"One day, when we were hurrying about looking for a safe place to hide, we saw a man's coat lying on the ground. It had a wide, deep pocket and we crawled into it and hid. We had been hiding there quite a while when a man came along, picked up the coat, and put it on. We didn't have time to get out of the pocket, so we snuggled down close to the bottom and kept still. Oh, but we were frightened! We thought we should surely be eaten. The man walked a long way, all the time talking to a companion. He had his hand in the pocket where we were hiding, but his arm was too short for his hand to touch us. At last the men stopped walking, but went on talking. We heard the man say, 'Now, where are those papers? They must be in this pocket.' And at that he reached down and found us. It seemed to make him very angry, for he jerked us out. My, how he did hurt us! 'Two frogs, ugh!' he said, and he threw us both as far as he could. As he was standing on the seashore we fell far out in the salty water. We thought we should be killed. The water made our eyes smart and made us feel ill. We swam about until a big wave tossed us upon a long, narrow, queer-looking boat that was floating on the water.
"Two men were about to board her when they saw us. One of them said, 'Oh, the Kaiser's frogs! We will take them along for mascots.' I didn't know what they meant by that. They put us down in the boat in the dark and started for sea. For many days the boat tumbled about. We were so seasick we couldn't eat. We thought we should surely die. We found out from what the men said that they were going to America to destroy New York Harbor. They talked a great deal about being able to take this country and said many times that it was theirs if they could take it. That is why I thought this Frog Pond would be mine if I could take it."
"Oh, I see!" said Grandfather Bull Frog. "You surely were in bad company."
"Yes," said the stranger, "I must have been.
"One morning we heard the men on the boat say, 'Here we are at last. Now for the torpedoes.' Then they began to hurry about as though getting ready to do something. While they hurried to and fro there came an awful crash. The noise was louder than forty old bullfrogs all singing at once. The boat went to pieces, and we, with those Germans, were blown into the air. I don't know what was wrong with that boat. I didn't understand the noise or the crash."
"It was strange," croaked all the frogs. "What could have been the matter?"
"I've wondered a lot about it," the stranger said, "but I can't think what made the noise and why the boat went all to pieces so quickly. It's certainly strange. Well, anyway, it didn't hurt Mrs. Frog and me, but the men went to pieces just like the boat. We never saw them again. We came down together and fell into more salty water. We swam about the best we could. Finally a big wave lifted us out of the water and threw us up on the shore. With our eyes, nose, and mouth smarting, we lay there for a while nearly dead. We were so weak we couldn't stand on our feet. My, I hope I shall never have to swim in salt water again! It is awful! I hate it," he said.
"There are no frogs in the world," said wise old Grandfather Frog, "who can stand salt water. We can't live in it."
"Well," continued the strange frog, "we lay so quiet on the beach that we must have seemed quite dead. By and by, opening one eye just a little, I saw a bird hopping along the shore looking for his breakfast. Coming up close to us, he said, 'Two dead frogs! Too bad, too bad!' By trying hard I managed to croak hoarsely, 'No, we're not dead. We shall soon be all right again.' The bird then told us of this beautiful place, and how the frogs in this pond had sent him to invite all other frogs to come and make it their home. He said it was not far away and that we could reach it in a few days.
"He showed us where to get a good breakfast, and after resting in the sun a few hours we started out. We were pretty weak at first, but as we hopped along, finding plenty to eat by the way, we began to feel stronger. At last we came in sight of this beautiful spot. We knew from what the bird had told us that it must be the right place. And now that you have decided to let us stay, I want to tell you how sorry I am for what I did a week ago."