The Story of a Bold Tin Soldier Part 11

"I'll never get another like him," sighed the little boy. "He was so nice, with his shiny medal-b.u.t.ton!"

"And he was such a good Captain!" added d.i.c.k.

And all this while the Bold Tin Soldier was in the dark barrel of sugar and was getting ready to climb up and out if he could!

No one was in the kitchen now. The cook had gone away and it was not yet time for supper. So, all unseen as he was in the barrel, the Tin Soldier could do as he pleased.

With his tin sword he began cutting little niches, or steps, in the wooden sides of the barrel. But as the wood was quite hard, and as the tin sword was not very sharp, it was not very easy work for the Captain.

As the afternoon pa.s.sed, the other Soldiers in their box on a shelf in the playroom closet began to wonder what had become of their Captain.

"Some of us ought to go in search of him," said the Sergeant.

"Yes, but we can't go until after dark, when no one will see us moving about," answered the Corporal. "That's the worst of being a toy--we can not do as we please."

"I hope the Captain has not deserted us," said a private soldier.

"Deserted! I should say not!" cried the Sergeant. "Our Captain would never desert!"

Evening came. The cook came back and began to get supper. And by this time the Captain, in the sugar barrel, had cut several little niches in the sides of the barrel. He was working away so hard that he never heard the cook come into the kitchen and start to get supper.

Then, all of a sudden, the cook, as she went to the pantry to get some flour, stopped near the barrel of sugar. She heard a queer little sound coming from it.

"I declare!" exclaimed the cook, "a mouse is trying to gnaw into the sugar barrel! The idea!"

The sound the cook heard was the Captain's tin sword as he cut steps in the side of the barrel, so he might climb up. But this noise sounded exactly like the gnawing of a mouse.

"Get away from there!" cried the cook, and she quickly lifted the cover off the sugar barrel, letting in a flood of light, for it was now night and the electric lights were glowing. "Get out!" cried the cook, thinking to scare away the mouse, as she thought it was.

Now of course as soon as the sugar barrel was opened, and the moment the cook looked in, the Captain had to stop work. Back into its scabbard went his sword, and he settled down among the grains of sugar again. He was now being looked at by human eyes, and it was against the toy rule for him to move.

"Well I do declare!" cried the cook, as she glanced at the Bold Tin Soldier lying in the sugar. "Here is Arnold's Captain he has been looking for. He is in the kitchen, after all, but how did he get in this barrel? And where is the mouse that was gnawing?"

Of course there was no mouse--it was the Captain's sword making the noise. But the cook did not know that.

She leaned down and picked the Captain up in her fingers. So he got out of the sugar barrel after all, you see, without having to cut a ladder in the wood.

"Arnold! Arnold!" called Susan up the back stairs. "I have found your Tin Captain!"

"Where was he?" asked the little boy, who was playing with the other soldiers, and wishing he had their commander.

"He was in the barrel of sugar," was the answer. "You must have dropped him in when you were eating cookies this afternoon."

"Maybe I did!" said the boy. "Oh, I am so glad to get you back!" he went on, as he carried the Captain upstairs. "Thank you, Susan!"

Then the Bold Tin Soldier was placed at the head of his men on the table, and they were together once more.

"What happened to you? Why were you away from us so long?" whispered the Sergeant to the Captain, when Arnold went out of the room a moment.

"I was in a barrel of sugar," was the answer. "I'll tell you about it later."

And that night, when all was still and quiet in the house, the Captain told his story.

"That was a wonderful adventure!" said the Corporal.

"Yes," agreed the Captain, "it was. I wish the toys back at the store could hear it. I rather think it would surprise the Calico Clown."

Arnold was playing with his tin toys one day when his mother called to him.

"Arnold, get on your overcoat. I am going to take you and Mirabell down to the toy store. I want to get a little Easter present for your cousin Madeline."

"Oh, what fun!" cried Arnold, and before he thought what he was doing he thrust the Tin Captain into his coat pocket and took him with him when he went with his mother and sister to the store; that's what Arnold did.

"Dear me! what is going to happen now?" thought the Bold Tin Soldier, as he found himself in Arnold's pocket on his way back to the store.

CHAPTER X

THE SOLDIER AND THE RABBIT

Arnold and Mirabell rode up in the store elevator with their mother to the floor where the toys were displayed.

"What did you say you wanted to get for Madeline?" asked Mirabell, as she walked along looking at the pretty things on the counters and shelves.

"A little Easter present," was the answer. "Perhaps I can find some pretty little bunny, or a novelty of some sort, that Madeline would like. You children may help me pick it out."

"I'm going to see if there are any more Tin Soldiers like mine,"

said Arnold.

The children and their mother came near the toy counter. On it were many playthings that boys and girls like. The Calico Clown was there, the Monkey on a Stick, a Jumping Jack, and others.

"Oh, I wish I had that Jumping Jack!" exclaimed Arnold.

"But you have plenty of toys," said his mother.

"Yes, I know," he answered. "But I wish--I er--wish--I er--a-ker-choo!"

suddenly sneezed Arnold, and as he felt his nose tickling he took his handkerchief from his pocket with a jerk.

And with the handkerchief out came the Bold Tin Soldier which the boy had stuffed into his pocket when he hurried downstairs as his mother called him to go shopping with her and Mirabell.

Out popped the Bold Tin Soldier, and he bounced right over on to the toy counter, just the very same place where he had lived before he came to Arnold's house.

"Oh. look!" cried Mirabell. "How funny! I didn't know you had brought your Tin Soldier Captain with you, Arnold."

"I didn't know it myself! I guess I must have stuffed him into my pocket and forgotten about him," the little boy said. "But I am not going to leave him here. I like him too much."

As it happened, the Bold Tin Soldier, when he was pulled out with the handkerchief, landed on the toy counter right side up, standing on his feet. And, as it also happened, he landed near the Candy Rabbit.