"We lived in a snug little hole under the bank of the river, and in
front of our dwelling was a large stone on which we could sit and watch
the baby tadpoles grow. Although they loved best to lie in the mud at
the bottom of the river, we knew that exercise is necessary to the
proper development of a tadpole; so we decided to teach our youngsters
to swim. We divided them into two lots, my wife training six of the
children, while I took charge of the other six. We drilled them to swim
in single file, in column of twos and in line of battle; but I must
acknowledge they were quite stupid, being so young, and, unless we told
them when to stop, they would keep on swimming until they bumped
themselves into a bank or a stone.

"One day, about a week ago, while teaching our children to swim, we
started them all going in single file, one after the other. They swam
in a straight line that was very pretty to see, and my wife and I sat
on the flat stone and watched them with much pride. Unfortunately at
that very moment a large fish swam into our neighborhood and lay on the
bottom of the river to rest. It was one of those fishes that hold their
great mouths wide open, and I was horrified when I saw the advancing
line of tadpoles headed directly toward the gaping mouth of the monster
fish. I croaked as loudly as I could for them to stop; but either they
failed to hear me, or they would not obey. The next moment all the line
of swimming tadpoles had entered the fish's mouth and were lost to our
view.

"Mrs. Frog threw herself into my arms with a cry or anguish,
exclaiming:

"'Oh, what shall we do? Our children are lost to us forever!'

"'Do not despair,' I answered, although I was myself greatly
frightened; 'we must try to prevent the fish from swimming away with
our loved ones. If we can keep him here, some way may yet be found to
rescue the children.'

"Up to this time the big fish had remained motionless, but there was an
expression of surprise in its round eyes, as if it did not know what to
make of the lively inhabitants of its stomach.

"Mrs. Frog thought for a moment, and then said:

"'A short distance away is an old fish-line and hook, lying at the
bottom of the river, where some boys lost it while fishing one day. If
we could only--'

"'Fetch it at once,' I interrupted. 'With its aid we shall endeavor to
capture the fish.'

"She hastened away, soon returning with the line, which had a large
hook on one end. I tie