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out of my shell,' said Slow-and-Solid.

'What will happen if I do?' said the Jaguar most sniffily and
most cautious.

'I don't know, because I've never been scooped out of my shell
before; but I tell you truly, if you want to see me swim away
you've only got to drop me into the water.

'I don't believe it,' said Painted Jaguar. 'You've mixed up all
the things my mother told me to do with the things that you asked
me whether I was sure that she didn't say, till I don't know
whether I'm on my head or my painted tail; and now you come and
tell me something I can understand, and it makes me more mixy
than before. My mother told me that I was to drop one of you two
into the water, and as you seem so anxious to be dropped I think
you don't want to be dropped. So jump into the turbid Amazon and
be quick about it.'

'I warn you that your Mummy won't be pleased. Don't tell her I
didn't tell you,' said Slow-Solid.

'If you say another word about what my mother said--' the Jaguar
answered, but he had not finished the sentence before
Slow-and-Solid quietly dived into the turbid Amazon, swam under
water for a long way, and came out on the bank where
Stickly-Prickly was waiting for him.

'That was a very narrow escape,' said Stickly-Prickly. 'I don't
rib Painted Jaguar. What did you tell him that you were?'

'I told him truthfully that I was a truthful Tortoise, but he
wouldn't believe it, and he made me jump into the river to see if
I was, and I was, and he is surprised. Now he's gone to tell his
Mummy. Listen to him!'

They could hear Painted Jaguar roaring up and down among the
trees and the bushes by the side of the turbid Amazon, till his
Mummy came.

'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving
her tail, 'what have you been doing that you shouldn't have
done?'

'I tried to scoop something that said it wanted to be scooped out
of its shell with my paw, and my paw is full of per-ickles,' said
Painted Jaguar.

'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving
her tail, 'by the prickles in your paddy-paw I see that that must
have been a Hedgehog. You should have dropped him into the water.

'I did that to the other thing; and he said he was a Tortoise,
and I didn't believe him, and it was quite true, and he has dived
under the turbid Amazon, and he won't come up again, and I
haven't anything at all to eat, and I think we had better find
lodgings somewhere else. They are too clever on the turbid Amazon
for poor me!'

'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving
her tail, 'now attend to me and remember what I say. A Hedgehog
curls himself up into a ball and his prickles stick out every
which way at once. By this you may know the Hedgehog.'

'I don't like this old lady one little bit,' said
Stickly-Prickly, under the shadow of a large leaf.

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