boys pretended to have a battle, only, of course, no one was hurt.

"May I ride your Rocking Horse?" asked Arnold, presently.

"Of course," answered Dick. "You take a nice, long ride, while I
play with your Soldiers."

And while this was going on Mirabell and Dorothy played with the
Sawdust Doll and the Lamb on Wheels. And how the toys did wish they
were alone, so they could talk to one another! Of course the Sawdust
Doll and the Rocking Horse, living in the same house, saw each other
very often, and at night they could talk and play together. But it
had been some time since either of them had seen the Bold Tin
Soldier and his men, and the Doll and Horse were very anxious to
hear the news from the store.

"Oh, my dear!" whispered the Lamb on Wheels to the Sawdust Doll,
when they had a chance to talk together alone for a moment, which
was when Dorothy and Mirabell went into the house to get some
crackers for a play party, "you have no idea what an exciting story
the Bold Tin Soldier has to tell you!"

"What about?" asked the Sawdust Doll.

"About how he saved the Calico Clown," was the answer. "He'll tell
you about it when he has the chance."

"I shall be glad to hear it," said the Sawdust Doll. "But I hope
nothing serious happened to the Clown."