At last the tadpole found his voice and said, “Oh, please put me back in the water. I want to go home.”
Pinkie Whiskers jumped when the tadpole spoke. Someway he had not thought about a tadpole having a voice or being able to talk.
“No, my little tadpole. I am not going to let you go back home. I am going to take you to my home. I will put you in a glass of water and you can swim as much as you please,” replied Pinkie Whiskers.
“I have a mother and father just as you have and I do not want to leave them. I want to stay here and I will stay here,” said the tadpole and he jumped about so lively that Pinkie Whiskers had all he could do to keep from falling off the stone.
“Stop pulling my fish line. Stop pulling it, I say,” cried Pinkie Whiskers.
The little tadpole paid no heed to Pinkie Whiskers’ demand. In fact he jumped and pulled all the harder and faster.
The first thing Pinkie Whiskers knew, he had slipped off from the stone and was up to his neck in the water.
But Pinkie Whiskers was not the kind to give up a prize easily. My, no! He remembered to hold fast to the fish rod. The little tadpole swam away as far as he could and tugged and tugged at the line.
Pinkie Whiskers was nearly pulled over in the water, but just in time he threw out his hand and caught hold of the rock, then using all the strength he had, he managed to climb up onto it.
Once more he pulled the tadpole free from the water and slipped the net under it. He was panting for breath but he said: