SUNNY BOY AND HIS PLAYMATES


CHAPTER I

LEARNING TO SKATE

"Santa Claus brought them," said Sunny Boy.

He was lying flat on the floor, trying to reach under the bookcase
where his marble had rolled. The marble was a cannon ball and Sunny
Boy had been showing Nelson Baker, the boy who lived next door, how to
knock over lead soldiers.

Nelson Baker picked up the lead general and examined him carefully.

"They're nicer soldiers than I had last year," he said. "Say, Sunny
Boy, I could bring my soldiers over and we could have a real fight."

"I've got it!" shouted Sunny Boy suddenly, pulling his arm out from
under the bookcase with the marble in his hand. "I _knew_ it rolled
under the bookcase. You can roll it this time, Nelson."

"All right," said Nelson, taking the marble. "And I guess I won't go
for my lead soldiers. My mother might say I'd been over here an hour."

Nelson's mother, you see, had told him he might stay an hour at Sunny
Boy's house, and something told Nelson he had already played so long