One day she paused in her labors, feeling that she had earned a few minutes' rest. And she dropped out of the bushes and strayed close to the water's edge.

A light breeze ruffled the surface of the duck pond into tiny waves.

"What a terrible, rough sea there is to-day!" Mrs. Ladybug murmured as she gazed upon the troubled water. "Perhaps, if I cling to a tall gra.s.s stalk, I can get a better view of it."

She soon found a stalk that grew high above all the rest. Crawling to the very top of it Mrs. Ladybug was able to look far out over the face of the pond.

"Goodness!" she said to herself. "I'm glad I'm not out there in a ship."

A few moments later she happened to glance down near the sh.o.r.e. And there, to her horror, she beheld a frog.

He was not a big frog. On the contrary, he was the tiniest frog that Mrs. Ladybug had ever seen. He was sitting on a lily pad, singing with a small, shrill voice, which sounded exactly as if you were tapping two marbles together.

Now, Mrs. Ladybug had all her life stood in great fear of frogs. She didn't dare move, as she gazed at this one with eyes that popped almost out of her head.

He was a brownish person, with a yellow throat which he puffed out like a bag as he sang. And his skin was so rough that Mrs. Ladybug shuddered as she looked at it. Her own was very, very smooth.

All at once the frog looked up and spied Mrs. Ladybug staring at him.

She would have shrieked--had she been able to.

Then Mrs. Ladybug did the thing that she always did whenever she had a great fright. She played dead. She pulled her feet under her body, out of sight, and stuck, motionless, to the gra.s.s stalk.

Nothing happened. And she was about to take another sly look at the frog when something moved the stalk of gra.s.s. It was only the wind. But Mrs. Ladybug didn't know that. She was sure that the frog had touched it.

Then Mrs. Ladybug played her next trick. She let go of the stalk and dropped to the ground, where she lay upon her side as if she would never move again.

Once more she kept quite still. And since n.o.body disturbed her, after a time she opened her eyes.

She found herself looking straight into those of the tiny frog, who still sat upon his lily pad in the duck pond.

Mrs. Ladybug shut her eyes instantly. She only hoped that the frog hadn't noticed her action.

XVII

A BRAVE GENTLEMAN

MRS. LADYBUG didn't know that the frog she saw was a very timid fellow.

His name was Mr. Cricket Frog. He liked to sit on a lily pad and sing.

And his singing sounded a good deal like the music that Chirpy Cricket made. In fact, that was the reason for his odd name.

Mr. Cricket Frog had a trick not unlike the one that Mrs. Ladybug herself played upon him. Whenever a fish, or any other enemy, came near him, if he hadn't time to hide in the mud at the bottom of the pond Mr.

Cricket Frog played dead. He would float in the water as if lifeless, until his enemy had gone off about his business.

He was so timid--this Mr. Cricket Frog--that when he saw a stranger he would sometimes play dead. And that was exactly what happened when he caught sight of Mrs. Ladybug as she clung to the gra.s.s stalk near the edge of the duck pond and stared at him.

Of course Mrs. Ladybug didn't know all this. When she shut her eyes, and pulled her feet under her body, she wasn't aware that Mr. Cricket Frog was just as alarmed as she was. Having closed her eyes, she couldn't see him jump into the water and float. She couldn't see him climb out upon the lily pad again and gaze at her.

Now, the moment Mrs. Ladybug looked at the frog the second time he took fright anew. Once more he sprang from his seat. Once more he floated like a chip upon the surface of the pond. Once more he crawled back to his seat, after he had made up his mind that the danger had pa.s.sed.

So they played dead for a long time--both Mrs. Ladybug and Mr. Cricket Frog. And if he hadn't at last made up his mind that she was afraid of him, they might still be trying to fool each other.

"Pardon me, madam!" Mr. Cricket Frog called to Mrs. Ladybug. "I see you're a bit timid. I a.s.sure you I shall not harm you."

At that Mrs. Ladybug opened her eyes and looked at him. Slowly she thrust her feet out from under her body. And then she tried her wings.

They were as good as ever. Her fall had not injured them.

"You gave me a terrible fright," Mrs. Ladybug told him.

Mr. Cricket Frog was very bold now.

"Why were you afraid of me?" he asked her. "Do I look fierce?" he inquired with a hopeful smile, as if he hoped that he did, but scarcely dared think so.

"I'm afraid of all frogs," Mrs. Ladybug explained. "Now, there's Ferdinand Frog--"

"A rascal!" Mr. Cricket Frog cried. "But, madam, I'm not in the least like him. I wouldn't hurt you. In fact, I'd protect you."

His words pleased Mrs. Ladybug. She said that thereafter she should always feel safe, with him in the neighborhood.

Mr. Cricket Frog bowed gallantly, with his hand on his heart.

And Mrs. Ladybug went away without guessing that he had himself played dead because he had been in terror of her.

"What a brave gentleman he is!" Mrs. Ladybug murmured.

XVIII

A MYSTERY

THERE was one thing that Mrs. Ladybug dreaded more than any other. That was--fire. The slightest whiff of smoke sent her into a flutter of alarm. The sight of a blaze made her almost frantic.

Perhaps Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors--more than she--were to be blamed for her fear. Some of them had an unkind way of frightening her. When they found her a bit too prying with her countless questions about this, that, and the other matter that did not concern her, they said to her:

"Aren't you worried, Mrs. Ladybug? What if your house were on fire?

Wouldn't your children burn?"

Such questions never failed to send Mrs. Ladybug hurrying away.

After a while people began to wonder where Mrs. Ladybug went when she dashed away like that. n.o.body seemed to know where she lived. They supposed that she must fly to her home, wherever it was.