“Say! Hold on a minute!” cried Hippo. “I’m too wide! I can’t get through!”
“I’ll fix that,” shouted Elephant. “Up, now!” he commanded. And at the words, all of Elephant’s folks stood up on their hind legs and Hippo passed through without any trouble at all. So the game went on, with all the animals vowing that they never had had quite so much fun before in all their lives.
But, by this time, the Petal Watch had begun to close; and, at a word from Dan and the promise that he would see them again at half-past twilight on the morrow, the merry band went back to their places. As the old clown passed out of the menagerie tent, he could still hear the voices in the distance, humming the song,
“London Bridge is falling down,
Down, down, down!”
CHAPTER VI
IN WHICH THE ANIMALS SEND A MESSAGE TO THE PRETTY LADY
“And that,” finished Diggeldy Dan, “is the story of the Pretty Lady with the Blue-Blue Eyes.”
It was on the fifth day after she of whom Dan spoke had brought him the message from Too-Bo-Tan and, with all the animals of Spangleland gathered about him, the old clown had been telling them of her and the blue bird.
“Yes,” nodded Camel, “she is the Fairy of the Circus. I have heard my father describe her.”
“But I like the other name best,” spoke up Seal. “‘The Pretty Lady with the Blue-Blue Eyes!’ When my family and I go into the great white tent to perform, we often catch a glimpse of the riders as they pass on their way from the rings. They are much like that—all pretty ladies with mounts like the White-White Horse.”