Then the good times began. They played tag and hide-and-go-seek and a new game they made up among themselves. They called it “Jump the Jack.�
Each one had to take a turn jumping over the Jack-in-the-Box, and the Jack would reach up and try to tag them as they leaped over his head. If he touched any one of them, that toy had to stand on one foot and sing a song. And they had lots of fun when the Calico Clown was touched by the Jack-in-the-Box, for the Clown sang such a funny song, all backwards with the words mixed up like pickles.
Of course the White Rocking Horse was too big to get up on the counter and jump around with the Candy Rabbit and the Sawdust Doll, but he had fun staying on the floor near the toy blackboard and watching the chalk draw funny pictures. For not only the toys that are in the shape of animals and persons have fun when no one is watching them, but the others, also, like the roller skates and the velocipedes, have good times among themselves at these midnight frolics.
And so the fun went on. The Sawdust Doll was having a lovely time, playing on a little toy piano for the Monkey on a Stick to dance with the Calico Clown, and the Candy Rabbit was listening to a Stuffed Duck tell how she learned to swim in the Goldfish bowl when all at once the Tin Soldier cried:
“Back to your shelves and counters, everybody!�
“What’s the matter? Is the rat coming again?� asked the Sawdust Doll, as she stopped playing the toy piano.
“No, but it is getting daylight,� was the answer. “I can see the gleam of the sun in the eastern windows. Soon the store will be open and people will be coming in to buy—perhaps some one may buy me and my brave men.�
“Oh, I hope not!� sighed the Sawdust Doll. “If you go away, what shall we do if the rat comes back?�
“Maybe I can stop up his hole before I go away,� the Bold Tin Soldier answered. “But quick, now! Everybody back on shelf or counter! Here comes the sun!�
And as the sun rose and filled the world with light, the doors of Toy Town opened. The clerks came in to dust the different things and set them to rights, for it was the Christmas season and many people would come to buy.