olled their eyes as if
to say, "This Timothy Turtle is a dangerous person. Look out for him!"

At the same time they did not wish to appear frightened. And Ferdinand
Frog's mother's uncle even made a short speech, saying that he hoped Mr.
Turtle would enjoy the singing half as much as everybody else enjoyed
his company.

He was about to make some further remark. But no one knew what. For
Timothy Turtle wheeled about to look at the old gentleman. And the
moment Timothy moved, Ferdinand Frog's mother's uncle jumped hastily
into the water from the hummock where he had been sitting, and swam
away.

The rest of the company then sang a song. And their listener said that
he had never heard anything like it.

"I wish you'd sing it again," he said, "with your mouths open and your
eyes shut."

But the musical Frog family objected that they were not used to singing
in that fashion.

"Why don't you keep your own eyes shut?" Ferdinand Frog asked Mr.
Turtle. "Then you wouldn't know whether ours were open or closed."

"Let us _all_ shut our eyes!" Timothy Turtle then suggested. And when
the Frog family began another song, a few of the younger and more
foolish singers followed Mr. Turtle's advice.

So, too, did Mr. Turtle himself--_for a few moments_.

But he soon opened his eyes slyly. And he became very angry when he saw
that most of the singers were watching him.

"You aren't doing as I asked you!" he shouted.

XXIII

A MERRY SONG

Timothy Turtle made such a noise that the Frog family had to stop
singing.

"It's not fair!" he cried. "You're peeping!"

"Well, so are you!" Ferdinand Frog retorted.

"I only opened my eyes to make sure that you were doing as I asked you
to," Mr. Turtle replied with an injured air.

"And we didn't shut ours, because we wanted to watch _you_," said Mr.
Frog.

"Can't you trust me?" Timothy snapped.

"Certainly!" Ferdinand Frog replied.

"Oh, yes! We can trust you!" And he winked at his friends.

"You don't want to hurt my feelings, do you?" Timothy Turtle went on.

"No, indeed!" everybody exclaimed.

And then Ferdinand Frog told Timothy that they would sing a special song
in his honor.

"Fire away!" Timothy ordered them. And the whole company knew, when he
said that, that if he really cared anything at all for singing he never
would have spoken of it in that fashion.

They were just about to begin the song when Timothy Turtle stopped them.

"What's this thing cal