"I'm afraid not," his mother answered.
Archie felt so bad about his toy that his father put an advertisement in the paper, asking whoever found the Elephant to please bring him back and get a reward.
If Jeff, the colored boy, had been able to read, he might have seen the advertisement and have told what he did with the toy.
But Jeff never read the papers. And, besides, it rained so hard when the colored boy went back from the store, after putting the Elephant on the board, that Jeff had to go home another way, and he forgot all about the stuffed plaything he had set aside.
But the man who had taken the Elephant home read the paper, and he saw the advertisement Mr. Dunn put in.
"There!" called the man to his wife. "Now I know where that Elephant belongs. I'll take him back to the little boy."
"Well, he's good and dry," said his wife. "I mean the Elephant is good and dry. He's almost as good as new." And, in fact, the Elephant was, for she had brushed off all the mud, and the heat had dried out the water.
Carrying the Stuffed Elephant, the man who had found the toy took it to Archie's house.
"Oh, here he is! My Christmas Elephant! He's come back to me! Oh, how glad I am!" cried Archie, as he clasped the cotton creature in his arms. "Oh, how glad I am!"
"And I'm glad, too!" thought the Elephant. "I feared I would never see Archie and Elsie again! And I'm even glad to see Nip!" for the dog came to the door, wagging his tail.