It happened one day that, as Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, was walking
along with his bag of marbles going clank-clank in his pocket, he met
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels.

“Hello, Bully!” called the two brothers. “Do you want to have a game of
marbles?”

“Of course I do,” answered Bully. “I just bought some new ones. ‘First
shot agates!’”

“First shot!” yelled Billie, right after Bully.

“First shot!” also cried Johnnie, almost at the same time.

“Well, I guess we’re about even,” spoke Bully, as he opened his marble
bag to look inside. “Now, how are we going to tell who will shoot
first?”

“I’ll tell you,” proposed Billie. “We’ll each throw a marble up into the
air, and the one whose comes down first will shoot first.”

Well, the other two animal boys thought that was fair, so they tossed
their marble shooters up into the air. Billie only sent his up a little
way, for then he knew it would come down first, but Johnnie and Bully
didn’t think of this, and they threw their shooters up as high as they
could. And, of course, their marbles were so much longer coming down to
the ground again.

“Oh, ho! Here’s mine!” cried Billie. “I’m to shoot first.”