The Magic of Oz

from his pocket and filled it with tobacco and lighted it. Then, as he puffed

out the smoke, he tried to think what could be done.

The Glass Cat seems all right," he said, "an' my wooden leg didn't

take roots and grow, either. So it's only flesh that gets caught."

It's magic that does it, Cap'n!"

I know, Trot, and that's what sticks me. We're livin' in a magic

country, but neither of us knows any magic an' so we can't help ourselves."

Couldn't the Wizard of Oz help us--or Glinda the Good?" asked the

little girl.

Ah, now we're beginnin' to reason," he answered. "I'd probably

thought o' that, myself, in a minute more. By good luck the Glass Cat is

free, an' so it can run back to the Emerald City an' tell the Wizard about

our fix, an' ask him to come an' help us get loose."

Will you go?" Trot asked the cat, speaking very earnestly.

I'm no messenger, to be sent here and there," asserted the curious

animal in a sulky tone of voice.

Well," said Cap'n Bill, "you've got to go home, anyhow, 'cause you

don't want to stay here, I take it. And, when you get home, it wouldn't

worry you much to tell the Wizard what's happened to us."

That's true," said the cat, sitting on its haunches and lazily washing its

face with one glass paw. "I don't mind telling the Wizard--when I get

home."

Won't you go now?" pleaded Trot. "We don't want to stay here any

longer than we can help, and everybody in Oz will be interested in you,

and call you a hero, and say nice things about you because you helped

your friends out of trouble."

That was the best way to manage the Glass Cat, which was so vain that

it loved to be praised.

I'm going home right away," said the creature, "and I'll tell the Wizard

to come and help you."

Saying this, it walked down to the water and disappeared under the

surface. Not being able to manage the raft alone, the Glass Cat walked on

the bottom of the river as it had done when it visited the island before, and