His wooden leg seemed free enough, but the other
would not budge.
"I seem stuck, Trot," he said, with a perplexed look at his foot.
"It ain't mud, an' it ain't glue, but somethin's holdin' me down."
The girl attempted to lift her own feet, to go nearer to her friend,
but the ground held them as fast as it held Cap'n Bill's foot. She
tried to slide them, or to twist them around, but it was no use; she
could not move either foot a hair's breadth.
"This is funny!" she exclaimed. "What do you 'spose has happened to
us, Cap'n Bill?"
"I'm tryin' to make out," he answered. "Take off your shoes, Trot.
P'raps it's the leather soles that's stuck to the ground."
She leaned down and unlaced her shoes, but found she could not pull
her feet out of them. The Glass Cat, which was walking around as
naturally as ever, now said:
"Your foot has got roots to it, Cap'n, and I can see the roots going
into the ground, where they spread out in all directions. It's the same
way with Trot. That's why you can't move. The roots hold you fast."
Cap'n Bill was rather fat and couldn't see his own feet very well,
but he squatted down and examined Trot's feet and decided that the
Glass Cat was right.
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