"pickle." I only call it that for fun. It was really the flour barrel
into which the two toys had fallen.

"How did it happen?" asked Daddy, as the children brought out their
playthings, the Soldier still entangled in the Lamb's wool, and both
of them white with flour.

"It happened when we were in the kitchen watching the cook make a
cake," explained Mirabell. "I was playing with my Lamb on the floor
and I lifted her up to let her see how nice the cake looked."

"But what about your Soldier, Arnold?" asked Daddy.

"Oh, I had set my Soldier Captain on the back of Mirabell's Lamb to
give him a ride," explained the little boy.

"I said he could," remarked Mirabell.

"And when she lifted her Lamb up she lifted my Soldier up, too," added
Arnold.

"And then!" burst out Mirabell, laughing, "my foot slipped and I let
go of my Lamb on Wheels, and she fell into the flour barrel, and so
did Arnold's Bold Tin Soldier."

"And they were a sight, all white and covered with flour!" exclaimed
the little boy.

But now we must see what happened to the Calico Clown.