Just before Tinkle reached the water he felt his legs and hoofs sinking down in the soft ground. He tried to lift his left front foot, but could not. And his right hind foot was also stuck fast.
“Oh, dear! What has happened to me?” cried poor Tinkle. “I can’t move!”
And really he could not. Tinkle was caught fast in the sticky mud of a big swamp!
CHAPTER II
TINKLE MAKES TROUBLE
Dapple Gray had just finished telling the story of his being caught under the trolley car, the time he was drawing the fire engine.
“And so,” went on the old horse, “men came and pushed the car off my legs. The firemen loosened my harness and then I could get up.”
“Weren’t you hurt?” asked Mrs. Chestnut, who was called that because she was colored brown.
“Well, my legs were a bit scratched, and I had some bruises on my side, but I could still run and pull the engine. You see we horses couldn’t stop whenever we wanted to. We had to pull the funny chimney-wagon to where the fire was blazing so the men could squirt water on it.