“Why, did I hurt you?” asked the funny boy.
“No, but you woke me up. I was asleep,” answered the newsboy. “As long as you are captain of this box-ship I know everything will go along all right, and you will get the Trippertrots home safely, so I am going to sleep. But I can’t sleep if you turn somersaults in here, and step on my toes. Nobody could sleep when their toes were being stepped on. I leave it to you, now; could they, children?”
“I don’t hardly think they could,” said Mary, politely, for she did not want to make Jiggily Jig feel badly.
“And I’m not sure, as no one ever stepped on my toes when I was asleep,” said Tommy, “but I think it must be quite unpleasant.”
“There, you see how it is, Jiggily Jig!” exclaimed the newsboy. “I’m quite right about it.”
“To be sure you are,” admitted Jiggily Jig. “I never thought of it that way before. I’ll stop turning somersaults directly. But may I dance a few jigs?” he asked, and he made a polite bow to Mary, and also to Tommy and Johnny, and the newsboy.
“Do you really have to dance?” the newsboy asked. “Because if you don’t really have to, it might be just as well not to. You might step on my toes again.”
“Oh, yes, I have to dance,” said Jiggily Jig, “or else I would have to change my name to Joggily Jog, and I wouldn’t like that at all. But I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll dance just a little bit, and I’ll take good care not to step on anybody’s toes.”
So then and there, in the drygoods box-ship, Jiggily Jig danced a nice dance, and as truly as I’m telling you, he didn’t step even on his own toes. Oh, Jiggily was quite a wonderful boy!
And, all this while the box-ship, with the paper sail, was sailing down the street, which was filled with water from the rain-storm. But none of the rain came inside, because the newsboy had put more papers over the top of the box to keep the wet outside.