FullReads

“Is anybody there?” asked Mirabell’s father.

“I’se heah!” exclaimed Jim, as he slowly arose. “I was bringin’ back de Calico Clown, an’ I ‘mos’ fell into a big hole.”

“There, Father! I told you that hole ought to be covered up!” exclaimed Mirabell’s mother, who had also come to the door.

“Oh, no’m! I didn’t fall in!” answered Jim, who heard what was said. “But I almos’ did, an’ I guess de Clown he fell in complete an’ altogether.”

“The Clown? What do you mean?” asked Daddy.

“De Clown what got in Mammy’s basket of wash,” explained the little colored boy.

By this time he had picked himself up, and in the light that streamed out from the open door of the house he saw the hole into which he had so nearly fallen. It was a hole dug by a man who had come to fix the sewer pipes that day, and when night came he had not finished. He left a deep, wide, gaping hole just beside the front walk.

Arnold, Mirabell and the others in the house knew of the hole, and kept away from it. In the daylight, when Mandy had taken away the wash, she had seen it and had not fallen in. But poor Jim, coming after dark, had stumbled in the thick grass and had nearly plumped himself in.

As for the Clown–well, there he was down in the dirt at the bottom of the hole!

“I wonder what is the matter with me!” thought the gay red and yellow fellow as he came to a stop in some soft dirt. “I seem to be very unlucky!”

“What does Jim mean about a Clown falling in the hole?” asked Arnold curiously.

“And a Clown being in the basket with the wash?” added Mirabell.

“I think I can tell you,” their father answered, suddenly remembering what he had put in his pocket to bring home from the office. “But first I will put some boards over the hole the plumber left so no one else will fall in, or nearly fall in.”

“You’ll get the Clown up, won’t you, Daddy?” asked Mirabell. “Maybe it’s like the one Sidney had.”

“Did Sidney have a Calico Clown with one leg red and the other leg yellow?” asked Daddy.

“Yes, and it did all sorts of funny tricks when you pulled the strings; and he clapped his cymbals when you punched him in the chest,” said Arnold.

“Well, then this must be Sidney’s Clown. But how it came in my pocket is more than I can guess,” said Daddy. “Yes, I’ll get the Clown up out of the hole, and then I’ll put some boards over it.”

A lantern was brought out and flashed down into the hole. There, on the bottom, lay the Calico Clown.

“I’ll bring him up!” offered Jim, and quickly he climbed down, caught hold of the gay toy, and climbed out again.

“Thank you, Jim,” said Daddy.

“Yes, that’s Sidney’s Clown,” declared Arnold, when he had looked at the red and yellow chap. “But how did he get in the basket of clothes?”

“That’s quite a long story,” said Daddy. “Come into the house and I’ll tell you. Did your mother send you back with the Clown, Jim?” he asked of the little colored boy.

“Yes’m–I mean yes, sah!” Jim answered. “He was in de basket all done wrapped up in hankowitches.”

“Those were the handkerchiefs I took from my pocket and put in Mandy’s basket when I met her at the gate,” said Mirabell’s daddy. “And so you found him, Jim!”

“Yes’m–I mean yes, sah! Me an’ Liza Ann found him. He’s a jolly good Clown; but Mammy, she wouldn’t let us keep him ’cause as how she said he belonged to Mirabell or Arnold.”

“No, he doesn’t live here,” said Arnold. “Oh, Sid will be so glad to get him back!”

“I suppose you and your sister felt bad about losing the Clown,” said Daddy to Jim. “Didn’t you?”

“I suahly did!” exclaimed the little colored boy. “So did Liza Ann.”