“Just an old big bullfrog!” was Freddie’s unexpected answer.
“Oh, he was such a big, fat frog!” added Flossie. “Did you hear the splash he made?”
“I should say we did!” replied Nan. “We thought maybe it was one of you.”
“No,” Freddie said. “But I almost fell in trying to stop the frog from getting away.”
“Did you catch him? What happened?” asked Bert.
“We almost caught him,” replied Freddie. “We were sailing our boats, and Flossie saw the frog. He was up on the bank, asleep in the sun.”
“And Freddie said for us to get between him and the water and drive him farther up on the bank and then maybe we could catch him,” added Flossie. “So we tried to creep up so he wouldn’t hear us. But he has good ears, I guess, for he woke up and began to hop toward the water.”
“Frogs always do that,” explained Freddie, as if he knew all about such creatures. “We tried to chase him back with sticks, but he just kept on jumping this way and that way, trying to get into the brook again, and then—then——” Freddie had to stop and laugh at the memory of what had happened, so Flossie finished the story by saying:
“The big frog hopped close to Freddie and Freddie thought he could grab him and he stooped over, Freddie did, and the frog hopped right between his legs—I mean between Freddie’s legs—and splashed into the brook. That’s how he got away.”
“Yes,” added Freddie, still laughing, “that’s how he got away. And I fell over, ’cause I made such a quick grab for him. But I didn’t hurt myself,” he added, “and I didn’t get much muddy—only a little.”