own, down went the Elephant, just as he had gone up, up, up on
the rope.
"Where shall I land?" thought the Elephant.
A moment later he found out, for he was shot from the chute into the
almost empty grain bin on the lower floor. Out of the chute tumbled the
Elephant, and he was very glad to be in an open space once more.
"But it is almost as dark as it was before," he said. A little light
came from the top of the bin which did not close tightly, but it was
only a little light.
But the Elephant's troubles were not over. For no sooner had he been
slid clear of the chute, landing on his feet, very luckily, than more
oats poured out, for Archie was still holding open the door of the grain
bin up above. So many oats came sliding down the chute that they rose
all around the Elephant like rising water around a rock. The oats rose
to his knees, to his stomach, where they tickled him a little, and then
began to rise over his back.
"Oh!" he trumpeted, raising his trunk as high as he could. "I am going
to be covered from sight in the oats!"
And then, when the oats almost covered his eyes, he had a glimpse of the
Doll coming down the chute, in a shower of oats.
"Oh, you poor child!" called the Elephant.
"Yes, isn't this terrible!" exclaimed the Doll. "Oh, how are we ever
going to get out?"
The Elephant tried to answer, but now the oats rose over his mouth and
he could not speak. Only the top of his head and the tip of his trunk
stuck out above the oats.
The Doll, having come down a little later, was not so deeply covered by
the grains. She tried to stand up, to keep her head as far above the
oats as she could, but it was hard work. Around and around she slipped,
from side to side.
More and more oats poured down, for Archie still held open the door, and
at last the poor Doll was covered from sight, as was the Elephant.
And it was now that Archie and Elsie came racing down the stairs. Archie
called:
"Jake! Jake! Come here! Where are you? Oh, my Elephant is in the oat
bin, and so is Elsie's Doll, and we've got to get 'em out!"
"What's that? Elsie in the oat bin?" cried Jake, who had just come back
to the barn.
"No, not Elsie, but her Doll!" shouted Archie. "And so is my Stuffed
Elephant."
"Well, that isn't so bad as if one of you children were in the bin,"
replied Jake. "I'll help you, though. Show me which bin."
Archie told what he had done, and when Jake opened the bin on the lower
floor it wa
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