and as his eyes always nearly
popped out of his head whenever he saw something new, it is a wonder
that he didn't become pop-eyed.

Peter stared and stared at the Smiling Pool, and little by little he
began to see other things. First he noticed the bulrushes growing with
their feet in the water. They looked to him like giant grass, and he
began to be a little fearful lest this should prove to be a sort of
magic place--a place of giants. Then he noticed the lily-pads, and he
stared very hard at these. They looked like growing things, and yet they
seemed to be floating right on top of the water. It wasn't until a Merry
Little Breeze came along and turned the edge of one up so that Peter saw
the long stem running down in the water out of sight, that he was able
to understand how those lily-pads could be growing there. He was still
staring at those lily-pads when a great deep voice said:

"Chug-a-rum! Chug-a-rum! Don't you know it isn't polite to stare at
people?"

That voice was so unexpected and so deep that Peter was startled. He
jumped, started to run, then stopped. He wanted to run, but curiosity
wouldn't let him. He simply couldn't run away until he had found out
where that voice came from and to whom it belonged. It seemed to Peter
that it had come from right out of the Smiling Pool, but look as he
would, he couldn't see any one there.

"If you please," said Peter timidly, "I'm not staring at anybody." All
the time he was staring down into the Smiling Pool with eyes fairly
popping out of his head.

"Chug-a-rum! Have a care, young fellow! Have a care how you talk to your
elders. Do you mean to be impudent enough to tell me to my face that I
am not anybody?" The voice was deeper and gruffer than ever, and it made
Peter more uncomfortable than ever.

"Oh, no, Sir! No, indeed!" exclaimed Peter. "I don't mean anything of
the kind. I--I--well, if you please, Sir, I don't see you at all, so how
can I be staring at you? I'm sure from the sound of your voice that you
must be somebody very important. Please excuse me for seeming to stare.
I was just looking for you, that is all."

A little movement in the water close to a big green lily-pad caught
Peter's eyes, and then out on the big green lily-pad climbed Grandfather
Frog. If Peter had stared before he doubly stared now, eyes and mouth
wide open. Grandfather Frog was looking his very best in his handsome
green coat and white-and-yellow waistcoat. But Peter had hardl