“Speckles has a wide mouth and great shining eyes, but his eyes could see nothing to eat in the tunnel where he waited for spring, and his mouth had chewed nothing since the cold blast of winter had driven him to cover late in the fall.
“Speckles was too tired and cold and hungry to force a way out to the open until he was quite sure there would be a fair-sized meal for his empty stomach, so he waited and dozed some more. As he dozed he wondered—and that made a dream you know—where Spot, his mate, could be. Was she still sleeping or was she out and working for something to eat?
“That made Speckles sit up! He rubbed his button eyes with a fore-foot and yawned—oh what a yawn from that great mouth! He determined to go out for some air. Perhaps, who knows—there might be a tidbit about somewhere to ease the gnawing in his insides!
“The dry leaves were soon pushed out and forth came Speckles, but a very different-looking toad from the fat one that went into winter quarters the previous fall.
“‘Good-day, Mr. Cricket!’ said Speckles, politely, to a very tender-looking cricket that sat just above his reach on a twig.
“Being once removed on the plane above a common toad, Mr. Cricket never deigned to notice the polite greeting. Had the toad been above, the entire scene would have changed instantly! Perhaps proud Mr. Cricket would have been the suppliant for life and liberty.
“Speckles hopped over to the tunnel to which he had escorted his mate the season before, and now he churked a sickly roundelay to wake her from her dreams. Spot was having a glorious dream of bugs and maggots and all kinds of toothsome dainties, and the faint call from her mate failed to rouse her the first time. Again he chirruped, a bit louder and stronger this time, and Spot awoke with a shock to find her feast vanish! It was but a dream!
“Spot then waddled out—she need not have waddled, as she was thin and scrawny, but she was still dreaming that she had stuffed herself at the feast, so she waddled. Then, too, her joints were stiff from the cramped position she had been in for many months.
“‘Ha, Spot, my dear!’ saluted Speckles, as he saw his mate stumbling from the winter resort.
“‘Well, Speck, have you found any dinner?’ was the first house-wifely question from Spot.