Stooping quickly, I seized him, crowded him back into the old shoe, and dipped him under water. He gasped with new life and croaked again.
"Now," said I, "I begin to understand you. That croak means that you are glad to taste salt water again"; and he croaked again, and I dipped him in again.
Then I looked him over thoughtfully. He was about fifteen inches long, brown in color, and coarsely marbled with a darker hue, which ran along the fins in irregular wavy lines.
"You are odd, certainly, and peculiar, and altogether homely," said I; "but really you are not very ugly. Ugly? No, you are _not_ ugly. How could anybody be ugly with a countenance so wise and learned?--so thoughtful and meditative?" And the toadfish croaked and croaked again. And I dipped him in again, and understood him better, and liked him better all the time.
Then I took him in his shoe to the edge of the wharf.
"I am glad to have made your acquaintance, sir," said I. "If I come this way next summer, I shall look you up; for I want to know more about you. Good-by." And I heard him croak "Good-by," as he and his shoe went sailing out and dropped with a splash into the deep dark water of the Bay.
[Illustration: "HERE I FOUND HIM KEEPING HOUSE"]
I meant what I said, and the next summer, along the shores of the Bay I hunted him up. He was not in an old shoe this time, but under certain rather large stones that lay just below ebb-tide mark, so that they were usually, though not always, covered with water. Here I found him keeping house; and as I was about to keep house myself, my heart really warmed to him.
I was understanding him more and more, and so I was liking him better and better. Ugly? Wait until I tell you what the dear fellow was doing.
He was keeping house, and he was keeping it all alone! Now listen, for this is what I learned that summer about the strange habits of Mrs. Toadfish, and the handsome behavior of her husband.
It is along in June that the toadfish of our New England bays begin to look round for their summer homes. As far as we now know, it is the female who makes the choice and leaves her future mate to find her and her home. A rock is usually chosen, always in shallow water, and sometimes so far up on the shore that at low tide it is left high and almost dry. The rock may vary in size from one as small as your hat up to the very largest.