Peggy in Toyland

by Archibald Marshall

But there was no necessity to do this, for as Teddy was speaking they could hear the noise of horses trotting along through the wood, and almost immediately a lot of lead soldiers made their appearance, and came rapidly towards them. They were Lancers, on bright bay horses, and very smart they looked with the little flags fluttering at the tops of their lances.

The Colonel of the regiment rode at the head of them. He came up to Colonel Jim, and saluted. “Just in time, eh, sir?” he said. Colonel Jim saluted, too, and said, “Are your men ready for a charge, sir? If so, we can keep them off till the guns come up.”

The Colonel of the Lancer regiment threw one glance at the approaching wooden soldiers. There were thousands and thousands of them, and only a few of his men could come up at a time, by the narrow road through the wood. But odds did not daunt him, and he at once gave the order to charge.

The Lancers who had gathered at the edge of the wood immediately charged down the hill, shouting and singing in the most gallant fashion, the Colonel at their head; and the others who were coming up behind quickened their pace and followed them. They spread out as they got into the open, so as to charge the whole front of the wooden infantry. Colonel Jim held his own little troop back, partly out of politeness to the Colonel of Lancers, partly because their horses were blown.

It had all happened so quickly that Peggy had not had time to be frightened yet. But the noise of the horses galloping and the men shouting got louder and louder, and the wooden soldiers had now got so near that their shouts could be heard too, as they stood to receive the shock of the cavalry. She suddenly shrieked, and clung to Wooden. “Oh, they’re not going to kill each other, are they?” she cried. “Do let’s go away!”

Wooden soothed her. “Of course they’re not going to kill each other, dear,” she said. “Soldiers don’t do that in Toyland. They only knock each other down; and whichever side knocks most down wins.”

This relieved Peggy’s fears a little, and in any case she was in the thick of it now, and had to see it through. She was really a plucky little girl, and by the time the cavalry got to the bottom of the hill she had partly recovered from her fright, and did not shut her eyes.

The cavalry rode gallantly at the thick mass of soldiers, with their lances levelled, and whenever they hit a wooden soldier, down he went. The wooden soldiers fired their rifles at them as they came down the hill, and knocked over a few. But the bullets, which were small peas, of a kind grown specially for rifle ammunition, were not big enough to do much damage against men and horses coming so fast. It was only when several bullets hit the same soldier, or his horse, that they were knocked over. But the foot-soldiers left off firing and began to use their bayonets when the cavalry got amongst them, and then they did knock over a large number of men and horses, though not nearly so many as the Lancers knocked over of them.

It was most fascinating to watch. The Lancers went on and on through the masses of infantry, and wherever they went, down fell heaps of wooden soldiers. And when they were knocked down they lay quite still on the ground, and took no further interest in the proceedings. But the farther in the Lancers went the less they became, as men and horses were bowled over in their turn. It was just as if they were being swallowed up in the great mass of red and white, and there were so many of the wooden soldiers that it soon became plain that in a short time the Lancers would all disappear.