Unable to solve this problem, his head grew tired, and he lay down on the
lounge, saying to himself, "Something must be done!"
"Something must be done!" Willie was sure somebody spoke. He looked
around. There was nobody in the room.
"Something _must_ be done!" This time he saw in the corner of the room,
barely visible in the shadow, his father's cane. The voice seemed to come
from that corner.
"Something MUST be done!" Yes, it was the cane. He could see its head,
and the face on one side was toward him. How bright its eyes were! It
did not occur to Willie just then that there was anything surprising in
the fact that the walking-stick had all at once become a talking stick.
"Something MUST be done!" said the cane, lifting its one foot up and
bringing it down with emphasis at the word must. Willie felt pleased that
the little old man--I mean the walking-stick--should come to his help.
"I tell you what," said Old Ebony, hopping out of his shady corner; "I
tell you what," it said, and then stopped as if to reflect; then finished
by saying, "It's a shame!"
Willie was about to ask the cane to what he referred, but he thought best
to wait till Old Ebony got ready to tell of his own accord.
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