the Policeman I was telling you about," was the answer. "Here he
comes now!"

And suddenly the Policeman's voice went on, saying:

"Come now! Move along! Don't block up the sidewalk! Move on! Don't
loiter here!"

The Nodding Donkey looked to one side and there he saw a toy Policeman,
dressed just as a real one would be, with blue coat, brass buttons, a
white helmet and a club that swung on the end of a leather string. The
Policeman walked along, for he could do that when a spring inside him
was wound up. And as he walked he swung his club to and fro, and said,
just like a real policeman:

"Come now, move along! Don't block up the sidewalk." Then he added, in a
different tone: "There is no accident now, but if that Nodding Donkey
would only fall off the shelf we might have one."

"Indeed, and I'm not going to fall off the shelf just for fun!" brayed
the Donkey.

"Oh, aren't you? Then we must make fun in some other way," said the toy
Policeman. "How are you feeling?" and with that he jumped up on the
shelf beside the Donkey and tickled him in the ribs with the club.

"Oh, don't do--ha! ha!--Don't--ha! ha!--do that!" laughed the Donkey.
"You make me feel so funny I may fall!"

[Illustration: The Nodding Donkey is Tickled by the Toy Policeman.
_Page 50_]

"Well, if you do, I'll pick you up," said the Policeman, and he twisted
his club around on the Donkey's ribs in such a funny way that the
nodding creature laughed "ha! ha!" and "ho! ho!"

"I thought I'd stir things up and make them rather lively!" said the
Policeman, with a jolly grin on his red face. "How are you feeling?" he
asked, turning to the China Cat.

"I feel quite good enough without having you tickle me," she answered,
as she got up to move away.

"Oh, you'll feel ever so much better after I tickle you!" cried the
Policeman, and he reached out his club toward the Cat. But he was not
quick enough. She slipped behind a Jack in the Box, where the Policeman
could not see her.

"Well, I guess I'll tickle you again," said the toy with the club, as he
turned back toward the Nodding Donkey.

"Oh, no, don't, please!" begged the long-eared chap. "I've had quite
enough. When you tickle me I laugh, and when I laugh my head nods
harder than it ought to, and maybe it might nod off."

"Oh, I wouldn't want that to happen!" exclaimed the Policeman. "That
would be too bad an accident. I guess I'll walk down the shelf and see
if there's a fire anywhere," he w