THE FROG RENDEZVOUS 



water, their green-brown heads just 

 enough above the surface so that the 

 nostrils will get air; and there they 

 wait, motionless, for hours and hours, 

 for time and tide to serve luncheon. 

 Even with only the tops of their heads 

 visible they make you laugh, for their 

 pop eyes are popped so high above the 

 tops of their flat heads that they make 

 you think of automobile bug lights set 

 well up above the motor hood. 



I note a shipwrecked June beetle 

 clinging half drowned to a spear of 

 grass and I toss him over within six 

 inches of a frog. There is a splash, a 

 gulp, and the beetle with his franti- 

 cally clawing, thorny-toed legs is passed 

 on to kingdom come without a crunch. 

 Once or twice after that this frog 

 stirred as if he had an uneasy con- 

 science, but he seemed to suffer no in- 

 59 



