hair. Proudly he held up his head. Proudly he rocked to
and fro. On his back was a red saddle of real leather.
"Get ready for the race!" called the Calico Clown, clanging his
cymbals. "This will be real, jolly fun! Ready for the race!"
The Horse and Elephant stood on a line, which was a crack in the
floor, and they were just going to rush toward the elevators when, all
of a sudden, the Candy Rabbit cried:
"Hush!"