“Put me in deeper,” said Teddy Turtle, as Danny Fox was about to pull him out, “I only got a little swallow.”
So the old fox leaned ’way over the bank and dipped the little turtle ’way in till you couldn’t see him at all.
Then, of course, his tail got wet, and pretty soon it got so slippery that Danny Fox had to use both paws. And then the first thing Danny Fox knew the little turtle gave a wiggle and a jiggle and pulled his tail away, and with a splash that wet the old fox all over, he dived down to the bottom of the pond, where he was safe at home in the soft mud.
Danny Fox gave a snarl of disappointment, but the little turtle didn’t hear him; but he blew up a few bubbles to tease the hungry old robber.
“I don’t believe he’d have made good soup, anyway,” growled Danny Fox, wiping his feet on the grass, for they were covered with mud. Then, after wiping his eyes and face, he trotted off to the Shady Forest.
Now as soon as Teddy Turtle reached the bottom of the Old Duck Pond, he crawled along on the soft mud until he came to a little island, up which he crawled till he was once more out of the water.
“Ha, ha,” he said to himself as he saw Danny Fox far away on the mainland, “I fooled you this time, you old robber!”
