Well, one day a stranger came in and says to Smiley, «What might that be you have got in the box?» And Smiley says, «It is only just a frog». The man took it and looked at it careful. He turned it round this way and that. He says, «Hm, so it is. Well, what is he good for?» «Well», Smiley says, easy and careless, «he can out-jump any frog in Calaveras County». The man took the box again and took another long look. He gave it back to Smiley and says, «Well, I don’t see anything about that frog that is any better than any other frog». «Maybe you don’t», Smiley says. «Maybe you understand frogs and maybe you don’t. Anyways, I will risk forty dollars and bet you that he can jump farther than any frog in Calaveras County». And the man studied a minute. «Well, I’m only a stranger here, and I do not have a frog. But if I had a frog, I would risk my money on it». And then Smiley says, «That’s all right. If you will hold my box a minute, I will go and get you a frog». And so the man took the box, put up his forty dollars, and sat down to wait. He sat there a long time thinking and thinking. Then he got the frog out of the box. He filled its mouth full of bullets used to kill small birds. Then he put the frog on the floor.