ths, and if they found that they liked them, they themselves
would be willing to test them too.

However, nobody took a single step towards the creek. So at last the
company scattered, leaving Long Bill Wren and Mr. Frog alone upon the
bank.

Meanwhile Long Bill had been thinking deeply. He had begun to wonder
whether there might not be some good in a mud bath, in spite of his
neighbors' doubts. And now he turned to Ferdinand Frog and began
speaking in a hushed voice.

"Don't tell my wife I asked you this question," he said; "but I should
like to know if mud baths are good for rheumatism."

"Good for it!" Mr. Frog exclaimed. "Why, they're a sure cure--and the
only one!"

XXII

LEARNING TO HOLD HIS BREATH

There on the bank of Black Creek Mr. Frog and Long Bill Wren talked in
whispers about mud baths. And in a short time Long Bill announced that
he had made up his mind to try one.

"Good!" Mr. Frog cried, as he patted his neighbor on the back. "And now
let me give you a bit of advice. Before you dive into the creek you
should learn _to hold your breath_. . . .

"You'd better go home and begin practising at once."

So Long Bill Wren flew into his house and stayed there the rest of that
day. But he soon found that all was not as simple as he had hoped.
Whenever he was trying to hold his breath his wife was sure to ask him a
question. And of course that led to trouble. If he didn't answer her she
thought him rude--and said so, quite frankly, too. While if he did
answer her, speaking spoiled his practice.

It was annoying, to say the least. And by the next morning the poor
fellow was almost frantic.

He sought out Mr. Frog and explained how hard it was for him to learn to
hold his breath.

"If you could only think of some way of making my wife hold hers too!"
Long Bill moaned.

But Mr. Frog said at once that nobody could do that, and there was no
use in trying.

"Why don't you," he asked, "go off by yourself in Cedar Swamp, and
practice there?"

But Long Bill said that he ought not to stay away from home long enough
to do that.

"Then there's only one way left for you," Mr. Frog decided. "You must
practice at night, when your wife's asleep."

"A good idea!" Long Bill whispered. "I'll try it this very night!"

* * * * *

Bright and early the next morning Long Bill Wren found Mr. Frog a little
way up the creek and told him that his night's practice had been a g