A huge rat, that lived under the bridge of the gutter, now made his appearance.
" Have you a pass ? " enquired the rat. "Come, out with it!" But the tin soldier remained silent, and held his musket still tighter.
The boat flew past, and the rat followed, flow he did gnash his teeth, and call out to the wood-shavings and the straw : " Stop him ! stop him ! He has not paid the toll, nor shown his pass."
But the stream gushed on more madly still, and the tin soldier could already see daylight at the point where the bridge ended ; at the same time, however, he heard a rushing sound, well calculated to appal even the bravest. Only fancy ! just where the bridge left off, the waters widened into a large sheet that fell into the mouth of a sewer ; and such a situation was as perilous to him as it would be for us to sail down a waterfall in a boat.
He was now so near the precipice that he could no longer keep himself back. The boat dashed on, and the poor tin soldier kept as stiff as ever he could, that nobody should say of him that he had even so much as winked an eye. The boat now spun round three or four times, till it was filled with water to the edge — and sink it must! The tin soldier stood up to his neck in water, while the boat sank deeper and deeper, the paper went grad- ually to rags, and the waters now closed over the tin soldier's head. He thought of the
elegant little dancer, whom he should never see again, and in his ears rang the burden of the old song ; —
"On, soldier! on — on — though swords clash and shots rattle, 'Tis thy fate to find death in the midst of the battle."
And now the paper fell in two, and down the tin soldier was flung — but was instantly swallowed up by a huge fish.
Oh ! how dark it was inside the fish ! — worse a great deal than under the bridge over the gutter, and, besides, it was such a narrow place. But the tin soldier retained his fortitude, and lay at full length with his gun on his shoulder.
The fish swam about, making the most frightful contortions. At last he became quite quiet. Then a flash of lightning seemed to dart through him, daylight appeared, and a voice called out, "The tin soldier, as I'm alive!" The fish had been caught, taken to market, and sold, and was now in the kitchen, where the cook was opening it with a large knife. She picked up the soldier by the waist, between her fin';er and thumb, and carried him into the sitting-room, where everybody was desirous of seeing such a celebrated man, who had travelled about inside a fish. But the tm soldier was not the more conceited for that. They placed him on the table, and there — what odd events do happen in the world, to be sure! The tin soldier found himself once more in the identical room in which he had been before, and saw the same children, and the same playthings
