like that. He was wondering how long it would be before his mother
could earn enough money to buy one when, just as he turned into the
yard of the house where Arnold and Mirabell lived, Jim stumbled and
fell.

The Calico Clown shot out of his hands, and the poor toy, as he flew
along, thought to himself:

"Oh, what is happening now!"

The next moment he fell into a deep hole, and only that he grasped the
long grass at the edge of it, Jim would have fallen in himself.

"Fo' de lan' sakes!" exclaimed the little colored boy as he picked
himself up. "What have done gone an' happened now?"

You see, he felt about it just as the Calico Clown did.




CHAPTER IX

BACK HOME


The door of the house in which Arnold and Mirabell lived opened, and
their daddy looked out toward the front yard. He had heard the grunt
made by Jim when the little colored boy fell down and dropped the
Calico Clown into a hole.