"It's mean," said Sammy, in an explosive fashion. "A boy came and
spoiled all my fun. Now I haven't anything to do."
"Too bad," said David. "How was it?"
"I was throwing stones at the biggest bullfrog you ever saw. That boy
came along and made him jump."
"Anything else?" asked David. His voice was calmly indifferent.
"He said I was a coward," added the small boy.
"So you are!" said David. "The meanest kind of coward I know."
Sammy sat down on a flat rock to consider this astonishing remark. David
drew up a lively fish, which he killed with a sharp blow on the back of
its head.
"What did you do that for?" asked Sammy, glad to change the subject.
"To save his feelings," was the brief answer.
"Ho!" said Sammy contemptuously. "He hasn't any feelings."
"Nonsense!" said David in sudden wrath. "Does he wriggle? Yes. Why?
Because he suffers out of water. I've caught him to eat, and I owe it to
him not to make him suffer any more than is necessary. What did that boy
say to you about the frogs?"
"He said frogs were good for something in the pond."
"So they are," said David. "When they are growing up they live on the
decaying weeds and the rubbish which would be dangerous if left in
stagnant water.
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