XXII
LEARNING TO HOLD HIS BREATH
There on the bank of Black Creek Mr. Frog and Long Bill Wren talked in whispers about mud baths. And in a short time Long Bill announced that he had made up his mind to try one.
"Good!" Mr. Frog cried, as he patted his neighbor on the back. "And now let me give you a bit of advice. Before you dive into the creek you should learn _to hold your breath_. . . .
"You"d better go home and begin practising at once."
So Long Bill Wren flew into his house and stayed there the rest of that day. But he soon found that all was not as simple as he had hoped.
Whenever he was trying to hold his breath his wife was sure to ask him a question. And of course that led to trouble. If he didn"t answer her she thought him rude--and said so, quite frankly, too. While if he did answer her, speaking spoiled his practice.
It was annoying, to say the least. And by the next morning the poor fellow was almost frantic.
He sought out Mr. Frog and explained how hard it was for him to learn to hold his breath.
"If you could only think of some way of making my wife hold hers too!"
Long Bill moaned.
But Mr. Frog said at once that n.o.body could do that, and there was no use in trying.
"Why don"t you," he asked, "go off by yourself in Cedar Swamp, and practice there?"
But Long Bill said that he ought not to stay away from home long enough to do that.
"Then there"s only one way left for you," Mr. Frog decided. "You must practice at night, when your wife"s asleep."
"A good idea!" Long Bill whispered. "I"ll try it this very night!"
Bright and early the next morning Long Bill Wren found Mr. Frog a little way up the creek and told him that his night"s practice had been a great success.
"I began holding my breath right after sunset," he said, "and it was so easy that I fell asleep. And I never breathed once all night long, until I awoke at day-break."
The news delighted Mr. Frog.
"Good!" he cried. "And now there"s one more thing you must do before you take a mud bath. You must learn to breathe through your skin. . . . Just try right now," he urged his companion.
So Long Bill tried to breathe through his skin, while holding his breath at the same time.
And soon he began to sputter and choke.
"I"m afraid I can"t do it," he faltered at last.
Mr. Frog looked somewhat glum--for a moment.
He pondered in silence. And at length he declared that without doubt there must be something wrong with Long Bill"s skin!
"How long have you worn it?" he inquired.
"All my life!" Long Bill told him.
"That"s it!" Mr. Frog exclaimed. "It"s worn out. You"ll have to pull it off and use a fresh one."
XXIII
MR. FROG RUNS AWAY
It may have been Mr. Frog"s words that dismayed Long Bill Wren, or it may have been his manner--or perhaps both. Anyhow, Long Bill looked frightened.
"Where can I get a fresh skin if I pull off the one I"m wearing?" he wanted to know.
"Why, there"s another skin just beneath your old one," Mr. Frog informed him glibly. "Just pull hard and you"ll see that I know what I"m talking about."
But Long Bill was puzzled.
"I--I don"t know where to begin," he stammered.
"Maybe you need help," Mr. Frog suggested.
And Long Bill agreed that he did need help--and a good deal of it, too.
"Well," Mr. Frog said with a giggle, "I"ll get old Mr. Turtle to a.s.sist me. And between us we"ll have your old skin off before you know it."
He began to bellow Mr. Turtle"s name at the top of his lungs. And soon the old gentleman"s black head popped out of the water. And presently Mr. Turtle waddled up the bank of Black Creek and listened to Ferdinand Frog"s directions.
"You take hold of Long Bill"s tail," Mr. Frog ordered him, while to the frightened owner of the tail he said cheerfully, "Anything Mr. Turtle takes hold of just _has_ to come. He never lets go until it does."
Now, Long Bill Wren had suddenly made up his mind that he wouldn"t take a mud bath, after all. He didn"t like the prospect of having his skin pulled off. Suppose Mr. Frog should be mistaken about that second skin, which the tailor claimed lay underneath the old one?
Long Bill believed that with no skin at all he would find his rheumatism much worse than before. And he would certainly be a queer-looking object.
So as old Mr. Turtle crawled slowly towards him, he drew away.
"I"m going to wait----" Long Bill announced.
"Why?" Mr. Frog demanded.
"Going to wait till the weather is warmer," Long Bill faltered.