"Treat it as though you loved it, that it may live the longer!"
Up till now the frog had preserved his polite attentiveness in a manner highly creditable to his upbringing, but this proved too much; his overcharged feelings burst from him in a hoarse croak, and he disappeared into the river with a splash.
"Good afternoon, Uncle Dick!" said a voice at my elbow, and looking round, I beheld Dorothy. Beneath one arm she carried the fluffy kitten, and in the other hand a scrap of paper.
"I promised Reginald to give you this," she continued, "and--oh yes--I was to say 'Hist!' first."
"Really! And why were you to say 'Hist'?"
"Oh, because all Indians always say 'Hist!' you know."
"To be sure they do," I answered; "but am I to understand that you are an Indian?"
"Not to-day," replied Dorothy, shaking her head. "Last time Reginald painted me Auntie was awfull' angry--it took her and nurse ages to get it all off--the war-paint, I mean--so I'm afraid I can't be an Indian again!"
"Yes, isn't it; but nobody can be an Indian chief without any war-paint, can they?"
"Certainly not," I answered. "You seem to know a great deal about it."
"Oh yes," nodded Dorothy. "Reginald has a book all about Indians and full of pictures--and here's the letter," she ended, and slipped it into my hand.
Smoothing out its many folds and creases, I read aloud, as follows:
"'Ere another moon, Spotted Snaik will be upon the war-path, and red goar shall flo in buckkit-fulls."
"It sounds dreadful, doesn't it?" said Dorothy, hugging her kitten.
"He got it out of the book, you know," she went on, "but I put in the part about the buckets--a bucket holds such an awful lot, don't you think? But there's some more on the other page." Obediently I turned, and read:
"'ere another moon, scalps shall dangel at belt of Spotted Snaik, for in his futsteps lurks distruksion. But fear not pail-face, thou art my brother--fairwell.
"There was lots more, but we couldn't get it in," said Dorothy. Squeezed up into a corner I found this postscript;
"If you will come and be an Indian Cheef unkel dick, I will make you a spear, and you can be Fanged Wolf. He was a fine chap and nobody could beat him except Spotted Snaik, will you Unkel dick?"
"He wants you to write an answer, and I'm to take it to him," said Dorothy.