He listened to the story with his big eyes wide open behind his spectacles, and said in his deep, croaking voice, "If the dishpan is stolen, somebody must have taken it." "But who ?" asked Cayke anxiously.

"Who is the thief ?" "The one who took the dishpan, of course," replied the Frogman, and hearing this all the Yips nodded their heads gravely and said to one another, "It is absolutely true!" "But I want my dishpan!" cried Cayke.
"No one can blame you for that wish," remarked the Frogman.
"Then tell me where I may find it," she urged.
The look the Frogman gave her was a very wise look, and he rose from his chair and strutted up and down the room with his hands under his coattails in a very pompous and imposing manner.

This was the first time so difficult a matter had been brought to him, and he wanted time to think.

It would never do to let them suspect his ignorance, and so he thought very, very hard how best to answer the woman without betraying himself.

"I beg to inform you," said he, "that nothing in the Yip Country has ever been stolen before." "We know that already," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook impatiently.
"Therefore," continued the Frogman, "this theft becomes a very important matter." "Well, where is my dishpan ?" demanded the woman.
"It is lost, but it must be found.