im. Switchie was nice and dry.

"What did you do that for?" growled Nero to Switchie, as soon as our
friend had shaken some of the water off his shaggy, tawny-yellow coat.
"I'll fix you for that! Fun is all right, but you know I don't like
jumping into the water, however much I like a drink from the spring. Now
I'm going to push you in!" and Nero started to run toward Switchie.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" cried Switchie, raising his paw to push Nero away
if the younger lion cub should come too near. "I didn't do anything to
you."

"Yes, you did!" growled Nero. "You pushed me into the water!"

"No, I didn't!" answered Switchie. "I was taking my second drink, when I
heard a noise, and I looked up and saw you sliding down into the water.
But I didn't push you in."

"Who did, then?" asked Nero, looking around, quite fiercely for a little
lion boy. "Who did? If I find out, I'll push him in! If it was one of
the monkeys--"

"Oh, it wasn't any of them," said Switchie quickly. "They won't come
near the spring when we lions are drinking."

"But it was some one!" said Nero. "I heard some one say I couldn't drink
on his edge of the spring, and then I was pushed in. Who did it? I want
to know that!"

"I did it!" said a grumbling sort of voice, and up out of the spring
came something which, at first, looked like a log of wood. It was dark,
and had knobs, or warts, on it, as has the trunk of a tree.

"Who--who are you?" asked Nero, in surprise. "Are you a log of wood that
can speak?"

"Look out! Gracious no! That's a crocodile!" cried Switchie. "I forgot
about their being here. Come on! Run!"

And as Nero saw what he had thought was a log of wood open a big mouth
with many sharp teeth in it, the little lion boy ran after Switchie, who
scampered off along the jungle path as fast as he could go.

"What's the matter? What was that thing which looked like a log floating
in the water?" asked Nero, when he and Switchie stopped to rest in the
shadow of a big tree.

"That's a crocodile, I told you!" said Switchie. "They are very big and
strong, and if they get hold of your soft and tender nose, when you are
drinking at the pool, they can pull you under water and drown you. You
want to be careful about crocodiles."

"Well, I will," said Nero. "Only I didn't know about them before. Was it
the crocodile who knocked me into the water?"

"Yes," answered Switchie, "it was. A crocodile has a long and very
strong tail, with knobs and s