him," she replied. And
then she told him of the ferryman's punishment and afterward explained
to the ferryman that they wanted to stay all night with him and be fed.

He gave them some fruit and bread, which was the only sort of food he
had, and he allowed Cayke to sleep in a room of his cottage. But the
Frogman he refused to admit to his house, saying that the frog's
presence made him miserable and unhappy. At no time would he look
directly at the Frogman, or even toward him, fearing he would shed tears
if he did so; so the big frog slept on the river bank, where he could
hear little frogs croaking in the river all the night through. But that
did not keep him awake; it merely soothed him to slumber, for he
realized how much superior he was to them.

Just as the sun was rising on a new day the ferryman rowed the two
travelers across the river--keeping his back to the Frogman all the
way--and then Cayke thanked him and bade him good-bye and the ferryman
rowed home again.

On this side the river there were no paths at all, so it was evident
they had reached a part of the country little frequented by travelers.
There was a marsh at the south of them, sandhills at the north and a
growth of scrubby underbrush leading toward a forest at the east. So the
east was really the least difficult way to go and that direction was the
one they had determined to follow.

Now the Frogman, although he wore green patent-leather shoes with ruby
buttons, had very large and flat feet, and when he tramped through the
scrub his weight crushed down the underbrush and made a path for Cayke
to follow him. Therefore they soon reached the forest, where the tall
trees were set far apart but were so leafy that they shaded all the
spaces between them with their branches.

"There are no bushes here," said Cayke, much pleased, "so we can now
travel faster and with more comfort."

[Illustration]

The Big Lavender Bear

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 15

It was a pleasant place to wander in and the two travelers were
proceeding at a brisk pace when suddenly a voice shouted:

"Halt!"

They looked around in surprise, seeing at first no one at all. Then from
behind a tree there stepped a brown fuzzy bear, whose head came about as
high as Cayke's waist--and Cayke was a small woman. The bear was chubby
as well as fuzzy; his body was even puffy, while his legs and arms
seemed jointed at the knees and elbows and fastened to his body by pins
or r