"Oh, Arthur! did you drop Mr. Bruin when the wave knocked you down?" asked Nettie.
"I guess—I guess I did!" answered her brother sadly.
"Then that's the last of your Plush Bear," said Arthur's father. "But don't cry!" he told the little boy. "I'll get you another. Don't cry! There is salt water enough around here without your adding to it by your tears!" he laughed. But Arthur felt too unhappy to laugh.
And all this while Mr. Bruin was floating on the waves.
"This is certainly the strangest thing that ever happened to me," thought the Plush Bear. "I thought surely my end had come when Arthur dropped me. But, though I am all wet outside, I seem to be dry inside."
On and on floated the Plush Bear; then, all of a sudden, he heard voices talking. The voices were those of men and children, and not the voices of toys.
"Don't you like it here, Joe?" asked a boy.
"Yes, I do, Herbert," was the answer. "And my Nodding Donkey likes it, too."
"My Monkey on a Stick is having fun, and he isn't seasick a bit," said the boy who had been called Herbert. "He loves to ride in a motor boat, my Monkey does."
"What's this? What's this!" thought the Plush Bear. "Nodding Donkey? Monkey on a Stick?"