The Adventures of Grandfather Frog | Page 3

spoke.
"Oh," said he, "we beg your pardon. We just happen to know that
Grandfather Frog is sound asleep, and we thought that if you hadn't had
good luck this morning, you might like to know about it. As long as
you think so ill of us, we'll just run over and tell Blackcap the Night
Heron."
Little Joe turned as if to start off in search of Blackcap at once. "Hold
on a minute!" called Longlegs, and tried to make his voice sound
pleasant, a difficult thing to do, because, you know, his voice is very
harsh and disagreeable. "The truth is, I haven't had a mouthful of
breakfast and to be hungry is apt to make me cross. Where did you say
Grandfather Frog is?"
"I didn't say," replied Little Joe, "but if you really want to know, he is
sitting on his big green lily-pad in the Smiling Pool fast asleep right in
plain sight."

"Thank you," said Longlegs. "I believe I have an errand up that way,
now I think of it. I believe I'll just go over and have a look at him. I
have never seen him asleep."
[Illustration: "Thank you," said Longlegs. "I believe I have an errand
up that way." Page 10.]

III
LONGLEGS VISITS THE SMILING POOL
Longlegs the Blue Heron watched Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter
disappear down the Laughing Brook. As long as they were in sight, he
sat without moving, his head drawn down between his shoulders just as
if he had nothing more important to think about than a morning nap.
But if you had been near enough to have seen his keen eyes, you would
never have suspected him of even thinking of a nap. Just as soon as he
felt sure that the two little brown-coated scamps were out of sight, he
stretched his long neck up until he was almost twice as tall as he had
been a minute before. He looked this way and that way to make sure
that no danger was near, spread his great wings, flapped heavily up into
the air, and then, with his head once more tucked back between his
shoulders and his long legs straight out behind him, he flew out over
the Green Meadows, and making a big circle, headed straight for the
Smiling Pool.
All this time Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter had not been so far away
as Longlegs supposed. They had been hiding where they could watch
him, and the instant he spread his wings, they started back up the
Laughing Brook towards the Smiling Pool to see what would happen
there. You see they knew perfectly well that Longlegs was flying up to
the Smiling Pool in the hope that he could catch Grandfather Frog for
his breakfast. They didn't really mean that any harm should come to
Grandfather Frog, but they meant that he should have a great fright.
You see, they were like a great many other people, so heedless and
thoughtless that they thought it fun to frighten others.

"Of course we'll waken Grandfather Frog in time for him to get away
with nothing more than a great scare," said Little Joe Otter, as they
hurried along. "It will be such fun to see his big goggly eyes pop out
when he opens them and sees Longlegs just ready to gobble him up!
And won't Longlegs be hopping mad when we cheat him out of the
breakfast he is so sure he is going to have!"
They reached the Smiling Pool before Longlegs, who had taken a
roundabout way, and they hid among the bulrushes where they could
see and not be seen.
"There's the old fellow just as I left him, fast asleep," whispered Billy
Mink.
Sure enough, there on his big green lily-pad sat Grandfather Frog with
his eyes shut. At least, they seemed to be shut. And over on top of his
big house sat Jerry Muskrat. Jerry seemed to be too busy opening a
fresh-water clam to notice anything else; but the truth is he was
watching all that was going on. You see, he had suspected that Billy
Mink was going to play some trick on Grandfather Frog, so he had
warned him. When he had seen Longlegs coming towards the Smiling
Pool, he had given Grandfather Frog another warning, and he knew that
now he was only pretending to be asleep.
Straight up to the Smiling Pool came Longlegs the Blue Heron, and on
the very edge of it, among the bulrushes, he dropped his long legs and
stood with his toes in the water, his long neck stretched up so that he
could look all over the Smiling Pool. There, just as Little Joe Otter had
said, sat Grandfather Frog on