Froggie

Dave and G. are drinking buddies who stumble into many adventures among the legends of the Mojave Desert. While drinking in a bar called the lonesome Gopher they meet the grandson of the owner of the Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County who tells them that there is a bar in Virginia City that has said frog pickled in a jar of Alcohol. When Dave and G. meet a man who looks remarkably like pictures of Mark Twain in another drinking establishment they decide that is a sign that they should go have a look at this pickled frog. In Virginia City they learn all about the frog and about how the whole city is honey-combed with mine tunnels, many of which come up in the cellars of the saloons on main street. Upon further questioning they discover one of the claims noted on a huge wall map used to belong to Mark Twain. They go out to examine the mine only to find an elderly lady dancing with worry before the entrance because her poodle has run into the entrance of the mine though it is boarded up. Dave and G. volunteer to go get the dog. They have to remove some of the blocking boards but they get into the mine and go looking for the dog. As they look and earthquake rumbles through the mountain and collapses the part of the entrance tunnel. Dave and G are stuck. So they sit down to try and figure a way out of this mess. After a little while they shut their flashlight off to save the battery and when they do they hear a curious sound--rrribit. After they hear it a couple more times they decided to go looking for this frog. They mark the way they have come and follow the sound the frog keeps making until their light is almost done. When they shut the light off they see a glow coming from down the tunnel. They follow the glow and end up coming up in the basement of one of the main street saloons. The story ends with them drinking Irish Coffee in the Saloon as the bar keep calls to notify the local search and rescue team that Dave and G are alive and well and that the ghost of the jumping Frog has played a trick on them.