“Is he ready to do the giant’s swing now?” asked Sam.

“In a minute,” answered Pete.

Once the Clown was tied on, Pete began to swing the trapeze to and fro.  Farther and farther swung the Calico Clown, and, as he moved to and fro, his cymbals clanged together.  His arms and legs also jiggled and jumped, as they had done when Archibald pulled the strings.

Pete stood behind the trapeze and gave it little pushes with his hands every now and then.  This made it swing farther and farther.

“Oh, it almost turned all the way over!” suddenly cried Archibald.

“That’s what I want it to do,” said Pete.  “When the trapeze goes all the way over and around and around, that’s the giant’s swing I was telling you about.  Watch!”

Archibald and Sam watched, and in another moment the trapeze swung up and over so hard that it turned around and around in a regular circle.

“Hurray!  There she goes!” cried Pete.

“Oh, look!” exclaimed Sam.

“Say, that’s great!” yelled Archibald.  “I didn’t know my Calico Clown could do that!”

As for the Calico Clown himself, he did not know it either, and he felt very bad that he was made to do the giant’s swing.

“Oh, how dizzy it makes me feel!” he said to himself.  “I know I’m going to fall!”

He could feel the strings that tied him to the broomstick bar beginning to loosen.  The Calico Clown shut his eyes, thinking that if he did not see the green grass whirling around beneath him he would not feel so dizzy.  Around and around he went in the giant’s swing.

And then, all of a sudden, something broke.  It was the string holding the Calico Clown to the broomstick.  And when the string broke off flew the Clown!

He flew off just when the trapeze was at the highest point, and away through the air sailed the red and yellow toy, as if he had been shot from a cannon.

“Oh, look at that!” cried Archibald, “Now you’ve gone and done it, Pete!”

“He busted loose!” shouted Sam.

“If he falls and breaks, you’ve got to get me another,” cried Archibald.

“I’m going to fall, all right,” thought the poor Clown to himself, “and I shouldn’t be a bit surprised if I broke into bits!”

One can not go sailing through the air forever, even if one is a Calico Clown.  And, after being flung off the trapeze and shooting along high above the green grass, the Calico Clown felt himself falling down.

Once more he shut his eyes, as he could do this without the boys seeing him.  His arms and legs jiggled and joggled about, and his cymbals clanged with a tinkling sound.

“Oh, dear!” sighed the Calico Clown.

There came a soft, dull thud on the grass.  That was the Calico Clown falling down.  He felt a sudden, sharp pain go through him, and then he seemed to faint away.

For a time the Calico Clown knew nothing of what happened.  Archibald, Sam and Pete ran over to where the toy had fallen.  Archibald was the first to pick it up.  The cymbals were still fast to the Clown’s hands, and so were the jiggling strings attached to his arms and legs.  But something was wrong.