The Story of a White Rocking Horse | Page 2

Bold Tin Soldier. "Come, my men! Forward--march!"
And then and there the tin soldiers, with their captain holding his shiny tin sword in his hand, marched out of their box and around the toy counter of the big department store.
Yes, I wish you could have seen them; but it isn't allowed, you know. Just the very minute the eyes of a boy or a girl, or, for that matter, a father or mother or aunt, uncle or cousin--just the very moment any one looks, the toys are as still as clothespins.
"Aren't they fine?" cried a Monkey on a Stick, as he scrambled up to the very top of his staff, so he might look over the pile of building blocks that stood near some picture books. "I wish I were a soldier!"
"Oh, no!" exclaimed a Boy Doll.
"You are funnier as a Monkey," remarked the Calico Clown.
"But I am not as funny as you are," laughed the Monkey. "Tell us a joke, that's a good fellow! Tell us something funny, Calico Clown, so we may laugh. We have had no fun all day."
"All right," agreed the Calico Clown, with a smile, as he softly banged his cymbals together. "I'll see if I can think of a joke."
The Bold Tin Soldier and his men stopped marching to listen to what the Calico Clown might say. The Candy Rabbit raised his big ears up straighter, so that he would miss nothing. The Lamb on Wheels gave herself a shake, seemingly so the kinks would come out of her woolly coat, and the Monkey on a Stick swung by his tail.
"Yes, I'll tell you a joke," said the Calico Clown. "It is a sort of riddle. Listen, and see if any of you can answer it."
"The Sawdust Doll was very clever at answering riddles," said the Bold Tin Soldier. "I wish she were here now."
"But she isn't," said the Candy Rabbit. "I liked that Sawdust Doll very much, but she has gone away."
"Yes, some lady bought her for a little girl's birthday," came from the Monkey on a Stick. "You are right, Tin Soldier, that doll was very clever at answering the riddles the Clown used to ask."
"Well, if you don't all stop talking now, how am I going to tell this joke?" asked the Calico Clown crossly. "Now, who is a--"
"I wonder if the Sawdust Doll will come back and see us once again, as she did before?" asked the Lamb on Wheels, not paying much attention to what the Calico Clown said. "Don't you remember, Tin Soldier, how she once came back to us, after she had been sold and taken away?"
"Clang! Bang!" went the cymbals of the Calico Clown.
"What's the matter?" asked the Monkey on a Stick.
"Matter? Matter enough, I should say!" replied the Clown. "Here I am asked to tell a funny joke, and none of you will listen. You keep on talking about the Sawdust Doll. I liked her as much as any one. But she is gone--she was sold away from us. To-morrow some of us may be sold, and never see the others again. Let's be gay and jolly while we can!"
"That's what I say!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit. "Really, we are not very polite to go on talking when the Calico Clown wants to amuse us with one of his famous jokes. We should listen to him."
"You are right!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Come now," he went on, as he waved his sword over his head, "I do not want to be cross with you, my toy friends, but I command silence! Silence while the Calico Clown tells his joke!"
The toys on the counters and shelves settled down and turned their eyes toward the Clown in his funny calico suit of many colors.
"I'm sure you will all laugh at this joke!" cried the Calico Clown. "It is so funny I have to laugh myself whenever I tell it. Thank you for getting them quiet so they can listen to me, Bold Tin Soldier. I am glad you are a friend--"
"Say, you'd better tell that joke, if you're going to!" broke in the captain. "I don't know how long they'll stay quiet. And I want to march around some more before morning comes and we have to stay in our box all day. You know it is the Christmas season, and any one of us may be bought any day and taken far off. So let us be jolly together while we may. All quiet now, for the Calico Clown's joke!"
"Thank you," returned the funny fellow again. "Now, why is it that when--"
And just then there was a rumbling, rolling sound on the floor of the toy department.
"Dear me!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit, "can that be the watchman coming so soon?"
They all listened, and heard the noise