“Oh! Oh!� shrieked the Sawdust Doll, and the Calico Clown jumped behind the Jack-in-the-Box so quickly that his cymbals rattled on the wooden nose of the Lamb on Wheels.
CHAPTER IV
IN AN AUTOMOBILE
Just as soon, of course, as the door opened and the man came in, all the toys at once stopped moving about, and they stopped talking and having fun. That is because the man looked at them, and you know I told you the moment a real, live person looked at the toys, the Doll, Clown, Rocking Horse, and all the others became just like clothes-pins—they couldn’t and wouldn’t move by themselves.
Slowly the big man walked into the middle of the toy department and looked about him. His eyes glanced at the Sawdust Doll, and from her they went to the Tin Soldier. Neither of them so much as wiggled a fingernail.
“But I was wondering, all the while,� said the Sawdust Doll afterward, “if that man was a burglar.�
“This is queer! When I was on the floor below I thought surely I heard a noise up here! I thought some one was in here trying to get the Christmas things. But that shan’t happen as long as I am watchman here! No, indeed!�
The big man looked all around to make sure no bad persons were hiding away to take the toys after he had left. He looked very sharply at the Calico Clown, the man did.
“I thought surely I heard the rattle of those cymbals the clown holds,� said the man. “But perhaps it was the wind blowing them, or a rat running over them. There are rats in this store.�
The toys knew that very well, for they had seen a large one. And wasn’t it queer that the man had thought he heard the cymbals jingle?
“He really did hear them, for I banged them on the Lamb’s nose when I jumped down,� said the Calico Clown afterward.