Just then Jessie looked at him. She smiled, an impish, naughty little
smile, and then Sunny Boy knew he had guessed right. Jessie had
unscrewed the lead soldier general.
"I'll just put him back," whispered Sunny Boy, putting out a cautious
hand toward the soldier. He wasn't going to play with him, he argued,
but Miss Davis might call it playing, if she saw him.
"Here's your pen," said Jessie suddenly.
Sunny Boy jumped a little, for he had not heard her come up to his
desk. His blouse sleeve brushed again the lead general, and what do
you think happened? Splash! Down into the inkwell on Sunny Boy's desk
went that beautiful soldier, down out of sight in the messy ink!
Jessie looked startled, but she did not say anything. She walked on
with her box of pens. Perhaps she thought it was her fault for
unscrewing the lead soldier general, but Jessie did not like to blame
herself for anything.
"This morning you may draw the initial of your first name," announced
Miss Davis. "And then you may go over it in ink. I will come around
and help you, if you need help."
Sunny Boy was gazing down into his ink well and scarcely heard her.
How could he rescue the lead soldier before he drowned? He took his
best pencil and poked it down into the inkwell. Goodness, the ink was
deeper than he thought, and before he knew it his fingers were stained
black. Then he poked around with the pen Jessie had given him, but
though he could feel the soldier at the bottom of the inkwell, he could
not make the pen stick in him.
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