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The two Jacks, the Candy Rabbit and the Monkey on a Stick pulled and hauled until the cushion was just where the Clown would land if he let go of the string and fell. But he was still tangled in the string, and every time he swung, like the pendulum of the clock, he came close to the burning gas jet. And each time he did this his red and yellow trousers were scorched.

“Oh, will no one save me?” cried the Clown.

“Yes, I will!” shouted the Bold Tin Soldier. “I am going to cut the string with my sword. Then you will fall down, but you will not be hurt because you will fall on the sofa cushion. I’ll cut the string with my shiny tin sword, and then you won’t be burned.”

Near the string which dangled from the ceiling was a Japanese Juggler with a long ladder, which he could climb, balancing a ball on the end of his nose. Just now the Juggler was resting at the foot of the ladder that stood upright. The Juggler did not speak English very well, and that is why he did not understand all that was going on. He had not said a word since the Clown had climbed the string and had swung too near the blazing gas jet.

“Will you allow me to use your ladder, Mr. Japanese Juggler?” called the Bold Tin Soldier to the chap with the ball on the end of his nose.

“Without waiting for an answer, which he hardly expected, the Captain sprang up the ladder, holding his sword ready. In an instant he stood near the swaying, swinging Clown who waved to and fro on the string.

“Swish! Swash!”

That was the shiny tin sword sweeping through the air. The string was sliced in two pieces.

The Clown was cut loose, and down he fell on the soft sofa cushion, not being hurt at all. He was saved from burning.

“Hurray! Hurray for our brave Captain!” cried all the toys, clapping their hands, and the China Cat clapped his paws, which were just the same as hands.

“Are you all right?” asked the Bold Tin Soldier after he had climbed down the ladder and hurried over to where the Clown was getting up off the sofa cushion.

“Yes, thank you! I am all right,” was the answer. “I should not have tried to swing by that string so near the burning gas. But I did not think. Now, oh dear! Look at my trousers!”

Well might the clown say that, for his fine yellow and red trousers were scorched and burned. It was lucky the Clown himself was not burned, but it was too bad his suit was spoiled.

“Oh dear me! no one will ever buy me now,” said the Clown sadly, looking at his legs. “I am damaged! I’ll be thrown into the waste- paper basket!”

“Perhaps I could make you a new suit,” said the Rag Doll. “I can sew a little, and if I had some cloth I might at least put a patch over the burned places if I shouldn’t have time for a whole suit.”

“Thank you,” answered the Clown. “But I would never look the same. And thank you, Captain, for cutting me down before I was burned,” he went on to the Bold Tin Soldier. “It was very brave of you.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” the Captain modestly said. “We soldiers are here to do just such things as that.”

“Hush!” suddenly called the Monkey on a Stick. “Here come the clerks. The store is going to open!”

And so all the toys had to be quiet and go back to their places. They could not make believe be alive until night should come again.

One by one the girl clerks took their places behind the toy counters near the shelves on which the different playthings were stored. One girl picked up the Calico Clown.

“Well, I do declare!” exclaimed this girl. “Look at my fancy Clown, will you, Mabel?”