"bldtn10" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hope Laura Lee)

began to smoke.

"Oh, the Calico Clown is burning! He will catch fire!" cried the
Candy Babbit. "Will no one save him?"

"Yes, I'll save the Calico Clown!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier, and
he drew his shining sword. "I will save him!"



CHAPTER III

BOUGHT BY A BOY


The toys were very much excited when they saw the Calico Clown
beginning to burn, because he had swung too near the gas jet.

"Oh, I can't bear to look at him!" cried the Rag Doll, covering her
eyes with her hands.

"He'll be all right! The Bold Tin Soldier is going to save him,"
said the Monkey on a Stick.

"But how can he?" asked the Jumping Jack." How can the Captain get
up there and save our Clown? The string will not hold two!"

And, indeed, the Bold Tin Soldier himself was beginning to wonder
how he could save his toy friend. He could not scramble up the
string, as the Clown had done, and, if he did, the Bold Captain
might catch fire himself.

Of course a tin soldier will not burn as quickly as a Clown with a
suit of cloth, but the gas flame was very hot and dangerous.

"Come down! Come down!" cried the Rag Doll. "Come down, Mr. Calico
Clown!"

And that, you would have thought, would have been the easiest way
for the comical chap to save himself--just to slide down the string
to the counter. But something had happened.

"I can't get down!" the Clown exclaimed. "The string is twisted
around my leg and caught on one of my cymbals! I can't get loose to
come down!" And that is what had happened.

"But still I will save him!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. He looked
around the toy counter and saw a sofa cushion that belonged to a
large doll's parlor set. "Quick!" shouted the Captain. "Put that
cushion right under the Clown who is dangling by the string. Then