"Well, that's pretty deep. A little more, and I'd reach down into
China."

The little boy rubbed his eyes and looked down into the deep brown
hole.

"If you dug a little more," he asked, "would you really go down
through the earth, all the way to China--where the Chinamen live?"

"Sure," replied the Toyman, who never liked to disappoint little boys.

"Then," said Marmaduke, "please dig a little more--for--I'd like--to
see--where--the Chinamen--live--." His voice sounded very sleepy.

The Toyman dug another shovelful or two, and all the while the little
boy's head kept nodding, nodding in the sun--then--as the last
shovelful fell on the pile at his side, he looked down in the hole
once more and heard voices--strange voices.

Words were coming up out of that hole, and it seemed to Marmaduke that
he could see those words as well as hear them. Now that is a very odd
thing, but it is actually what happened--he could both see and hear
them--and they looked like the funny music on phonograph
advertisements--something like this:

[Illustration]

And, way down at the bottom of the hole, he saw three black heads with
pigtails that curled upward in the hole like smoke coming from a
chimney.