Off went the boat，with the rat close behind it．Ugh!How it gnashedits teeth，crying，“Stop him!Stop him!He hasn’t paid the toll，and hehasn’t shown his pass!”
But the stream grew stronger and stronger．The tin soldier could al—ready see the bright daylight in front where the coping ended，but heheard at the same time a roaring sound which might well have made eventhe bravest man afraid．Only fancy!Where the coping ended the gutterplunged fight down into a large channel，which would be as dangerous tothe tin soldier as sailing down a large waterfall would be to US．tie was al—readv SO close to the precipice that he could not stand．The boat dashedon．the poor tin soldier stood as stiff as he could，that nobody should sayof him that he SO much as blinked his eyes．The boat whirled round fourtimes．and filled with water to the very brim．Sin it must!The tin soldier stood up tO his neck in water，and deeper and deeper sank the boat；thepaper became quite undone；now the water closed right over the soldier’Shead．Then he thought of the pretty little dancing girl whom he should never see again，and these lines rang in his ear．
“0n．soldier!On—on—though swords and shots rattle，Tis thy fatetO find death in the midst of the battle．”
And now the papel·burst in the middle．me soldier fell through，andthe same instant was swallowed by a huge fish．
How dark it was inside there!Worse even than the gutter—coping；and the space was so narrow too．But the tin soldier remained steadfast， lay at full length shouldering alms．
The fish frisked about．1eaping and darting in the most frightful man—ner．At last，however，it became still，and what looked like a flash of lightning seemed to dart through it．The light shone quite brightly，and someone cried aloud：“Tin soldier!”
The fish had been caught，carried to market，sold，and taken to the kitchen，where the maid—servant had cut it open with a large knife．She took the soldier round the waist between her finger and thumb and carried him to the parlor，to which everyone hastened to look at the remarkable man who had traveled about inside a fish．
Yet the tin soldier was not a bit proud．They placed him on the table and there—how strangely，to be sure，things come about in this world—the tin soldier found himself in the selfsame room he had been in before：he saw the self—same children，and the same playthings stood upon the table；the beautiful palace with the pretty little dancing girl was there too，and she still stood on one leg and held the other in the air；she，too，was steadfast．The tin soldier was quite touched；he could have shed tin tears，but this would not have become him．He looked at her and she looked at him，but neither said a word．
Then one of the little boys took up the tin soldier and threw him right into the stove．He gave no reason whatever for doing SO；no doubt the gnome in the snuff—box was at the bottom of it．
