gested the Clown.

"All right, I will," said the Soldier, and he did. You may read, if you
like, about the Candy Rabbit and the Sawdust Doll in the books
written especially about those toys.

So the Nodding Donkey listened to the stories told by the Soldier and
the Clown, and he was just wishing he might have adventures such as they
had had, when back into the room came Joe and his friends. They had
finished eating the bread and jam. Then the boys played again with their
toys until it was time for Arnold and Sidney to go home.

And now I must tell you of a wonderful adventure that befell the Nodding
Donkey about a week after he had come to live with the lame boy, and how
he saved Joe's home from being flooded with water.

Joe had been playing with his Nodding Donkey all day, but toward evening
the little lame boy's legs pained him so that he had to be put to bed in
a hurry. And in such a hurry that he forgot all about the Nodding Donkey
and left him on the floor in the kitchen, under the sink, which Joe had
pretended was a cave of gold.

"I wonder if I am to stay here all night! It is growing bitterly cold,
too!" thought the Donkey, as Joe's father and mother took their boy up
to bed. "They must have forgotten me."

And that is just what had happened. After Joe had gone to sleep his
father and mother sat in the dining room talking about him.

"I think we shall have to have the doctor come and see Joe to-morrow,"
said Mr. Richmond. "His legs seem to be getting worse."

"Yes," answered Mrs. Richmond. "Something must be done."

They were both very sad, and sat there silent for some time.

Meanwhile, out in the kitchen, at the sink, something was happening.
Suddenly a water pipe burst. It did not make any noise, but the water
began trickling down over the floor in a flood. Right where the Nodding
Donkey stood, in the pretend cave, the water poured. It rose around the
legs of the Donkey, and he felt himself being lifted up and carried
across the kitchen toward the dining room door.

The burst pipe had caused a flood, and the Nodding Donkey was right in
it!

CHAPTER VIII

A BROKEN LEG

Had Mr. and Mrs. Richmond not been in the next room, the Nodding Donkey
might have kicked up his heels and have jumped out of the stream of
water that was running from the burst pipe of the sink across the floor.
But knowing people were so close at hand, where they might catch sight
of him, the Donkey dared not move.