"I—I think there's some mistake," faltered Bully.
"No mistake at all," snapped the heron. "It's in all the books. Cranes, storks and herons always eat frogs, mice and-so-forth. I never ate any and-so-forth, but I imagine it must be very nice. At any rate, I'm going to eat you!" and he snapped his bill like three knives being sharpened.
"Oh, are you?" cried Bully, the frog, and he suddenly gave a great jump, greater even than that which the Jumping Frog that Mark Twain wrote about gave, and into the pond he plunged, and went right to the bottom. Now, what do you think about that? Yes, sir, he went right to the bottom, where the blue heron couldn't get him, and then he called up, in a voice which sounded very hoarse because it came from so far under water:
"Ha! Who got left?"
"I suppose he means me," spoke the heron to Sammie, and the bird, very much annoyed, fanned itself with its long leg. "I don't believe that's fair," the heron went on. "It's in all the books," and then, with a great flapping of wings, the tall creature flew away, and Bully, the frog, came out.
"You had a narrow escape," said Sammie.
"Oh, I'm used to that," replied the frog. "Now, let's practice jumping."
Which they did, only the frog always jumped into the water and Sammie remained on dry land, so they never could tell who was the best at it. Then they played other games, and became very good friends. The frog pond was very near the new burrow where Sammie lived, and the two used to meet quite often. One day the frog said:
"I think it would be very nice if you would dig a way from your burrow to my pond. Then, when it rained, I could come to see you without getting wet, and you could come to see me."
"That is a fine idea," declared Sammie. "I'll do it."