David could not find him; so he walked along till he saw another. He was more careful, and I don’t think Froggy heard him this time.
“You just sit still half a second more,” said he to himself, “and I’ll have you. You need not wink at me; I want one of your hind legs for bait.”
As soon as he got near enough, he raised the big stick, and brought it down upon the head of poor Froggy. It was a hard blow, and the frog was killed by it.
Perhaps some of my kind-hearted little readers will say it was too bad for David to kill the frog. It would have been very wicked, if he had not wanted the frog for bait. He had done the act in order to get food for his mother and his brother and sisters.
Taking out his knife, he cut off one of the hind legs of the frog, and put it on the hook. There were a great many pickerel in the river. They are a very fine fish, and often grow to be quite large. A frog’s leg is the best bait to catch them with, and David wished ever so much that he could catch a big pickerel.
He dragged the frog’s leg over the water for half an hour, hoping a pickerel would jump up and catch hold of it. At last he heard a splash, and felt a fish pulling very hard at the line.
He hoped he should catch him, and even before he had seen the fish, he began to think what he should do with him. But he had a little plan in his head, and if he could only get the fish, he was almost sure of doing a great thing.
The Pickerel for sale.