“Why, didn’t you hear?” asked the Clown, as he sat up, for the toys knew it would be all right now to move about and talk as they had been doing.

“Didn’t I hear what?” asked the Elephant, sliding around on his roller skates.  “I hear a lot of things,” he went on, “but these skates make so much racket I can’t hear very well when I have them on.  They don’t really belong to me,” he said, looking at the Candy Rabbit.  “I just borrowed them from the sporting section, as I did before, to race with the White Rocking Horse.”

“Well, you might have saved yourself the trouble,” said the Monkey on a Stick.  “The White Rocking Horse isn’t here any more.  He was sold.”

“Dear me!” exclaimed the Elephant.  “That’s too bad!  Then I can’t have a race.”

“Unless you want to race with the Lamb on Wheels,” said the Bold Tin Soldier.  “She has wheels on her feet almost like your roller skates.  Will you race with her?”

“Thank you, I don’t believe I care to race,” put in the Lamb.  “I am not used to it.  And I might break a leg, and then that nice little girl, who was petting me to-day, would not want to buy me.  I had better not race.”

“Just as you like,” came from the Elephant.  “But I am sorry that my friend, the White Rocking Horse, has gone.  I wonder if I shall ever see him again.”

And the Elephant did see the Rocking chap later on, as you may read in the book telling “The Story of the White Rocking Horse.”  It was in a Toy Hospital where they met, after each had had many adventures.

“Well, if we are not going to have a race, what shall we do?” asked the Calico Clown.

“Suppose you tell us another riddle,” said the Bold Tin Soldier.

“Let the Monkey on a Stick, the Jack in the Box and the Candy Rabbit have a jumping race!” proposed the Lamb.  “They are all good jumpers.”

“Oh, yes!” cried all the other toys.  “A jumping race would be fine!”

“I’m ready!” said the Jack in the Box, waving to and fro on the end of his long, slender spring.

“So am I,” said the Monkey, as he climbed to the top of his stick.

“Well, I suppose I shall have to do my best,” said the Candy Rabbit.  “Clear a place on the counter, and we’ll try some jumps.”

The Bold Tin Soldier and his men soon cleared a place on the toy counter so that the Jack, the Monkey and the Rabbit would have plenty of room.  The building blocks, the checkers and the dominoes were moved out of the way, and then the Calico Clown took his place, ready to count “One!  Two!  Three!” so the three toys would know when it was time to jump.

“I’m allowed to come out of my box, am I not?” asked the Jack.

“Oh, of course,” said the Lamb on Wheels.  “It would not be fair to have you jump and carry your box with you.  You may come out.”

So the Jack jumped out of his box and took his place next to the Monkey, who also came down off his stick.  I wish you could have seen how nimble they were, but, really, it is not allowed.  The minute you looked at any of the toys they stopped moving at once.