When Freddie Firefly reached the swamp he found that the singing party had already broken up. But luckily, Mr. Frog the tailor was the last one to leave. He was still on the bank of the stream, ready to into the water and swim away, when Freddie Firefly dropped down upon a cat-tail and called him by name, flashing his light so that Mr. Frog would be sure to notice him.  
"Wait a moment!" cried Freddie. "I've something to say to you!"
 
"Out with it, then!" said Mr. Frog. "My time is valuable, you know. I ought to be back in my shop this moment; for I promised Paddy I'd make him a policeman's uniform by to-morrow morning. And I haven't begun it yet."
 
"Why not?" asked Freddie, forgetting—for the moment—his own errand.
 
"He wants buttons," explained the tailor. "And I couldn't get any until to-night."
 
"But couldn't you go ahead without them?" Freddie Firefly inquired.
 
"Certainly not!" replied Mr. Frog. "I see you don't know much about making a policeman's suit. You start by laying the buttons in a row on the ground; and then you sew the cloth onto them. . . . That's my own invention—that method," he added with an air of pride. "And now, what was it you wanted to say to me?"
 
"I don't believe there's any use of my telling you, after all," Freddie Firefly replied. "You're going to be so busy that you won't have time to do an errand for me. I ............