two adventurers went on. They came to the evil-smelling tannery, and to
the frog-pond just behind it, stretching cold and still in the moonlight,
and covered with a noxious, slimy scum. It was horribly different from
the Persian's usual baths, but, once in he forgot its chill in the lust
of the hunt.

They waded and swam and scrambled along the shore, Ringtail pointing out
that frogs were wont to crouch close down by the water's edge in the
shadow of some bush or vine.

"Dere's one!" he whispered suddenly. "Now, sneak up, son, an' grab 'im!"

Quivering with suppressed excitement, Omar Ben sneaked, but mistook the
especial frog to which his friend had reference. Instead, he pounced upon
a big yellow-throated beast weighing a pound and a half, and known
colloquially as a "sockdolliger" or a "joogger-room." There followed a
scuffling rush, a grunt, a startled yowl, and a swirl of water; then Omar
Ben came up coughing, minus his frog, but plus an overcoat of mud and
disappointment.

"Great snakes!" yelled Pete. "Ain't yer got no gumption 't all? Ef I had
knowed yer wanted ter eat a cow, I'd 'a' took you up to de
slaughter-house! Go fer de little ones, bo. Yer don't gain nuttin' by
bein' a hawg. Take it from me--it's straight!"

"Bo" went for the little ones. He had learned his lesson of experience,
and profited thereby. He made his virgin kill and devoured it, squatting
in the muddy pond, while around him rose the voices of the wild things of
the night; and never had morsel tasted sweeter to his pampered tongue.
And so the hunt went on, a never-to-be-forgotten hunt, when crawfish