dancing merrily, for they felt sure that there Grandfather Frog
was all right, and they expected to find him quite at home.

"Hello, Grandfather Frog!" they shouted, as they peeped into the spring.
"How do you like your new home?"

Grandfather Frog made no reply. He just rolled his great goggly eyes up
at them, and they were full of tears.

"Why--why--why, Grandfather Frog, what is the matter now?" they cried.

"Chugarum," said Grandfather Frog, and his voice sounded all choky, "I
can't get out."

Then they noticed for the first time how straight and smooth the walls
of the spring were and how far down Grandfather Frog was, and they knew
that he spoke the truth. They tried bending down the grasses that grew
around the edge of the spring, but none were long enough to reach the
water. If they had stopped to think, they would have known that
Grandfather Frog couldn't have climbed up by them, anyway. Then they
tried to lift a big stick into the spring, but it was too heavy for
them, and they couldn't move it. However, they did manage to blow an old
shingle in, and this gave Grandfather Frog something to sit on, so that
he began to feel a little better. Then they said all the comforting
things they could think of. They told him that no harm could come to
him there, unless Farmer Brown's boy should happen to see him.

[Illustration: "That's just what I'm afraid of!" croaked Grandfather
Frog. _Page 109_.]

"That's just what I am afraid of!" croaked Grandfather Frog. "He is sure
to see me if he comes for a drink, for there is no place for me to
hide."

"Perhaps he won't come," said one of the Little Breezes hopefully.

"If he does come, you can hide under the piece of shingle, and then he
won't know you are here at all," said another.

Grandfather Frog brightened up. "That's so!" said he. "That's a good
idea, and I'll try it."

Then one of the Merry Little Breezes promised to keep watch for Farmer
Brown's boy, and all the others started off on another hunt for some one
to help Grandfather Frog out of this new trouble.

XXII

GRANDFATHER FROG'S TROUBLES GROW

Head first in; no way out;
It's best to know what you're about!

Grandfather Frog had had plenty of time to realize how very true this
is. As he sat on the old shingle which the Merry Little Breezes had
blown into the spring where he was a prisoner, he thought a great deal
about that little word "if." _If_ he hadn't left the Smiling Pool, _if