The Story of a Bold Tin Soldier Part 6

"Yes," admitted the Doll, "I surely would."

"And I was only too glad to have you ride on my back," said the Lamb on Wheels. "It is so good to meet you again, Captain," she went on.

"Quite like old times. We have a few minutes now, while the children are away, getting their pie. Do tell me what happened to the Calico Clown."

"His trousers were burned," said the Captain. "And because Arnold bought me and my men I had to leave the store before I could see the new trousers the girl was going to make. But I'll tell you all about it," and the Bold Tin Soldier did.

"Did he ever tell the answer to that riddle of what it is that makes more noise than a pig under a gate?" asked the Lamb.

"No, he never did," said the Captain. "I meant to ask him, but I came away in a hurry, you see."

"Yes, we toys don't generally have much say as to what we shall or shall not do," bleated the Lamb. "I have been puzzling over that riddle myself."

"The next time I see the Calico Clown I will ask him the answer,"

declared the Captain. "There is no need of making such a secret about it. But, speaking of the store, it was lonesome there after you and the Sawdust Doll and the White Rocking Horse came away."

"Really? Did you miss me?" asked the Lamb.

"Indeed we did," declared the Captain. "And, in a way, I am glad I was bought and brought away. One reason is that now I may have some adventures, and another reason is that I have seen you again."

"It is very nice of you to say that," said the Lamb.

"Is there any chance of seeing the Sawdust Doll or the White Rocking Horse again?" asked the Captain.

"Yes, indeed! Every chance in the world," was the Lamb's answer.

"Why, they only live next door. The Sawdust Doll belongs to a little girl named Dorothy, and the White Rocking Horse to a boy named d.i.c.k."

Then the Wooden Doll, who was a Red Cross Nurse, the Lamb on Wheels and the Bold Tin Soldier and his Tin Men talked together for some little time longer, while Arnold and Mirabell were in the kitchen eating the pie Susan had so kindly baked for them.

All of a sudden, as the Lamb was telling the Soldier some of her adventures, and how she had floated downstream on a raft, something fluttered down out of a tree near the porch, and the Lamb cried:

"Ouch!"

"What is the matter?" asked the Bold Tin Soldier. "Did a bee sting you?"

"No, that was a bird!" bleated the Lamb on Wheels. "And did you see what he did?"

"No! what?" asked the Soldier.

"Why, that bird flew right down out of a tree and grabbed a beak full of wool off my back," went on the Lamb. "Gracious, how he pulled!"

And while the Captain was getting ready to say something, down flew the bird again, and he plucked another beak full of loose, soft wool, pulling it from the Lamb's back.

"Ouch! Oh, how you pull! Please stop!" bleated the Lamb.

The Bold Tin Soldier drew his sword.

"Look here, Mr. Bird!" cried the Captain. "I do not want to hurt you, but I can not allow you to pull wool from the back of my friend, Miss Lamb. You must stop it, or I will drive you away with my s.h.i.+ny, tin sword, as I drove away the bad rat that wanted to nibble the ears of the Candy Rabbit! Stop it, Mr. Bird!"

"Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!" chirped the Bird. "Please let me pull some more wool from your back, Miss Lamb," and he fluttered in the air with his beak wide open, while the Bold Tin Soldier, with drawn sword, took a step forward.

What was going to happen?

CHAPTER VI

SAVING THE SAWDUST DOLL

The bird was just going to flutter down and pull some more wool from the back of the Lamb on Wheels, when the Bold Tin Soldier, waving his sword, happened to strike it on the iron wheels of the wooden platform on which Miss Lamb stood. The s.h.i.+ny sword made a clanking sound, and, hearing this, the bird, instead of fluttering to the Lamb's back, perched on the porch railing.

"Well, you'd better not come and pull any more wool from my friend, Miss Lamb!" said the Soldier Captain.

"Oh, please excuse me!" chirped the bird. "Oh, what a mistake I have made! Why, you are only a _toy_ lamb, aren't you?" he asked the plaything.

"Of course I am a toy," answered the Lamb on Wheels. "But I can talk and move around when no human eyes watch me."

"That's just the trouble," said the bird. "I took you for a _real_ lamb, and that is why I pulled some wool from your back.

I wouldn't have done it for the world if I had known you were a toy!

Please excuse me. I made a mistake."

"Do you mean to say," asked the Bold Tin Soldier, "that you could pull wool from the back of a real, live lamb?"

"Of course I could!" chirped the bird.

"What for?" asked the Wooden Doll.

"To line my nest with, of course," answered Mr. Bird. "You see I am helping my wife make a nest. She is going to lay eggs in it and hatch out baby birds. And we want the nest nice and soft for the little ones. So, when I saw the woolly Lamb here on the porch, I flew down to pick some soft stuff from her back. I never thought she was a _toy_."

"Don't the real lambs mind if you pull wool from their backs?" asked the Wooden Doll.

"Not at all," was the answer. "The real lambs, down in the green pasture by the brook, often have loose bits of wool on their backs.

Other birds and I fly down, take off the loose pieces, and line our nests with them. Sometimes, when I can not get wool, I take the soft fluffy cotton from the milkweed plant, but I like lambs' fleece the best. It is so soft and warm for the little birds. But don't worry, Miss Lamb, I will not bother you again."

"I am sorry I can not let you have more of my wool," went on the Lamb on Wheels. "But, you see, not being real, my wool is glued fast to my back, and every time you take some off it pulls. And I can't grow any more like a real lamb."

"Yes, I know," chirped the bird. "Well, now I will fly to the green meadow and get some wool from a real lamb. Please forgive me, friends, for making trouble."

"Oh, that's all right," said the Bold Tin Soldier, putting away his s.h.i.+ny sword.

So, when the bird had flown away, the three toys were happy together again--the Bold Tin Soldier Captain, the Lamb on Wheels, and the Wooden Doll. Then the children came back to have more fun, and the toys had to be very still and quiet, moving about only as Arnold or Mirabell moved them.

When supper time came Arnold put his Tin Soldiers back in their box, and set them away on a shelf in the dark closet. He also put his wooden cannon there, while Mirabell put her Doll and other toys on the floor of the closet, as she could not quite reach up to the shelf.

"Do you think you are going to like it here, Captain?" asked one of the Tin Soldiers, when the closet door was shut and the toys could do as they pleased, since no eyes could see them.

"Yes, I think this will be a nice place," was the answer. "Arnold is going to be kind to us, I can see that."

"Yes, sir, he is a fine boy."