THE HARDY TIN SOLDIER. 98

Soldier was placed in the window; and whether it was the Goblin
or the draught that did it, all at once the window flew open, and
the Soldier fell head over heels out of the third storey. That was
« terrible passage! He put his leg straight up, and stuck with
kelmet downwards and his bayonet between the paving-stones,

The servant-maid and the little boy came down directly to look
for him, but though they almost trod upon him, they could not
see him. If the Soldier had cried out “ Here I am!” they would
have found him; but he did not think it fitting to call out loudly,
because he was in uniform.

Now it began to rain; the drops soon fell thicker, and at last
it came down into a complete stream. When the rain was past,
two street boys came by.

“Just look!” said one of them, “there lies a tin soldier. He
must come out and ride in the boat.”

And they made a boat out of a newspaper, and put the Tin
Soldier in the middle of it, and so he sailed down the gutter, and
the two boys ran beside him and clapped their hands. Goodness
preserve us ! how the waves rose in that gutter, and how fast the
stream ran! But then it had been a heavy rain. The paper
boat rocked up and down, and sometimes turned round so rapidly
that the Tin Soldier trembled ; but he remained firm, and never ,
changed countenance, and looked straight before him, and
shouldered his musket.

All at once the boat went into a long drain, and it became as
dark as if he had been in his box.

“Where am I going now?” he thought. “ Yes, yes, that’s the
Goblin’s fault. Ah! if the little lady only sat here with me in
the boat, it might be twice as dark for what I should care.”

Suddenly there came a great Water Rat, which lived under the
drain.
ns Dave you a passport?” said the Rat. “Give me your pass-

ort.” , }
: But the Tin Soldier kept silence, and held his musket tighter
than ever.

The boat went on, but the Rat came after it. Hu! how he
gnashed his teeth, and called out to the bits of straw and wood,

‘Hold him! hold him! He hasn’t paid toll—-he hasn’t shown
his passport !” : :

But the stream became stronger and stronger. The Tin Soldier
could see the bright daylight were the arch ended; but he heard
a roaring noise, which might well frighten a bolder man. Only
think—just where the tunnel ended, the drain ran into a great
canal; and for him that would have been as dangerous as for
us to be carried down a great waterfall.

Now he was already so near it that he could not stop. The
boat was carried out, the poor Tin Soldier stiffening himself as
much as he could, and noone could say that he moved an eyelid.