HOW JIMMIE STOOD ON HIS HEAD

Jimmie Wibblewobble was quite a hero after he had found out about the rats taking the eggs, and every time he walked in the chicken yard the old rooster would crow and say: 

“There goes Jimmie, the boy who scared the rats.”

But do you s’pose Jimmie was proud?  Not a bit of it.  He was just as nice as ever, and Lulu and Alice thought a lot of him, let me tell you.

Well, one day, Bully, the frog, came over to play with Jimmie.  They tossed a baseball around, Bully catching it in his mouth.  All of a sudden the frog boy cried out: 

“Oh, my, I’m so warm, I think I’ll jump in the pond and cool off.”  So he jumped into the pond just as easily as butter melts on a hot stove, and when he came up he felt better.  Then he said to Jimmie: 

“Why don’t you dive down under the water the way I do?  It’s lots of fun.”

“I would,” answered Jimmie, “only I can’t stay under water as you do.  I have to float on top.  I can put my head under, to dig in the mud for snails and sweet, spicy weeds, but I can’t get my whole body under.”

“I know how you could do it,” went on Bully.

“How?” asked Jimmie, and he wobbled his tail so fast you could hardly see it move.

“Tie a stone around your neck,” went on Bully.  That will make you sink under water, and you can then dive as good as I can.  Come on, we’ll have some fun.”

“Oh, don’t you do it, Jimmie!” cried Lulu, who came along just then with Alice.  “Maybe you can’t get the stone loose, and you’ll be drowned!”

“Oh, I guess not,” answered Jimmie.  “I can stay under water a long time.  I want to see how it feels to dive in—­ker plunk!—­like a frog.”

“I’m going to tell mamma,” cried Alice.

“Tattle-tale!  Tattle-tale!” called Jimmie.  “I never tell on you!”

“Well, then, I won’t tell,” said Alice, “but Lulu and I will stay close by, so if you can’t get the stone off we can help you.”

“Well, that’s kind of you,” spoke her brother, “but I’ll be all right.  You will see me stand on my head, just like Bully does, and dive under the water.”

So he got a stone and a piece of long grass for a string, and Bully tied the stone around Jimmie’s neck.  Now, this was a very risky thing to do, but, you see, Jimmie didn’t know any better.  Neither did Bully.  But you just wait and see what happens.  I’m coming to it very shortly now.

Pretty soon the stone was tied on good and tight, and then Jimmie and Bully stood on the edge of the pond.

“Are you all ready?” asked Bully.

“Yep,” replied Jimmie, and he stretched out his neck, for it felt funny to have a stone tied around it.  Oh, how foolish some ducks are; now, aren’t they, honestly?

“All ready,” went on Bully.  “One for the money, two for a show, three to make ready and four to go!” and he yelled the “Four” real loudly.