it's my duty."

"Good!" Grandaddy Beaver cried. "I told people that I knew you'd come to
our rescue, for you have such a kind face! . . .

"And now, tell me!" he bade Ferdinand Frog with great eagerness, while
he held a hand behind one of his ears, in order to hear more clearly.

But Mr. Frog was not ready to give away his secret.

He winked at Grandaddy Beaver, and poked his fingers into the old
gentleman's ribs.

"Not so fast, my lad!" said Mr. Frog, who was certainly many years
younger than Grandaddy Beaver. "I'm not prepared to explain everything
to you just yet.

"You come to the big rock on the other side of the pond as soon as it's
dark to-night; and bring with you everybody who wants to know how to
get clothes like mine.

"Now, do exactly as I say," Mr. Frog cautioned Grandaddy, "and
_everything will be made easy_."

XII

A BAD BLUNDER

When it was almost dark Grandaddy Beaver swam across the pond to the big
rock, where Ferdinand Frog had told him to come.

And trooping after Daddy was almost everybody in the village. Not
counting the women and children, there were eleven of them. They climbed
upon the rock, looking for Mr. Frog. But he was nowhere in sight.

"He'll be here in a minute or two, probably," Grandaddy Beaver said
hopefully, for all he looked a bit anxious.

Then somebody spied a neat building near-by, which not one of them had
noticed before.

"What's this strange house?" people asked one another. "Is this where
Mr. Frog lives?"

But nobody seemed to know the answer to that question.

"It can't be a shop," Grandaddy decided, "for there's no sign on it. And
nobody would have a shop without a sign."

Now, the door of the little building was shut and fastened. And the
window-shades were pulled carefully down. It certainly looked as if
nobody was at home.

But suddenly there came a sound that made the Beaver family jump. It
came from the house--there was no doubt of that.

In fact it came right through the keyhole; and it was like nothing in
the world but a sneeze.

A number of people were all ready to jump into the water and swim away,
they were so startled.

And then a snicker followed the sneeze. And by that time Grandaddy
Beaver and his friends guessed who was inside the building. It was
Ferdinand Frog; and he had been watching his callers all the time,
through the keyhole, and listening to everything that they said.

A few felt slightly uneasy, as they tried t