“If I could only untie my shoe, and slip my foot out!” thought Tommy. He had once read of a boy who got his foot caught in a switch on a railroad track. The lad pulled and tugged, but his foot was held fast, and a train was approaching at great speed.
Suddenly that boy had unlaced his shoe, pulled out his foot, and saved himself. Tommy made up his mind to try the same trick. He leaned forward to get at the laces, but he found that he could not reach them in the position in which he was held.
“That won’t do,” he decided. He could still hear Sam and Jakie at the water gate. They seemed to be having some trouble raising it.
And then another thought came to our hero. He must shout for help. Why had he not thought of that before? The two boys who had raced after him, though mean bullies, would not want him to be seriously hurt. They had only meant to have fun with him in their rough, cruel way, and they had no idea that he was fast on the mill wheel.
“I’ll call to them!” decided Tommy, and, somehow, though it was to save his life, he almost disliked to do it. But there was no help for it. The wheel was moving faster now.
“Help! Help!” sung out Tommy. “I’m on the mill wheel! Caught fast! Turn off the water! Help! Help!”
He waited a moment, hoping for an answer.
None came. He could still hear the splashing of the water and the laughter and shouts of the two boys in a distant part of the mill.
“They can’t hear me!” thought Tommy. This idea caused him to make harder efforts than before to loosen his foot, but he could not. Then he called again.
“Help! Help! I’m on the mill wheel!”