Chapter I: What Gladys Found

Gladys was ten, and John James belonged to her.

John James was the big Golliwog, and the little girl always took him to bed with her. But, somehow, he used to get out of bed in the night and would be found lying on the nursery floor in the morning.

Gladys had a big lady-doll named Adeliza May, and a very grand gentleman-doll who wore a white wig like that of a judge. She called him Mortimer Max, because he looked so solemn, and Gladys, as you may guess, was very proud of him. She nursed him a good deal, and sometimes slapped him very hard, but he was so strong he never seemed to mind anything, not even when Carlo worried him. Carlo was a nice little fox terrier, who also belonged to Gladys, and she had a pretty tortoiseshell kitten, named Spottikins, as well.

But the toy she loved best of all was her big Golliwog. He was scarcely a handsome Golly. Golliwogs aren't handsome, as a rule, now are they? But John James was a particularly fine fellow. He had bright shining eyes like polished shoe buttons, a quantity of black bristling hair, and a very broad smile.

Gladys called him John after the gardener, and James after the boy who cleaned the boots and knives. She was fond of them both, you see, and did not want either of them to feel jealous. Gladys also had a Toy Monkey, a very funny grinning Billikins, and two little Nigger Boys, who were so much alike that the little girl said they must be twins.

The house where Gladys lived was in the country, with lanes and fields all around. There were only two other houses near and Freda Morris lived in one, and Tommy Stapleton in the other.

Freda had a beautiful sailor-doll named Jolly Jack. She always brought him with her when she came to see Gladys, and very proud she was of his bright yellow buttons and his midshipman's hat.

Tommy Stapleton did not care for dolls. What boy does? But he had a large Teddy Bear for a pet, which he dragged along on a silver chain. Teddy had a very cunning, crafty face, and Gladys and Freda both disliked him.

Now at the time when this story begins, it was the end of the summer and Gladys had just had her birthday party. It was a very delightful affair. Tommy came and brought his Teddy, and Freda brought Jolly Jack. Some little cousins of Gladys' came in a cab and brought their dolls and two baby Teddies with them.

Adeliza May and John James were dressed in their best and sat up to the table just like real people. All the visitors admired Spottikins, Carlo rushed to and fro and barked, and between whiles he sat and begged for pieces of the pink iced cake with "Gladys" written across the top.

Gladys went to bed that night at a quarter to ten o'clock. It was much beyond her usual time, and she was very tired. She had had an exciting day, and one or two curious things had happened.

The toy motor, which Tommy Stapleton had given her for a birthday present, nearly ran over the two little Teddies--they were twins and were her small cousins' especial pets. Happily they were not hurt. But this was not all. Somebody at the party--no one knew who--had cut off Jolly Jack's gold buttons. Every single one! Freda cried when she discovered what had happened; Jolly Jack looked very crestfallen, and John James' bright eyes and his sharp funny little nose, seemed more intelligent than ever.

All these things came back to Gladys as she undressed herself, and she remembered very clearly that Tommy Stapleton's wicked Teddy had looked as if he were laughing.

"Horrid creature!" said Gladys to herself. Then she got into bed and went to sleep.

In the middle of the night she woke, and felt under the bedclothes for John James. He was not there, and then Gladys suddenly remembered that she had left him on the sofa in the day nursery.

Very quietly she slipped out of bed, and tiptoed across the landing in her white night-dress. She shivered a little for the windows were wide open. It was a clear night, and outside in the lane the telegraph wires were making a curious zuz-z-z-z-z-ing sound.

Gladys crept towards the sofa. Where was John James? She was quite sure she had left him propped up against the hard horse-hair cushion, and now she could not find him.

She got down upon her hands and knees and felt in the crack between the sofa and the toy cupboard. John James might have fallen, but no, he was not there.

Gladys could not find anything but a scrap of torn paper. She straightened it out to look at it, and the word "Golliwog" caught her eye.

"This might be something about John James," said the little girl, smiling to herself, and down she went again on her knees to see whether she could find anything more. Yes, there was something inside the crack, which seemed like a piece of folded paper.

Gladys pulled it out--it was a tiny, tiny newspaper, and there was the title:

THE GOLLIWOG NEWS.

The moon shone out from behind a cloud and Gladys could see quite plainly. The paper was printed and folded exactly like the one her father had every day, only Gladys saw that this newspaper circulated in Toy-Town-on-Sea, Dolls House City, and ever so many other funny places.

She began to read the head lines, forgetting that her little pink feet were bare and that the wind was blowing her curls hither and thither over her shoulders.

Gladys read aloud:

"BIRTHDAY PARTY ACCIDENT."
"NARROW ESCAPE OF TEDDY TWINS."

At that the little girl nearly screamed for it was all about her toy motor and her party, and the little twin Teddies that belonged to her cousins.

"Well, I never!" exclaimed Gladys very loudly; then, looking up, she saw John James sitting astride the window sill. He had his coat off and was writing as fast as ever he could.

"How did you get there?" cried Gladys, rushing to the window and picking him up by one leg.

The Golliwog scowled at her, wrenched himself free, and ran back to the window sill.

Gladys gazed at her refractory pet.

"Wait half a minute," he said, "I'm busy."

So Gladys waited. John James scribbled and muttered for five minutes longer. Then he jumped down and sat on the sofa beside his mistress.

While she had been waiting for him Gladys had read the little newspaper. It was all about Dolls, Teddy Bears, Golliwogs and Pollywogs--Pollywogs, as you will easily guess, are lady Gollies. In fact, there seemed to be something in the newspaper about all the Toys and Pets, Gladys had ever heard of. It was really a most amazing discovery.

The advertisements were the funniest Gladys had ever read, and the idea of cats and dogs forming themselves into a Golliwog League and playing football sent her into fits of laughter.

"I'm the Editor," said John James proudly.

"Oh!" said Gladys, and her round eyes opened wider with surprise.

"Is Carlo in it?" she began, but John James was not listening, he had rushed to the window again.

"Sh! sh!" he said. "It's going on again."

"What's going on?" asked Gladys as she crept nearer.

"Zuz-z-z-z-y!" went the telegraph wires, and John James scribbled away madly. At last he stopped, and asked Gladys to lend him a handkerchief. She found a very dirty one hidden under the sofa cushion, and watched him mop his face with it.

"That was a very near thing!" exclaimed the Golliwog. "I might have been in bed and asleep. Oh, my! It's a great piece of news. Don't you think so?"

"You haven't told me yet what it is," said Glady crossly, for she was dying to ask all kinds of questions about the newspaper.

"Oh, haven't I?" John James wiped his hairy forehead again.

"Well, he's been caught--the Teddy who stole the gold buttons off Master Jack Midshipman's coat. Surely you must have heard about that?"

"You don't mean Jolly Jack's buttons, do you? Of course, I knew he lost them off his coat last night. Freda cried about it. Did you say it was a Teddy who stole them?"

"I did," answered John James.

"Then I know who it was!" cried Gladys dancing to and fro in the moonlight. "It was that horrid Teddy of Tommy Stapleton's. Shall you put it in the paper? And will poor Freda get the buttons back?"

"One question at a time," replied the Golliwog grandly. "An account of the trial will appear in the _News_, and the buttons--the solid gold buttons--will be placed in the Royal Golliwogland Museum."

"Then Freda won't get them----" began Gladys.

"But she can go and see them some day," cried John James eagerly; "just think of that!"

Gladys was thoroughly interested. But something suddenly creaked in the night nursery, and seizing John James in her arms, the little girl hurried back to bed.

CHAPTER II.

Buttons! Bright with golden lustre,
Found at last, though snugly hid;
Wasn't Teddy in a fluster?
Read, and see what Tommy did.