Then he pulled the strings until the poor Clown thought his arms and legs would come off, so fast were they jerked about.

When Archibald reached home with his new toy he ran out into the street to find some of his playmates.  He saw a boy named Pete and another named Sam.

“Look what I’ve got!” cried Archibald.

“A Jumping Jack!” exclaimed Sam.

“It’s a Calico Clown, and he can do everything,” said Archibald.  “He’s like one in a circus, and he can do funny tricks.  He can jiggle his arms and legs and play the cymbals.  I’ll show you!”

He worked the Clown so fast that the red and yellow chap grew dizzy again.

“That’s fine!” said Sam.  “I wish I had a Clown like that.”

“Can he do the giant’s swing?” asked Pete.

“What’s the giant’s swing?” Archibald wanted to know.

“It’s something the men do in a circus,” was the answer.  “Here, I have some string in my pocket.  We’ll make a trapeze in your back yard and we’ll have the Calico Clown do the giant’s swing.”

“Oh, that’ll be fun!” cried Archibald.

“Yes, it may be fun for you,” thought the Calico Clown, “but what about me?  What is the giant’s swing, anyhow?  Oh, I wish I were back on the toy counter!”

CHAPTER II

A BROKEN LEG

Sam and Pete hurried with Archibald to his back yard.  Archibald carried the red and yellow Calico Clown in his hands.  Now and then the boy would punch the gay fellow in the chest, making the cymbals clang together with a bang.  Again Archibald would pull the strings, causing the Calico Clown to jiggle his arms and legs.

“You’re a nice toy, all right,” said Archibald.  “I like my Clown!”

“But wait until I make him do the giant’s swing!” exclaimed Pete.  “That will be worth seeing!”

When the boys reached a tree in Archibald’s yard, Pete found a piece of broken broom handle for the bar of the trapeze.  From his pocket he took some strong pieces of string.  With these the broomstick was tied to the limb of a tree, so that it hung down and swung to and fro like a swing.

“Now well put the Clown on,” Pete called to Archibald, when the trapeze was finished.

“How are you going to make him stay on?” asked Sam.

“Oh, I can tie him on with another piece of string,” Pete answered.

“That’s easy!” yelled Archibald.

It did not take Pete long to tie the Calico Clown on the swinging trapeze.  It was quite high from the ground, and as the little toy man looked down and saw how far below him the green grass was, his knees seemed to shake and his cymbals to tremble.

“Oh, if I should fall now I would be broken to pieces!” said the Calico Clown to himself, for of course he dared not speak aloud now, and he dared not move by himself.  “This is much higher than when I climbed the string in the toy store and caught fire at the gas jet.  This is much higher than I ever was up before,” sighed the Clown.