the doorway and saved himself by holding fast to it with both hands.
Even then he rolled and twisted so awkwardly before he could get
upon his legs that Trot had to laugh outright at his antics. "This
hick'ry leg," said Cap'n Joe, "is so blamed light that it always
wants to float. Agga-Groo, the goldworker, has promised me a gold
leg that will stay down, but he never has time to make it. You're
mighty lucky, Bill, to have a merman's tail instead o' legs."

"I guess I am, Joe," replied Cap'n Bill, "for in such a wet country
the fishes have the best of it. But I ain't sure I'd like this sort
o' thing always."

"Think o' the money you'd make in a side show," said Cap'n Joe with
his funny chuckling laugh. Then he pounded his wooden leg against
the hard floor and managed to hobble from the room without more
accidents.

When he had gone, Trot said, "Aren't you glad to find your brother
again, Cap'n Bill?"

"Why, so-so," replied the sailor. "I don't know much about Joe,
seein' as we haven't met before for many a long year, an' all I
remember about our boyhood days is that we fit an' pulled hair most
o' the time. But what worries me most is Joe's lookin' so much like
me myself, wooden leg an' all. Don't you think it's rather cheeky
an' unbrotherly, Trot?"

"Perhaps he can't help it," suggested the child. "And anyhow, he'll
never be able to live on land again."