One day Mrs. No-Tail, the frog lady, looked in the pantry to see what
there was to eat for dinner and there wasn't a single thing. No, just
like Mother Hubbard's cupboard, the pantry was bare, though there was a
bone in it that was being saved for some time when Peetie and Jackie Bow
Wow, the puppie-dog boys, might come on a visit.
"Oh, some one will have to go to the store to get something for supper,"
said Mrs. No-Tail. "Do you feel able to go, Grandpa Croaker?"
"Well, I could go," said the old frog gentleman, in his deepest bass
voice, which sounded like the rumble of thunder over the hills and far
away, "but I promised I would go over and play a game of checkers with
Uncle Wiggily Longears. He has just finished the playhouse for Sammie
and Susie, and he wants to show me that. So I don't see how I can go to
the store very well."
"If Bully and Bawly were here they'd go," said their mamma. "I wish
they'd come. Oh, here they are now," she went on, as she looked out of
the window and saw the two frog boys coming home from school. "Hurry!"
she called to them. "I want you to go to the store."
"All right," they both answered, and they were so polite about it that
Mrs. No-Tail gave them each a penny, though, of course, they would have
gone without that, for they always liked to help their mamma.
"I want some sugar, and molasses, and bread, and butter, and some corn
meal, and bacon and watercress salad," said the mother frog, and Bully
and Bawly each took a basket in which to carry the things. Then they
hopped on toward the store.
"I'm going to buy marbles with my penny," said Bully.
"And I'm going to buy a whistle with mine," said Bawly.
Well, they got to the grocery, all right, and the cow lady who kept it
gave them the things their mamma wanted. Then they went to the toy store
and Bully got his marbles, and Bawly his whistle, which made a very loud
noise.
Now I'm very sorry to be obliged to tell it, but something is going to
happen to Bully and Bawly very soon. In fact, I think it is going to
take place at once. Just excuse me a moment, will you, until I look out
of the window and see if the alligator is coming. Yes, there he is. He
just got off the trolley car. The conductor put him off because he had
the wrong transfer.
So, all at once, as Bully and Bawly were hopping along through the
woods, this alligator that I was telling you about jumped out at them
from under a prickly briar bush. Right at them he jumped, and he was a
very savage alligator, for he had gotten loose out of the circus, where
he belonged, and he had been tramping around without anything to eat for
a long time, so he was very hungry.
"Now, I see where I'm going to have a nice dinner," the alligator said
to himself, as he jumped out at Bully and Bawly.
But those two frog boys were smart little fellows, and they were always
looking around for danger. So, as soon as the alligator made a jump at
them, they also leaped to one side, and the unpleasant creature didn't
get them.
"Oh, you just wait! I'll have you in a minute!" the alligator cried, and
he opened his mouth so wide that it went all the way back to his ears,
and the top of his head nearly flew off.
"We haven't time to wait," said Bully with a laugh, as he hopped on with
his basket of groceries.
"No, we must get back home in time for supper," spoke Bawly. "So we'll
have to leave you," and on he hipped and skipped and hopped with his
basket.
Those frog boys didn't really think that that alligator could reach
them, for he was so big and clumsy-looking that it didn't seem as if he
could run very fast. But he could, and the first thing Bully and Bawly
knew, that most unprepossessing creature, with a smile that went away
around to his ears, was close behind them and gnashing his teeth at
them.
"Oh, hop, Bully, hop!" cried Bawly in great fright.
"Sure, I'll hop!" answered his brother. "You hop, too!"
Well, they both hopped as fast as they could, but on account of the
baskets of groceries which they had they couldn't hop as fast as usual.
The alligator saw this, and after them he crawled, and several times he
nearly had them by their tails. Oh, no, excuse me, if you please, frogs
don't have tails. I was thinking of tadpoles.
"Oh, just wait until I catch you!" cried the alligator, snapping his
teeth together.
But Bully and Bawly didn't wait. On they hopped, as fast as they could,
hoping to get away. And would you ever believe that an alligator could
be so mean as this one was? For he chased Bully and Bawly right up a
steep hill. You know it's hard to walk up hill, and harder still to hop,
so Bully and Bawly were soon tired. But do you s'pose that alligator
cared? Not a bit of it!
Right after them he kept crawling, faster and faster.
Bully and Bawly hopped as swiftly as they could, but the alligator kept
getting nearer and nearer to them, for he was big and strong, and didn't
mind the hill. They could hear his savage jaws gnashing together, and
they trembled so that Bully almost spilled the molasses out of his
basket and Bawly nearly dropped the granulated sugar.
Well, finally the two frog boys were at the top of the hill, and they
were very thankful, thinking that they could now get away from the
alligator, when they suddenly saw that the hill came to an end, and fell
over the edge of a great precipice just like the Niagara waterfall, only
there wasn't any water there, of course.
"Oh, we can't go any farther," cried Bully, coming to a stop.
"No," said his brother, "we can't jump down that awful gully. But look,
Bully, there is another hill over there," and he pointed across the big,
open space. "If we could jump across from this hill to that hill, the
alligator couldn't get us."
"Oh, but it's a terrible big jump," said Bully, and indeed it was; about
as wide as a big river. "But we've got to do it!" cried Bully, "for here
comes the terrible beast!"
The alligator was almost upon them. He opened his mouth to grab them
with his teeth, when Bully, spreading out his legs, and taking a firm
hold of his grocery basket, gave a great, big jump. Through the air he
sailed, over the deep valley, and he landed safely on the other hill.
Then Bawly did the same, and with one most tremendous, extemporaneous
and extraordinary jump, he landed close beside his brother, and the
alligator couldn't get either of them because he couldn't jump across
the chasm.
Oh, but he was an angry alligator though! He gnashed his teeth and
wiggled his tail and even cried big round tears. Nearly all alligators
cry little square tears, but even round ones didn't do a bit of good.
Then Bully threw a marble at the savage creature, and hit him on the
nose, and Bawly blew his whistle so loud, that the alligator thought a
policeman, or postman, was coming, and he turned around and ran away,
and the frog boys went on safely home with their baskets of groceries
and had a good supper.
Now in case that alligator doesn't chase after me, and chew up my
typewriter to make mincemeat of it for the wax doll, I'll tell you in
the next story about Grandpa Croaker digging a well.