und it, pounding its sides,
and at last heaved himself over to fall into its center. The boat
never stirred, and stamp as he would, the rope bottom and gunwales
resisted firmly.

"Gee! Mr. Wicker!" Chris exclaimed. "This is the best yet--except for
Amos. Golly Moses!" and as he sat down and took up the two loose ends
of rope still remaining, he found that he held not rope ends but two
oars. "Even oars!" Chris cried in delight.

Mr. Wicker stood with his hands behind his back, the firelight
outlining his black clothes and neat dark head.

"Yes," he said, in a matter-of-fact voice, "Quite so. Now climb out
and I will show you some of the other shapes of which it is capable. A
ladder," Mr. Wicker remarked as Chris rejoined him, "is almost too
simple. We can do that at any time."

Grasping the end of one oar, with movements too fast for Chris's eyes
to follow, in an instant the boat was a rope again, coiled over Mr.
Wicker's arm.

"Now!" said Mr. Wicker, and his eyes twinkled with mischief. The rope
flew out again, but this time took a strange outline--the outline of
an elephant.

"It will have to be a _small_ elephant," murmured Mr. Wicker, his
hands flying, "because of the size of the room."

The elephant, like the boat, took shape, the final ends of the rope
hanging down at its trunk and tail. After the elephant came a horse,
an eagle, and a dolphin, and Chris's admiration and zest to learn the
secrets of the rope grew with every change of shape.

"Very well," ended Mr. Wicker, "you shall learn." And placing his
hands over Chris's while the boy held the rope, he began slowly to
show him the magic twists and turns.

CHAPTER 12

The time had come when Chris could go out beyond the confines of Mr.
Wicker's gardens. It was a bright fall day when Amos and he stepped
out the kitchen door. Becky Boozer's huge frame blocked it behind them
as she stood in the sun to see them off. Each boy had been given meat
and bread, some cakes and apples, for their midday meal, and Chris
stood looking up and down the street for a moment before starting,
savoring the promise of new sights and new adventure. The only
drawback was that Amos would not, and must not, know why Chris might
be surprised at certain places. Georgetown in the year 1790 might be
new for Amos, but not nearly as new as it would be for Chris.

"Where-all are we going in the first place?" Amos asked.

Chris had long ago decided. "We'll take a look at t