“Oh, just wait until I catch you!” cried the alligator, snapping his teeth together.
But Bully and Bawly didn’t wait. On they hopped, as fast as they could, hoping to get away. And would you ever believe that an alligator could be so mean as this one was? For he chased Bully and Bawly right up a steep hill. You know it’s hard to walk up hill, and harder still to hop, so Bully and Bawly were soon tired. But do you s’pose that alligator cared? Not a bit of it!
Right after them he kept crawling, faster and faster.
Bully and Bawly hopped as swiftly as they could, but the alligator kept getting nearer and nearer to them, for he was big and strong, and didn’t mind the hill. They could hear his savage jaws gnashing together, and they trembled so that Bully almost spilled the molasses out of his basket and Bawly nearly dropped the granulated sugar.
Well, finally the two frog boys were at the top of the hill, and they were very thankful, thinking that they could now get away from the alligator, when they suddenly saw that the hill came to an end, and fell over the edge of a great precipice just like the Niagara waterfall, only there wasn’t any water there, of course.
“Oh, we can’t go any farther,” cried Bully, coming to a stop.
“No,” said his brother, “we can’t jump down that awful gully. But look, Bully, there is another hill over there,” and he pointed across the big, open space. “If we could jump across from this hill to that hill, the alligator couldn’t get us.”
“Oh, but it’s a terrible big jump,” said Bully, and indeed it was; about as wide as a big river. “But we’ve got to do it!” cried Bully, “for here comes the terrible beast!”
The alligator was almost upon them. He opened his mouth to grab them with his teeth, when Bully, spreading out his legs, and taking a firm hold of his grocery basket, gave a great, big jump. Through the air he sailed, over the deep valley, and he landed safely on the other hill. Then Bawly did the same, and with one most tremendous, extemporaneous and extraordinary jump, he landed close beside his brother, and the alligator couldn’t get either of them because he couldn’t jump across the chasm.
Oh, but he was an angry alligator though! He gnashed his teeth and wiggled his tail and even cried big round tears. Nearly all alligators cry little square tears, but even round ones didn’t do a bit of good. Then Bully threw a marble at the savage creature, and hit him on the nose, and Bawly blew his whistle so loud, that the alligator thought a policeman, or postman, was coming, and he turned around and ran away, and the frog boys went on safely home with their baskets of groceries and had a good supper.