reat
success.

"I began holding my breath right after sunset," he said, "and it was so
easy that I fell asleep. And I never breathed once all night long,
until I awoke at day-break."

The news delighted Mr. Frog.

"Good!" he cried. "And now there's one more thing you must do before you
take a mud bath. You must learn to breathe through your skin. . . . Just
try right now," he urged his companion.

So Long Bill tried to breathe through his skin, while holding his breath
at the same time.

And soon he began to sputter and choke.

"I'm afraid I can't do it," he faltered at last.

Mr. Frog looked somewhat glum--for a moment.

He pondered in silence. And at length he declared that without doubt
there must be something wrong with Long Bill's skin!

"How long have you worn it?" he inquired.

"All my life!" Long Bill told him.

"That's it!" Mr. Frog exclaimed. "It's worn out. You'll have to pull it
off and use a fresh one."

XXIII

MR. FROG RUNS AWAY

It may have been Mr. Frog's words that dismayed Long Bill Wren, or it
may have been his manner--or perhaps both. Anyhow, Long Bill looked
frightened.

"Where can I get a fresh skin if I pull off the one I'm wearing?" he
wanted to know.

"Why, there's another skin just beneath your old one," Mr. Frog informed
him glibly. "Just pull hard and you'll see that I know what I'm talking
about."

But Long Bill was puzzled.

"I--I don't know where to begin," he stammered.

"Maybe you need help," Mr. Frog suggested.

And Long Bill agreed that he did need help--and a good deal of it, too.

"Well," Mr. Frog said with a giggle, "I'll get old Mr. Turtle to assist
me. And between us we'll have your old skin off before you know it."

He began to bellow Mr. Turtle's name at the top of his lungs. And soon
the old gentleman's black head popped out of the water. And presently
Mr. Turtle waddled up the bank of Black Creek and listened to Ferdinand
Frog's directions.

"You take hold of Long Bill's tail," Mr. Frog ordered him, while to the
frightened owner of the tail he said cheerfully, "Anything Mr. Turtle
takes hold of just _has_ to come. He never lets go until it does."

Now, Long Bill Wren had suddenly made up his mind that he wouldn't take
a mud bath, after all. He didn't like the prospect of having his skin
pulled off. Suppose Mr. Frog should be mistaken about that second skin,
which the tailor claimed lay underneath the old one?

Long Bill believed that