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The Story Of A Bold Tin Soldier
by
“If the guns should, by accident, shoot too loudly,” said the Clown. “I will hold my hands over your ears, Miss Rag Doll.”
“That is very kind of you,” she answered with a smile. “But please do not bang your cymbals, as they make almost as much noise as the soldiers’ guns.”
“I’ll be careful,” promised the Calico Clown, who wore a gay suit of many colors, one leg being red and the other yellow, while his shirt was spotted, speckled and striped. On the end of each arm was a round disk of brass. These were called “cymbals,” and when any one pressed on the Clown’s chest he moved his arms and banged his cymbals together with a clanging sound.
“Attention!” called the Bold Tin Soldier again, and at this word of command the other Tin Soldiers in the box with their Captain stood up and began to move into line, each one carrying his gun over his shoulder.
As I have told you in my other books, the toys could pretend to come to life and move about after dark, when no one was in the store to see them. The toys could also move about by themselves in the day time, if no human eyes watched them. But as there was nearly always some one–either clerk or customer–in the store during the day, the toys seldom had a chance to do as they pleased during daylight hours. So most of their fun took place after dark, as was happening now.
“Attention!” once more called the Captain. “Get ready, my brave men! Forward–March!”
And then while some of the Soldiers who had fifes, drums, trumpets and horns played a lively tune, the others, led by their Captain, marched along. They went down the toy counter and paraded past the place where the Candy Rabbit sat watching them. Straight and stiff marched the Tin Soldiers, the music of the tin band becoming more and more lively.
“Left, wheel!” called the Captain, and the Tin Soldiers turned to the left.
“Right, wheel!” shouted the Captain, and the Tin Soldiers turned to the right.
Then they marched around in a circle, and they marched in a square, and they marched in a triangle, and in all sorts of fancy figures. They swung around the Rag Doll, and the Captain waved his shiny sword so fast that the Calico Clown cried:
“Oh, it is so dazzling bright that it hurts my eyes!”
And then the Bold Tin Soldier Captain led his men up a hill made of a pile of building blocks.
“Oh, I hope they do not fall off!” said the Rag Doll.
“No, they won’t fall,” answered the Candy Rabbit. “I guess the Captain knows what he is doing.”
Straight up the building-block hill the Bold Tin Soldier led his men, and when they reached the top he cried:
“Jump!”
“Oh mercy me!” screamed the Rag Doll, “they’ll all be killed!”
And those Tin Soldiers, who, like other soldiers, must always obey their officers, jumped right off the top of the building-block hill.
But they were not killed, nor was one of them hurt, I am glad to say. For at the bottom of the pile of blocks was a rubber football, and the Soldiers landed on this, bounced up and down, and then gently landed on the counter. The Captain knew the football was there, or he would not have told his men to jump.
“My, that was a fine drill!” said the Rag Doll. “How exciting!”
“Hush! They are going to do something else,” said the Monkey on a Stick.
And it did seem so, for part of the Soldiers, shouldering their guns, marched to one end of the toy counter, and the others, with their Captain at their head, remained near the pile of blocks.
“Are you ready?” asked the Captain of a Sergeant who had charge of the second half of the tin soldiers.
“All ready, sir!” was the answer.
“Load! Aim! Fire!” suddenly cried the Captain.
“Oh, they are going to shoot! Oh, it’s going to be war! There is going to be a battle!” cried the Rag Doll.