"I'm glad that buckle got loose," said the horse to his team-mate, "I was getting tired and needed a rest."

"h.e.l.lo there, Master Horse," shouted Kernel Cob.

"Who are you?" neighed the horse.

"I'm Kernel Cob. Where are you going?"

"We're going to the city to pack these oranges on a train," was the reply.

"Here's our chance!" cried Kernel Cob. "Come, let us hide in one of these boxes, and we'll get a ride on the train."

"Good idea," said the Villain.

So they waited till the man climbed up on his seat again, and shouted, "get up" to the horses; then they ran out and got on one of the spokes of the wheel when it was near the ground, and when the wheel turned and the spoke came up to the top, they sprang off onto the wagon and crawled into a box which is called a crate, and is open a little so the oranges do not get too hot and spoil. And it was perfectly safe and very comfortable.

And they must have fallen asleep; for the next thing they knew they felt a rocking and a rocking and Kernel Cob got out of the crate and crawled along till he came to a stairway, and, climbing this, discovered that they were on a ship.

He hurried back to tell his news to Sweetclover and the Villain.

And Sweetclover began to cry.

"A woman is the crybabiest person in the world," said Kernel Cob.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

n.o.bLE DEEDS!

If you attempt a n.o.ble deed You're almost certain to succeed, So do not give up hope, but try, However rough your path may lie, To forge ahead with all your might And everything will come out right.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XII

For many days they sailed on the ship till they came to land. And men came to unload the vessel, and their crate of oranges was carried up on the dock and placed on a wagon, and they were driven off, not in the least knowing what country they were in, nor where they were going.

And they peered out from the crate, and soon they heard the queerest kind of talk they ever heard, and Kernel Cob, bolder than the others, raised his head above an orange but quickly put it down again.

"I know where we are," said the Villain who had been thinking. "We are in j.a.pan."

"How do you know?" asked Sweetclover.

"I was here once with the Showman," said the Villain, "and I remember the way the people talked."

And, being pushed onto a wagon, they were driven outside the city.

"We mustn't go too far," said Sweetclover, "or we'll never find Jackie and Peggs' motheranfather. Let's get out before it's too late."

So they climbed out of their hiding place, and jumped to the ground.

They were not far from a house, and a curious kind of a house it was.

"It looks like the kind of house Jackie used to make with cards," said Kernel Cob, and so intent were they, that they did not hear the approach of a little girl until she stood beside them, and lifted Sweetclover in her arms.

Of course they did not understand what she said, but it must have been something very beautiful, for her face was all smiles.

And the little j.a.panese girl lifted up Kernel Cob, and the Villain, too, and carried them off down the road and into the little house.

A very wonderful house it was, and full of toys, mostly j.a.panese dolls with short, straight hair and beautiful dresses, and talking all at once, in a curious language.

"Oh, dear," sighed Sweetclover, "shall we never understand anybody in this strange country?"

"Aye, aye sir," came a voice at her feet, and looking down, much to her surprise she saw an American Sailor doll.

"Bless my heart, mates," said the sailor, "I'm glad to see you aboard.

I've been in this port these four months, and I haven't heard the sound of the American language in all that time. Shiver my timbers if I'm not glad to set eyes on you."

And they talked it all over, where they'd been and everything, all about the Condor and the savages and the Moon.

"Well, mates," said Jackie Tar, for that was his name, "you've seen a lot but you'll never do any more travelling, for you're in a pretty tight hole this time," and he went on to tell them about the j.a.panese who lived in the house and owned the store.

"He's a Toy-maker, he is, and the first thing he'll do is to rip you up to see how you're laid together, so he can make more like you."

"Mercy!" said Sweetclover, and she began to sob.

"If you're going to begin to cry," said Kernel Cob, "I'm going to give up," but the Villain whispered something kindly in Sweetclover's ear, and she stopped at once, for the Villain had more patience, and knew how to comfort her.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Maybe I can help you to escape from here," said Jackie Tar, "and maybe I can't, but I can try. I've had a plan in my mind for a long time but I've had no one to help me but these j.a.ps, and they're not worth the paint on their faces. Are you brave enough to risk it with me?"

Kernel Cob swelled out his chest and showed his medals, and told Jackie Tar how he had fought the savages single handed.

"You'll do," laughed the sailor, and he told them his plan. "Do you see that red box over there in the corner?

"Well, that's a j.a.panese kite. It goes up into the air very quickly.

What I say to do is to climb into the kite, and go up with it. It's a big one and will carry us all."

"Where'll we go to?" asked the Villain.

"What care we, as long as we get out of here," and he hitched his trousers as real sailors do.