h rather go to your
cousin's."

It is not strange that Rusty Wren should feel a little
uncomfortable at the prospect of arriving at a party with a person
who had received no invitation to it. But he could think of no way
of ridding himself of Mr. Frog's company. So the two started off
together towards the home of Long Bill Wren.

Rusty decided, however, that he would take his cousin to one side
and explain to him in private how the tailor had happened to come
with him.

But he soon found that no such explanation was necessary. For a
certain reason, Long Bill Wren was in no wise annoyed. On the
contrary, he seemed quite pleased.

XXIII

A STRANGE MISTAKE

Not wishing to be late at his cousin's party, which he understood
was to begin at five o'clock, Rusty Wren hurried along the bank of
Black Creek, while Mr. Frog did his best to keep pace with him.

Somewhat out of breath, the two arrived shortly at the home of Long
Bill Wren. And, to their surprise, they saw not the least sign of
any other guests.

"It looks as if we were the first to get here," Rusty Wren
remarked, as they drew near Long Bill's house in the reeds.

"Well, somebody has to be first, you know," the tailor observed
easily. "I always like to be early at a party," he added, "because
then I am sure of getting plenty of refreshments."

If there were no other guests to be seen, neither was there any
indication of a party about Long Bill's home. There was nothing to
eat anywhere in sight; and no flag, nor gay Chinese lantern, nor
decoration of any other kind adorned his house.

Rusty Wren had always thought his cousin's house a strange
dwelling. Made of coarse grasses and reed stalks, it was round,
like a big ball, with a doorway in one side. This queer building
was fastened among the reeds a little distance above the ground.
And it seemed to Rusty Wren that it must be a damp and unhealthful
place to live.

"It's odd that your cousin's not here to greet us," Mr. Frog
croaked.

The words were scarcely out of his large mouth when Long Bill
thrust his head and shoulders out of his door--for he had heard the
voices in his front yard. He had on a shocking old coat--not at all
the sort one would choose to wear when one expected guests.

"Well, well!" he exclaimed. "I'm glad to see you, Cousin Rusty. And
I'm certainly surprised, for it's more than a year since you've
paid me a visit."

"Aren't you glad to see me, too?" Mr. Frog piped up a