Parasites, Diseases and Enemies. 271 



was our frog. "Make it half a dozen cigars?" Jack 

 asked. 



"All right; make it a round dozen." 



I had on a previous day remonstrated with Jack 

 about not killing a frog before he cut it in two and 

 skinned the legs; the sight of the living portion an- 

 noyed me, and as he was my guide I forbade the prac- 

 tice. He unhooked the frog and handed it to me. A 

 blow on the head with a heavy knife-handle and a cut 

 into the brain stopped all feeling, and then he opened 

 his inner works, and there was a little sunfish, about 

 two inches long. 



"Jack/' I remarked, "youVe won; but as you were 

 booked to win in any event, as I buy the cigars every 

 night, you have not won much. I am the real win- 

 ner, because I have learned something. Now let's not 

 waste this fellow, but stop trouting and get frogs 

 enough for breakfast. How did that frog catch that 

 fish? That's what I want to know." 



Jack tossed the little fish overboard a^nd merely re- 

 marked: "It's funny how they do it, but they do." 



"Jack Sheppard, I asked you a plain question that 

 should have a straight answer, and all I get is the re- 

 frain of a music hall song. How did the frog catch 

 that fish? Did it catch it when it made the dive from 

 the log, or did the frog dive to the bottom and come up 

 under the fish? That's the question." 



Jack threw the skin of the legs overboard and fol- 

 lowed it with the body of the frog, laid some fresh grass 

 over the trout in the creel, placed the legs on the grass, 

 looked up and remarked: "I'll be durnea if I know." * 



WATER SNAKES. Few sportsmen know more about 



* This and some other anecdotes in this chapter were orig- 

 inally written by me for Forest and Stream, F. M. 



