The Sawdust Doll said she would. Then the Bold Tin Soldier, with the same sword that had pricked the dog, cut some grass, and it was bound on the dog’s paw. The sword prick was not a very deep one, and would soon heal. Then, limping on three legs, the dog ran away, and the toys were left to themselves once more.
By this time Patrick had let the children do all the hose sprinkling he thought was good for them, so back came running Dick and Dorothy, Arnold and Mirabell, to play with their toys again.
“What shall we play now?” asked Dick of Arnold. “Shall we have another battle with the Tin Soldiers?”
“Let’s go to the garage and play we’re going on an automobile trip,” said Arnold. “We have had enough battles today.”
So the Captain and his men were put back in their box and the cover was closed down.
“Oh, dear!” thought the Lamb on Wheels. “Now if anything happens, such as a big dog coming again, the Captain can not save us. He can not get out of the box.”
But the Lamb need not have worried, for she was taken into the house by Mirabell, and so was the Sawdust Doll and the Rocking Horse. The little girls went down the street to play with a friend named Madeline, leaving their own toys in Dorothy’s house, while Dick and Arnold went out to the garage, and from there over to Arnold’s house.
But though no big dog came into the home of Dick and Dorothy to carry away the Sawdust Doll, something else happened, almost as bad, at least for the Bold Tin Soldier.
He and his men had been put in their box, and the box was put on a table in the playroom, together with the Lamb on Wheels, the Sawdust Doll and the White Rocking Horse. When Arnold and Mirabell went home they would take the Soldiers and the Lamb with them.
But before this came about something happened. A lady came to call on Dorothy’s mother, bringing with her a little boy named Tad. Now Tad was not a bad little boy, but he was always looking for something to play with and he was not careful.