“The only thing wrong is that the broken leg is a little stiffer than the other,” Sidney said, as he made his Clown do all sorts of funny tricks.  “I suppose that leg is a little shorter, or maybe the glue made it stiff.  But he is just what I want, and I’d rather have him than the musical top I traded for him.  Maybe Herbert and I can get up a little circus, as Herbert once had a show with his Monkey on a Stick.  A clown belongs in a circus, and so do monkeys.  Maybe we’ll have one.”

The Calico Clown, who heard Sidney say this, thought it would be very jolly to be in a circus.

Sidney certainly liked the Calico Clown.  He made him do many funny tricks for the boys and girls—­Dick, Dorothy, Mirabell, Arnold, and for Madeline and Herbert, who were Sidney’s brother and sister.

“With my Monkey on a Stick and your Calico Clown we surely can have a fine circus some day,” said Herbert, as he and Sidney were playing out on the porch one warm, summer day.

The Monkey and Clown had been glad to see each other when they met again after having been separated at the store.  Each one had different adventures to tell.

All of a sudden, as Herbert and Sidney, with their Monkey and Clown toys, were making each other laugh by the funny antics of the two playthings, a voice called: 

“Boys, do you want some bread and jam?”

“Oh, I should say we did!” cried Herbert.

“We’re coming,” answered Sidney, for it was the jolly, good-natured cook who had called to them from her kitchen where she had just made some fresh raspberry jam.

Leaving the Monkey and the Clown on the porch, the boys ran around to the side door for their jam and bread.

“Now we have a chance to talk,” said the Monkey to the Clown.

“Yes, but it will not be for very long,” was the answer.  “Those boys will soon be back here.  They’ll not eat forever.  I was just wondering--”

“What?” asked the Monkey, for the Calico Clown suddenly stopped speaking and looked down the street.  “What were you wondering?”

“Well, just now I am wondering if that is your brother,” went on the Clown, pointing toward the gate with one hand on which was fastened a clanging cymbal.  “Look, here comes a chap who looks just like you, except that he has no stick, and his cap is blue, while yours is red.  And hark!  I hear music!”

“Oh, it’s a hand organ, and that’s a real, live monkey you see!” exclaimed the Monkey on a Stick.  “It is true he looks like me, but we are no relation.  He is a live monkey and I am a toy.”

“Here he comes now!” cried the Calico Clown, and, as he spoke, the hand-organ man, making music, came along, and the live monkey ran into the yard and up on the steps.  And then a dreadful thing happened!

For the live monkey quickly caught up the Calico Clown, and, holding the red and yellow chap in his hands, the long-tailed creature climbed up into a tree.  Yes, indeed, as true as I’m telling you, the live monkey carried the Calico Clown up into a tree!