flagstones, and his one leg up in the air. The servant maid and the little boy
went down stairs directly to look for him; but he was nowhere to be seen,
although once they nearly trod upon him. If he had called out, “Here I am,”
it would have been all right, but he was too proud to cry out for help while
he wore a uniform.
Presently it began to rain, and the drops fell faster and faster, till there
was a heavy shower. When it was over, two boys happened to pass by, and
one of them said, “Look, there is a tin soldier. He ought to have a boat to
sail in.”
So they made a boat out of a newspaper, and placed the tin soldier in it,
and sent him sailing down the gutter, while the two boys ran by the side of
it, and clapped their hands. Good gracious, what large waves arose in that
gutter! and how fast the stream rolled on! for the rain had been very heavy.
The paper boat rocked up and down, and turned itself round sometimes so
quickly that the tin soldier trembled; yet he remained firm; his countenance
did not change; he looked straight before him, and shouldered his musket.
Suddenly the boat shot under a bridge which formed a part of a drain, and
then it was as dark as the tin soldier’s box.
“Where am I going now?” thought he. “This is the black goblin’s fault, I
am sure. Ah, well, if the little lady were only here with me in the boat, I
should not care for any darkness.”
Suddenly there appeared a great water-rat, who lived in the drain.
“Have you a passport?” asked the rat, “give it to me at once.” But the tin
soldier remained silent and held his musket tighter than ever. The boat
sailed on and the rat followed it. How he did gnash his teeth and cry out to
the bits of wood and straw, “Stop him, stop him; he has not paid toll, and
has not shown his pass.” But the stream rushed on stronger and stronger.
The tin soldier could already see daylight shining where the arch ended.
Then he heard a roaring sound quite terrible enough to frighten the bravest
man. At the end of the tunnel the drain fell into a large canal over a steep
place, which made it as dangerous for him as a waterfall would be to us. He
