At last he got it through his head, and drawing a very long breath, he
dived into the water and swam under the old shingle. He was just in
time. Yes, Sir, he was just in time. If Farmer Brown's boy hadn't been
thinking of something else, he certainly would have noticed the little
rings on the water made by Grandfather Frog when he dived in. But he was
thinking of something else, and it wasn't until he dipped a cup in for
the second time that he even saw the old shingle.
"Hello!" he exclaimed. "That must have blown in since I was here
yesterday. We can't have anything like that in our nice spring."
With that he reached out for the old shingle, and Grandfather Frog,
hiding under it, gave himself up for lost. But the anxious Little Breeze
had been watching sharply and the instant he saw what Farmer Brown's boy
was going to do, he played the old, old trick of snatching his hat from
his head. The truth is, he couldn't think of anything else to do. Farmer
Brown's boy grabbed at his hat, and then, because he was in a hurry and
had other things to do, he started off without once thinking of the old
shingle again.
"Chugarum!" cried Grandfather Frog, as he swam out from under the
shingle and climbed up on it, "That certainly was a close call. If I
have many more like it, I certainly shall die of fright."
Nothing more happened for a long time, and Grandfather Frog was
wondering if it wouldn't be safe to take a nap when he saw peeping over
the edge above him two eyes. They were greenish yellow eyes, and they
stared and stared. Grandfather Frog stared and stared back. He just
couldn't help it. He didn't know who they belonged to. He couldn't
remember ever having seen them before. He was afraid, and yet somehow he
couldn't make up his mind to jump. He stared so hard at the eyes that he
didn't notice a long furry paw slowly, very slowly, reaching down
towards him. Nearer it crept and nearer. Then suddenly it moved like a
flash. Grandfather Frog felt sharp claws in his white and yellow
waistcoat, and before he could even open his mouth to cry "Chugarum," he
was sent flying through the air and landed on his back in the grass.
Pounce! Two paws pinned him down, and the greenish yellow eyes were not
an inch from his own. They belonged to Black Pussy, Farmer Brown's cat.
XXIII
THE DEAR OLD SMILING POOL ONCE MORE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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