“And I’ll get my Candy Rabbit,” offered Madeline.

“I’ll have to have somebody help me carry over my Tin Soldier Captain and all the men,” said Arnold.  “I don’t want to drop any of ’em.”

“I’ll help you, as soon as I bring out my Monkey,” offered Herbert.

“And I’d like somebody to help me carry over my Lamb,” said Mirabell.

“I’ll help you,” said Dick.  “I’ll bring over my White Rocking Horse and your Lamb, Mirabell.”

So, as it happened, Herbert’s Monkey and Madeline’s Candy Rabbit were the first of the toy friends to be brought into the tent.  The Monkey was on his stick, as Herbert was going to make him do tricks by climbing up to the top of it, and turning somersaults, as it was intended for the Monkey to do.

“Do you think my Rabbit and your Monkey will be all right if we leave them here alone in the tent?” asked Madeline, as the toys were put down on one of the boxes, and she and her brother started to help the other children carry in their things.

“Oh yes, they’ll be all right,” said Herbert.

But he and Madeline had not been very long away, and the Monkey and Candy Rabbit had not been very long alone in the tent, before something happened.

All at once, just as the Monkey was thinking of asking the Candy Rabbit what tricks that sweet chap was going to do in the show, a loud noise was heard in the tent.

“Baa-a-a-a-!” was what the Rabbit and the Monkey heard.

“Was that you?” asked the Monkey of the Rabbit.

“I was just going to ask if you had called,” said the Rabbit.

“Baa-a-a-a-a!” came again.

“It sounds like the Lamb on Wheels,” said the Candy Rabbit.

“Oh, it can’t be,” said the Monkey.  “She’d come in to see us.  Who do you suppose it is?”

“Baa-a-a-a-a!” sounded again, and then a funny black nose, followed by a head with curving horns on it, was thrust into the tent.

“This isn’t the Lamb!” cried the Monkey.

“Indeed I’m not a Lamb!” was the answer.  “I’m a Billy Goat!  Baa-a!  Baa-a-a-a!  What’s going on here?” he bleated.

“We’re going to have a show,” said the Monkey.  “I am going to be in it, and so is the Candy Rabbit.”

“Oh, no, the Candy Rabbit isn’t!” said the Goat.  “He isn’t going to be in the show.  He’s going to be in me, for I am going to eat him!  I am very fond of candy, and I’ve been looking for some for a long time.  I wondered what was in this tent, and now I know.  I saw it from over in the vacant lots where I live.  Then I came over to peep in, when I saw that the boys and girls had gone.  Yes, indeed!  I like sugar, and I’m going to eat the Candy Rabbit!”

The bad Goat, with his sharp horns, walked into the tent and over toward the box on which the Candy Rabbit sat near the Monkey on a Stick.

“Oh, yum-yum!  How I love candy!” bleated the goat, wiggling his whiskers and smacking his lips.  “How I love sugar!  I’m going to nibble some sweetness off the ears of the Candy Rabbit.”