“Now I’m all right,” laughed the Clown. “I thought I’d never get here, though. But here I am! Start off, if you please, Woolly Dog. But wait a minute! I’ll blow my whistle!”
The Rubber Clown made a low bow, compressing the air inside his hollow body just as if he had been squeezed. Out through the tin hole in his back rushed the air, making a whistling sound. The other toys laughed and the Woolly Dog barked, and then he trotted around and gave the Rubber Clown a fine ride in the show window.
Light came in from a street lamp through a crack in the window curtain, so the toys could see to play about. And fine fun they had! After the Clown had been given a ride, the Dog kindly let some of the Dolls get up on his back and, much to their delight, he paraded them around.
The Jumping Jacks did some tricks and the Animals from the Noah’s Ark marched around like a circus procession.
But at last the Clown cried:
“Daylight is coming! To your places, all of you!”
For the coming of daylight meant that Mrs. Clark would open the store for the day’s business, and then the toys could neither speak nor move, for human eyes would see them.
Up to his shelf leaped the Rubber Clown, the Calico-Dressed Dolls laid themselves out straight in their boxes. The Penny China Doll took her place near the Tops and the Woolly Dog walked to the middle of the show window where he had been put so passersby would best notice him.
The store became lighter. The street lamps were put out one by one, and the sun began to shine.
“Another day has begun,” said Mrs. Clark, as she entered her store to raise the curtain. “I certainly hope I do more business to-day than I did yesterday. Rent time is coming very near and I need three dollars! If I could only sell the Woolly Dog!”