“Jump!”
“Oh mercy me!” screamed the Rag Doll, “they’ll all be killed!”
And those Tin Soldiers, who, like other soldiers, must always obey their officers, jumped right off the top of the building-block hill.
But they were not killed, nor was one of them hurt, I am glad to say. For at the bottom of the pile of blocks was a rubber football, and the Soldiers landed on this, bounced up and down, and then gently landed on the counter. The Captain knew the football was there, or he would not have told his men to jump.
“My, that was a fine drill!” said the Rag Doll. “How exciting!”
“Hush! They are going to do something else,” said the Monkey on a Stick.
And it did seem so, for part of the Soldiers, shouldering their guns, marched to one end of the toy counter, and the others, with their Captain at their head, remained near the pile of blocks.
“Are you ready?” asked the Captain of a Sergeant who had charge of the second half of the tin soldiers.
“All ready, sir!” was the answer.
“Load! Aim! Fire!” suddenly cried the Captain.