s not here yet. And we can't do
anything till _he_ comes."

Jimmy Rabbit laughed.

"You don't need a frog to play leap-frog," he said. "Just squat down in
front of me and I'll show you how it's done."

Frisky Squirrel did just as Jimmy told him to do. And Jimmy ran up
behind him, put his front paws on Frisky's back, and leaped over him.
Then he ran on a little way. And when he stopped, he crouched down and
called to Fatty Coon to jump over them both.

Soon they were all playing leap-frog, though Tommy Fox said that he
didn't think it was much of a game.

"There's more to it than you think," Jimmy said. "I haven't taught you
the whole game yet."

"Well, I want to learn it all," Tommy Fox grumbled.

"Wait until you do this part better," Jimmy Rabbit said. "Then I'll show
you something different. You must learn to leap higher and further.
You're not half as good a jumper as I supposed you were."

Tommy Fox did not like that very well. And if he and Jimmy Rabbit had
been alone I am afraid he would have done something very unpleasant to
Jimmy. But now he only snarled a little, and showed his teeth, and said
that he could leap higher and further than any of the others.

"Well, you're a good boaster, anyhow," said Jimmy.

Everybody laughed at that--except Tommy Fox. _He_ frowned. And when it
was his turn to leap over the others he sprang so high and so far that
he jumped over Frisky Squirrel and Fatty Coon together, without once
touching the ground. It was really a wonderful jump.

"What do you think of that?" Tommy asked with a grin. "Can any of you
beat that?"

"It's a pretty fair leap," Jimmy Rabbit admitted. "But I've seen better.
When I'm in practice I can do better myself. A really good leap-frog
player ought to be able to jump over three people at a time."

Fatty Coon shook his head. He was not much of a jumper--he was so fat,
and his legs were so short. And he didn't believe he could ever leap
over three people at a time.

"I could do it, if you'd let me start from a tree," Frisky Squirrel
said.

But Jimmy told him that that was never allowed.

"It's against the rules of the game," he explained.

"Well, I can do it, and start on the ground, too," Tommy Fox boasted. "I
can do anything anybody else can do."

"I believe you can," Jimmy Rabbit said, to everybody's surprise. For
they all knew that he didn't like Tommy Fox. "We'll give you a good,
fair chance to try it," Jimmy went on. "You squat here,