had happened to
it, and you'll soon hear all about it.

Billie and Johnnie had each missed hitting any marbles, and when it came
Bully's turn he took careful aim, with his second-best shooter, a red
and blue one.

"Whack-bang!" That's the way Bully's shooter hit the marbles in the
ring, scattering them all over, and rolling several outside.

"Say, are you going to knock 'em all out?" asked Billie.

"That's right! Leave some for us," begged Johnnie.

"Wait until I have one more trial," went on Bully, for you see he had
two shots on account of being lucky with his first one and knocking some
marbles from the ring.

Then he went to look for his second-best shooter, for it had rolled
away, but he couldn't find it. It had completely, teetotally,
mysteriously and extraordinarily disappeared.

"I'm sure it rolled over here," said Bully as he poked around in the
grass near a big bush. "Please help me look for it, fellows."

So Billie and Johnnie helped Bully look, but they couldn't find the
second shooter that the frog boy had lost.

"You two go on playing and I'll hunt for the marble," said Bully after a
while, so he searched along in the grass, and, as he did so, he dropped
a nice glass agate out of his bag. He stooped to pick it up, but before
he could get his toes on it something that looked like a big chicken's
bill darted out of the prickly briar bush and gobbled up the marble.

"Oh!" cried Bully in fright, jumping back, "I wonder if that was a
snake?"

"No, I'm not a snake," was the answer. "I'm a bird," and then out from
behind the bush came a great, big Pelican bird.

"Did--did you take my marble?" asked Bully timidly.

"I did!" cried the Pelican bird, snapping his bill together just like a
big pair of scissors. "I ate the first one after it fell to the ground
near me, and I ate the second one that you shot over here. They're
good--marbles are! I like 'em. Give me some more!"

The bird snapped his beak again, and Bully jumped back. As he did so the
marbles in his pocket rattled, and the Pelican heard them.

"Ha! You have more!" he cried: "Hand 'em over. I'll eat 'em all up. I
just love marbles!"

"No, you can't have mine!" exclaimed Bully, backing away. "I want to
play some more games with Billie and Johnnie with these," and he looked
to see where his two friends were. They were quite some distance off,
shooting marbles as hard as they could.

Then, all of a sudden, that Pelican bird made a swoop f