Bruin brought a piece of honeycomb to refresh him, and Coon told him the proposed plan, which delighted the boy greatly.
“And I am to do the whistling?” he exclaimed. “I must practise a bit, for I have not done any frog-whistling for some time.” And with that he began to whistle in such a wonderfully frog-like way, that Bruin almost thought he must have swallowed a frog.
“How do you do that, Toto?” he asked. “I wish I could learn. You just purse your mouth up so, eh? Ugh! wah! woonk!” And the bear gave a series of most surprising grunts and growls, accompanied with such singular grimaces that both Toto and the raccoon rolled over on the ground in convulsions of laughter.
“My dear Bruin,” cried Toto, as soon as he could regain a little composure, “I don’t think—ha! ha! ha!—I really do not think you will ever be mistaken for a frog.”
“Ho! ho! ho!” cried the raccoon, bursting into another fit of laughter as he looked towards the mouth of the cave. “Look at Cracker. Oh, my eye! will you look at Cracker? Oh, dear me! I shall certainly die if I laugh any more. Ho! ho!”
Bruin and Toto turned, and saw the squirrel hobbling in, dressed in a green frog-skin, and looking—well, did you ever see a squirrel in a frog-skin? No? Then you never saw the funniest thing in the world.
Poor Cracker, however, seemed to see no fun in it at all. “It’s all very well for you fellows to laugh,” he said ruefully. “I wonder how you would like to be pinched up in an abominable, ill-fitting thing like this? Ugh! I wouldn’t be a frog for all the beechnuts in the world. Come on!” he added sharply. “Let us get the matter over, and have done with it. I can’t stand this long.”
Accordingly the three started off, leaving Bruin shaking his head and chuckling at the mouth of the cave.
Arrived at the pool, they stationed themselves as had been previously arranged: the squirrel on a large stone at the very edge of the pool, with the tar-bucket beside him; the raccoon crouching among the tall reeds on one side of the stone, while Toto lay closely hidden on the other, behind a clump of tall ferns.
When all was ready, Toto began to whistle. At first he whistled very softly, but gradually the notes swelled, growing clearer and shriller, till they seemed to fill the air.