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

"I'm sure I hope so," went on the Captain. "I suppose I shall be
bought and given to some boy. Girls, as a rule, don't care very much
for soldiers. They would rather have a Sawdust Doll or a Lamb on
Wheels. And if I am given to some boy, I hope he will be like the
boys we have heard about--Dick, the brother of Dorothy, and Arnold,
the brother of Mirabell."

"Yes, they are nice boys, from what I have heard," said the Calico
Clown. "Well, it will soon be bright daylight, and then we shall see
what happens," he added.

"Yes, we'll see," said the Captain. Then, turning to his men, he
commanded:

"Ready--March."

Off to their box marched the Tin Soldiers led by the Sergeant, who
was next in command to the Captain. There ought to have been a First
and Second Lieutenant, but the man who made the tin toys had
forgotten them.

So the Sergeant led the Tin Soldiers back to their box after the
make-believe battle. And, like good and proper soldiers, they stood
themselves in straight rows. No standing around in a crowd, or lying
down in hammocks, or stretching out under trees for these Tin
Soldiers!

No, indeed! They stood up as straight and stiff as their own guns!

"Did you like our drill and sham battle?" asked the Bold Tin Soldier
Captain of the Rag Doll, strolling over to speak to her before going
back to join his men.

"Very much, indeed," she answered. "At first I thought I might faint
when the guns shot off, but they were fired so gently that I did
not, and the Calico Clown did not have to catch me in his arms."

"I don't let my Soldiers use too much powder in their guns,"
answered the Captain. "It is a sort of tooth powder we use in these
make-believe fights, and then no one is hurt."

"It will be lonesome if you go away from us," said the Rag Doll,
with a sigh, as she looked at the Bold Tin Soldier.

"Thank you for being so kind as to say that," said the Bold Tin
Soldier. "But I have no notion of going away until I have to."

However, he little knew what was going to happen nor that he was to
be taken away much sooner than he expected.