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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + + + + +Scanned with OmniPage Professional OCR software +donated by Caere Corporation, 1-800-535-7226. +Contact Mike Lough <Mikel@caere.com> + + +THE WIND +IN THE WILLOWS + +BY +KENNETH GRAHAME + +AUTHOR OF +"THE GOLDEN AGE," "DREAM DAYS," ETC. + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I. THE RIVER BANK + II. THE OPEN ROAD + III. THE WILD WOOD + IV. MR. BADGER + V. DULCE DOMUM + VI. MR. TOAD + VII. THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN + VIII. TOAD'S ADVENTURES + IX. WAYFARERS ALL + X. THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF TOAD + XI. "LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS CAME HIS TEARS" + XII. THE RETURN OF ULYSSES + + + + + +THE RIVER BANK + +The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring- +cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; +then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of +whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes +of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary +arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below +and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house +with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small +wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, +said `Bother!' and `O blow!' and also `Hang spring-cleaning!' +and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his +coat. Something up above was calling him imperiously, and he +made for the steep little tunnel which answered in his case to +the gravelled carriage-drive owned by animals whose residences +are nearer to the sun and air. So he scraped and scratched and +scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled +and scratched and scraped, working busily with his little paws +and muttering to himself, `Up we go! Up we go!' till at last, +pop! his snout came out into the sunlight, and he found himself +rolling in the warm grass of a great meadow. + +`This is fine!' he said to himself. `This is better than +whitewashing!' The sunshine struck hot on his fur, soft breezes +caressed his heated brow, and after the seclusion of the +cellarage he had lived in so long the carol of happy birds fell +on his dulled hearing almost like a shout. Jumping off all his +four legs at once, in the joy of living and the delight of spring +without its cleaning, he pursued his way across the meadow till +he reached the hedge on the further side. + +`Hold up!' said an elderly rabbit at the gap. `Sixpence for the +privilege of passing by the private road!' He was bowled over in +an instant by the impatient and contemptuous Mole, who trotted +along the side of the hedge chaffing the other rabbits as they +peeped hurriedly from their holes to see what the row was about. +`Onion-sauce! Onion-sauce!' he remarked jeeringly, and was gone +before they could think of a thoroughly satisfactory reply. Then +they all started grumbling at each other. `How STUPID you +are! Why didn't you tell him----' `Well, why didn't YOU +say----' `You might have reminded him----' and so on, in the +usual way; but, of course, it was then much too late, as is +always the case. + +It all seemed too good to be true. Hither and thither through +the meadows he rambled busily, along the hedgerows, across the +copses, finding everywhere birds building, flowers budding, +leaves thrusting--everything happy, and progressive, and +occupied. And instead of having an uneasy conscience pricking +him and whispering `whitewash!' he somehow could only feel how +jolly it was to be the only idle dog among all these busy +citizens. After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps +not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other +fellows busy working. + +He thought his happiness was complete when, as he meandered +aimlessly along, suddenly he stood by the edge of a full-fed +river. Never in his life had he seen a river before--this sleek, +sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping +things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling +itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were +caught and held again. All was a-shake and a-shiver--glints and +gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble. The +Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the +river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a +man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired +at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on +to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, +sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the +insatiable sea. + +As he sat on the grass and looked across the river, a dark hole +in the bank opposite, just above the water's edge, caught his +eye, and dreamily he fell to considering what a nice snug +dwelling-place it would make for an animal with few wants and +fond of a bijo riverside residence, above flood level and remote +from noise and dust. As he gazed, something bright and small +seemed to twinkle down in the heart of it, vanished, then +twinkled once more like a tiny star. But it could hardly be a +star in such an unlikely situation; and it was too glittering and +small for a glow-worm. Then, as he looked, it winked at him, and +so declared itself to be an eye; and a small face began gradually +to grow up round it, like a frame round a picture. + +A brown little face, with whiskers. + +A grave round face, with the same twinkle in its eye that had +first attracted his notice. + +Small neat ears and thick silky hair. + +It was the Water Rat! + +Then the two animals stood and regarded each other cautiously. + +`Hullo, Mole!' said the Water Rat. + +`Hullo, Rat!' said the Mole. + +`Would you like to come over?' enquired the Rat presently. + +`Oh, its all very well to TALK,' said the Mole, rather +pettishly, he being new to a river and riverside life and its +ways. + +The Rat said nothing, but stooped and unfastened a rope and +hauled on it; then lightly stepped into a little boat which the +Mole had not observed. It was painted blue outside and white +within, and was just the size for two animals; and the Mole's +whole heart went out to it at once, even though he did not yet +fully understand its uses. + +The Rat sculled smartly across and made fast. Then he held up +his forepaw as the Mole stepped gingerly down. `Lean on that!' +he said. `Now then, step lively!' and the Mole to his surprise +and rapture found himself actually seated in the stern of a real +boat. + +`This has been a wonderful day!' said he, as the Rat shoved off +and took to the sculls again. `Do you know, I`ve never been in a +boat before in all my life.' + +`What?' cried the Rat, open-mouthed: `Never been in a--you +never--well I--what have you been doing, then?' + +`Is it so nice as all that?' asked the Mole shyly, though he was +quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and +surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the +fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him. + +`Nice? It's the ONLY thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as +he leant forward for his stroke. `Believe me, my young friend, +there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing +as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on +dreamily: `messing--about--in--boats; messing----' + +`Look ahead, Rat!' cried the Mole suddenly. + +It was too late. The boat struck the bank full tilt. The +dreamer, the joyous oarsman, lay on his back at the bottom of the +boat, his heels in the air. + +`--about in boats--or WITH boats,' the Rat went on composedly, +picking himself up with a pleasant laugh. `In or out of 'em, it +doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm +of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you +arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, +or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and +you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it +there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you +like, but you'd much better not. Look here! If you've really +nothing else on hand this morning, supposing we drop down the +river together, and have a long day of it?' + +The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest +with a sigh of full contentment, and leaned back blissfully into +the soft cushions. `WHAT a day I'm having!' he said. `Let us +start at once!' + +`Hold hard a minute, then!' said the Rat. He looped the painter +through a ring in his landing-stage, climbed up into his hole +above, and after a short interval reappeared staggering under a +fat, wicker luncheon-basket. + +`Shove that under your feet,' he observed to the Mole, as he +passed it down into the boat. Then he untied the painter and +took the sculls again. + +`What's inside it?' asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity. + +`There's cold chicken inside it,' replied the Rat briefly; +`coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssan +dwichespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater----' + +`O stop, stop,' cried the Mole in ecstacies: `This is too much!' + +`Do you really think so?' enquired the Rat seriously. `It's only +what I always take on these little excursions; and the other +animals are always telling me that I'm a mean beast and cut it +VERY fine!' + +The Mole never heard a word he was saying. Absorbed in the new +life he was entering upon, intoxicated with the sparkle, the +ripple, the scents and the sounds and the sunlight, he trailed a +paw in the water and dreamed long waking dreams. The Water Rat, +like the good little fellow he was, sculled steadily on and +forebore to disturb him. + +`I like your clothes awfully, old chap,' he remarked after some +half an hour or so had passed. `I'm going to get a black velvet +smoking-suit myself some day, as soon as I can afford it.' + +`I beg your pardon,' said the Mole, pulling himself together with +an effort. `You must think me very rude; but all this is so new +to me. So--this--is--a--River!' + +`THE River,' corrected the Rat. + +`And you really live by the river? What a jolly life!' + +`By it and with it and on it and in it,' said the Rat. `It's +brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, and food and +drink, and (naturally) washing. It's my world, and I don't want +any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having, and what it +doesn't know is not worth knowing. Lord! the times we've had +together! Whether in winter or summer, spring or autumn, it's +always got its fun and its excitements. When the floods are on +in February, and my cellars and basement are brimming with drink +that's no good to me, and the brown water runs by my best bedroom +window; or again when it all drops away and, shows patches of mud +that smells like plum-cake, and the rushes and weed clog the +channels, and I can potter about dry shod over most of the bed of +it and find fresh food to eat, and things careless people have +dropped out of boats!' + +`But isn't it a bit dull at times?' the Mole ventured to ask. +`Just you and the river, and no one else to pass a word with?' + +`No one else to--well, I mustn't be hard on you,' said the Rat +with forbearance. `You're new to it, and of course you don't +know. The bank is so crowded nowadays that many people are +moving away altogether: O no, it isn't what it used to be, +at all. Otters, kingfishers, dabchicks, moorhens, all of them +about all day long and always wanting you to DO something--as +if a fellow had no business of his own to attend to!' + +`What lies over THERE' asked the Mole, waving a paw towards a +background of woodland that darkly framed the water-meadows on +one side of the river. + +`That? O, that's just the Wild Wood,' said the Rat shortly. `We +don't go there very much, we river-bankers.' + +`Aren't they--aren't they very NICE people in there?' said the +Mole, a trifle nervously. + +`W-e-ll,' replied the Rat, `let me see. The squirrels are all +right. AND the rabbits--some of 'em, but rabbits are a mixed +lot. And then there's Badger, of course. He lives right in the +heart of it; wouldn't live anywhere else, either, if you paid him +to do it. Dear old Badger! Nobody interferes with HIM. +They'd better not,' he added significantly. + +`Why, who SHOULD interfere with him?' asked the Mole. + +`Well, of course--there--are others,' explained the Rat in a +hesitating sort of way. + +`Weasels--and stoats--and foxes--and so on. They're all right in +a way--I'm very good friends with them--pass the time of day when +we meet, and all that--but they break out sometimes, there's no +denying it, and then--well, you can't really trust them, and +that's the fact.' + +The Mole knew well that it is quite against animal-etiquette to +dwell on possible trouble ahead, or even to allude to it; so he +dropped the subject. + +`And beyond the Wild Wood again?' he asked: `Where it's all blue +and dim, and one sees what may be hills or perhaps they mayn't, +and something like the smoke of towns, or is it only cloud- +drift?' + +`Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World,' said the Rat. `And +that's something that doesn't matter, either to you or me. I've +never been there, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've +got any sense at all. Don't ever refer to it again, please. Now +then! Here's our backwater at last, where we're going to lunch.' + +Leaving the main stream, they now passed into what seemed at +first sight like a little land-locked lake. Green turf +sloped down to either edge, brown snaky tree-roots gleamed below +the surface of the quiet water, while ahead of them the silvery +shoulder and foamy tumble of a weir, arm-in-arm with a restless +dripping mill-wheel, that held up in its turn a grey-gabled mill- +house, filled the air with a soothing murmur of sound, dull and +smothery, yet with little clear voices speaking up cheerfully out +of it at intervals. It was so very beautiful that the Mole could +only hold up both forepaws and gasp, `O my! O my! O my!' + +The Rat brought the boat alongside the bank, made her fast, +helped the still awkward Mole safely ashore, and swung out the +luncheon-basket. The Mole begged as a favour to be allowed to +unpack it all by himself; and the Rat was very pleased to indulge +him, and to sprawl at full length on the grass and rest, while +his excited friend shook out the table-cloth and spread it, took +out all the mysterious packets one by one and arranged their +contents in due order, still gasping, `O my! O my!' at each +fresh revelation. When all was ready, the Rat said, `Now, pitch +in, old fellow!' and the Mole was indeed very glad to obey, for +he had started his spring-cleaning at a very early hour that +morning, as people WILL do, and had not paused for bite or +sup; and he had been through a very great deal since that distant +time which now seemed so many days ago. + +`What are you looking at?' said the Rat presently, when the edge +of their hunger was somewhat dulled, and the Mole's eyes were +able to wander off the table-cloth a little. + +`I am looking,' said the Mole, `at a streak of bubbles that I see +travelling along the surface of the water. That is a thing that +strikes me as funny.' + +`Bubbles? Oho!' said the Rat, and chirruped cheerily in an +inviting sort of way. + +A broad glistening muzzle showed itself above the edge of the +bank, and the Otter hauled himself out and shook the water from +his coat. + +`Greedy beggars!' he observed, making for the provender. `Why +didn't you invite me, Ratty?' + +`This was an impromptu affair,' explained the Rat. `By the way-- +my friend Mr. Mole.' + +`Proud, I'm sure,' said the Otter, and the two animals were +friends forthwith. + +`Such a rumpus everywhere!' continued the Otter. `All the world +seems out on the river to-day. I came up this backwater to try +and get a moment's peace, and then stumble upon you fellows!--At +least--I beg pardon--I don't exactly mean that, you know.' + +There was a rustle behind them, proceeding from a hedge wherein +last year's leaves still clung thick, and a stripy head, with +high shoulders behind it, peered forth on them. + +`Come on, old Badger!' shouted the Rat. + +The Badger trotted forward a pace or two; then grunted, `H'm! +Company,' and turned his back and disappeared from view. + +`That's JUST the sort of fellow he is!' observed the +disappointed Rat. `Simply hates Society! Now we shan't see any +more of him to-day. Well, tell us, WHO'S out on the river?' + +`Toad's out, for one,' replied the Otter. `In his brand-new +wager-boat; new togs, new everything!' + +The two animals looked at each other and laughed. + +`Once, it was nothing but sailing,' said the Rat, `Then he tired +of that and took to punting. Nothing would please him but to +punt all day and every day, and a nice mess he made of it. Last +year it was house-boating, and we all had to go and stay with him +in his house-boat, and pretend we liked it. He was going to +spend the rest of his life in a house-boat. It's all the same, +whatever he takes up; he gets tired of it, and starts on +something fresh.' + +`Such a good fellow, too,' remarked the Otter reflectively: `But +no stability--especially in a boat!' + +From where they sat they could get a glimpse of the main stream +across the island that separated them; and just then a wager-boat +flashed into view, the rower--a short, stout figure--splashing +badly and rolling a good deal, but working his hardest. The Rat +stood up and hailed him, but Toad--for it was he--shook his head +and settled sternly to his work. + +`He'll be out of the boat in a minute if he rolls like that,' +said the Rat, sitting down again. + +`Of course he will,' chuckled the Otter. `Did I ever tell you +that good story about Toad and the lock-keeper? It happened this +way. Toad. . . .' + +An errant May-fly swerved unsteadily athwart the current in +the intoxicated fashion affected by young bloods of May-flies +seeing life. A swirl of water and a `cloop!' and the May-fly was +visible no more. + +Neither was the Otter. + +The Mole looked down. The voice was still in his ears, but the +turf whereon he had sprawled was clearly vacant. Not an Otter to +be seen, as far as the distant horizon. + +But again there was a streak of bubbles on the surface of the +river. + +The Rat hummed a tune, and the Mole recollected that animal- +etiquette forbade any sort of comment on the sudden disappearance +of one's friends at any moment, for any reason or no reason +whatever. + +`Well, well,' said the Rat, `I suppose we ought to be moving. I +wonder which of us had better pack the luncheon-basket?' He did +not speak as if he was frightfully eager for the treat. + +`O, please let me,' said the Mole. So, of course, the Rat let +him. + +Packing the basket was not quite such pleasant work as unpacking' +the basket. It never is. But the Mole was bent on enjoying +everything, and although just when he had got the basket +packed and strapped up tightly he saw a plate staring up at him +from the grass, and when the job had been done again the Rat +pointed out a fork which anybody ought to have seen, and last of +all, behold! the mustard pot, which he had been sitting on +without knowing it--still, somehow, the thing got finished at +last, without much loss of temper. + +The afternoon sun was getting low as the Rat sculled gently +homewards in a dreamy mood, murmuring poetry-things over to +himself, and not paying much attention to Mole. But the Mole was +very full of lunch, and self-satisfaction, and pride, and already +quite at home in a boat (so he thought) and was getting a bit +restless besides: and presently he said, `Ratty! Please, _I_ +want to row, now!' + +The Rat shook his head with a smile. `Not yet, my young friend,' +he said--'wait till you've had a few lessons. It's not so easy +as it looks.' + +The Mole was quiet for a minute or two. But he began to feel +more and more jealous of Rat, sculling so strongly and so easily +along, and his pride began to whisper that he could do it every +bit as well. He jumped up and seized the sculls, so +suddenly, that the Rat, who was gazing out over the water and +saying more poetry-things to himself, was taken by surprise and +fell backwards off his seat with his legs in the air for the +second time, while the triumphant Mole took his place and grabbed +the sculls with entire confidence. + +`Stop it, you SILLY ass!' cried the Rat, from the bottom of +the boat. `You can't do it! You'll have us over!' + +The Mole flung his sculls back with a flourish, and made a great +dig at the water. He missed the surface altogether, his legs +flew up above his head, and he found himself lying on the top of +the prostrate Rat. Greatly alarmed, he made a grab at the side +of the boat, and the next moment--Sploosh! + +Over went the boat, and he found himself struggling in the river. + +O my, how cold the water was, and O, how VERY wet it felt. +How it sang in his ears as he went down, down, down! How bright +and welcome the sun looked as he rose to the surface coughing and +spluttering! How black was his despair when he felt himself +sinking again! Then a firm paw gripped him by the back of +his neck. It was the Rat, and he was evidently laughing--the +Mole could FEEL him laughing, right down his arm and through +his paw, and so into his--the Mole's--neck. + +The Rat got hold of a scull and shoved it under the Mole's arm; +then he did the same by the other side of him and, swimming +behind, propelled the helpless animal to shore, hauled him out, +and set him down on the bank, a squashy, pulpy lump of misery. + +When the Rat had rubbed him down a bit, and wrung some of the wet +out of him, he said, `Now, then, old fellow! Trot up and down +the towing-path as hard as you can, till you're warm and dry +again, while I dive for the luncheon-basket.' + +So the dismal Mole, wet without and ashamed within, trotted about +till he was fairly dry, while the Rat plunged into the water +again, recovered the boat, righted her and made her fast, fetched +his floating property to shore by degrees, and finally dived +successfully for the luncheon-basket and struggled to land with +it. + +When all was ready for a start once more, the Mole, limp and +dejected, took his seat in the stern of the boat; and as they set +off, he said in a low voice, broken with emotion, `Ratty, my +generous friend! I am very sorry indeed for my foolish and +ungrateful conduct. My heart quite fails me when I think how I +might have lost that beautiful luncheon-basket. Indeed, I have +been a complete ass, and I know it. Will you overlook it this +once and forgive me, and let things go on as before?' + +`That's all right, bless you!' responded the Rat cheerily. +`What's a little wet to a Water Rat? I'm more in the water than +out of it most days. Don't you think any more about it; and, +look here! I really think you had better come and stop with me +for a little time. It's very plain and rough, you know--not like +Toad's house at all--but you haven't seen that yet; still, I can +make you comfortable. And I'll teach you to row, and to swim, +and you'll soon be as handy on the water as any of us.' + +The Mole was so touched by his kind manner of speaking that he +could find no voice to answer him; and he had to brush away a +tear or two with the back of his paw. But the Rat kindly looked +in another direction, and presently the Mole's spirits revived +again, and he was even able to give some straight back-talk +to a couple of moorhens who were sniggering to each other +about his bedraggled appearance. + +When they got home, the Rat made a bright fire in the parlour, +and planted the Mole in an arm-chair in front of it, having +fetched down a dressing-gown and slippers for him, and told him +river stories till supper-time. Very thrilling stories they +were, too, to an earth-dwelling animal like Mole. Stories about +weirs, and sudden floods, and leaping pike, and steamers that +flung hard bottles--at least bottles were certainly flung, and +FROM steamers, so presumably BY them; and about herons, and +how particular they were whom they spoke to; and about adventures +down drains, and night-fishings with Otter, or excursions far a- +field with Badger. Supper was a most cheerful meal; but very +shortly afterwards a terribly sleepy Mole had to be escorted +upstairs by his considerate host, to the best bedroom, where he +soon laid his head on his pillow in great peace and contentment, +knowing that his new-found friend the River was lapping the sill +of his window. + +This day was only the first of many similar ones for the +emancipated Mole, each of them longer and full of interest as +the ripening summer moved onward. He learnt to swim and to row, +and entered into the joy of running water; and with his ear to +the reed-stems he caught, at intervals, something of what the +wind went whispering so constantly among them. + + + +II + +THE OPEN ROAD + +`Ratty,' said the Mole suddenly, one bright summer morning, `if +you please, I want to ask you a favour.' + +The Rat was sitting on the river bank, singing a little song. He +had just composed it himself, so he was very taken up with it, +and would not pay proper attention to Mole or anything else. +Since early morning he had been swimming in the river, in company +with his friends the ducks. And when the ducks stood on their +heads suddenly, as ducks will, he would dive down and tickle +their necks, just under where their chins would be if ducks had +chins, till they were forced to come to the surface again in a +hurry, spluttering and angry and shaking their feathers at him, +for it is impossible to say quite ALL you feel when your head +is under water. At last they implored him to go away and +attend to his own affairs and leave them to mind theirs. So the +Rat went away, and sat on the river bank in the sun, and made up +a song about them, which he called + + +`DUCKS' DITTY.' +All along the backwater, +Through the rushes tall, +Ducks are a-dabbling, +Up tails all! + +Ducks' tails, drakes' tails, +Yellow feet a-quiver, +Yellow bills all out of sight +Busy in the river! + +Slushy green undergrowth +Where the roach swim-- +Here we keep our larder, +Cool and full and dim. + +Everyone for what he likes! +WE like to be +Heads down, tails up, +Dabbling free! + +High in the blue above +Swifts whirl and call-- +WE are down a-dabbling +Up tails all! + + +`I don't know that I think so VERY much of that little song, +Rat,' observed the Mole cautiously. He was no poet himself +and didn't care who knew it; and he had a candid nature. + +`Nor don't the ducks neither,' replied the Rat cheerfully. `They +say, "WHY can't fellows be allowed to do what they like +WHEN they like and AS they like, instead of other fellows +sitting on banks and watching them all the time and making +remarks and poetry and things about them? What NONSENSE it +all is!" That's what the ducks say.' + +`So it is, so it is,' said the Mole, with great heartiness. + +`No, it isn't!' cried the Rat indignantly. + +`Well then, it isn't, it isn't,' replied the Mole soothingly. +`But what I wanted to ask you was, won't you take me to call on +Mr. Toad? I've heard so much about him, and I do so want to make +his acquaintance.' + +`Why, certainly,' said the good-natured Rat, jumping to his feet +and dismissing poetry from his mind for the day. `Get the boat +out, and we'll paddle up there at once. It's never the wrong +time to call on Toad. Early or late he's always the same fellow. +Always good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when +you go!' + +`He must be a very nice animal,' observed the Mole, as he got +into the boat and took the sculls, while the Rat settled himself +comfortably in the stern. + +`He is indeed the best of animals,' replied Rat. `So simple, so +good-natured, and so affectionate. Perhaps he's not very +clever--we can't all be geniuses; and it may be that he is both +boastful and conceited. But he has got some great qualities, has +Toady.' + +Rounding a bend in the river, they came in sight of a handsome, +dignified old house of mellowed red brick, with well-kept lawns +reaching down to the water's edge. + +`There's Toad Hall,' said the Rat; `and that creek on the left, +where the notice-board says, "Private. No landing allowed," +leads to his boat-house, where we'll leave the boat. The stables +are over there to the right. That's the banqueting-hall you're +looking at now--very old, that is. Toad is rather rich, you +know, and this is really one of the nicest houses in these parts, +though we never admit as much to Toad.' + +They glided up the creek, and the Mole slipped his sculls as they +passed into the shadow of a large boat-house. Here they saw +many handsome boats, slung from the cross beams or hauled up on a +slip, but none in the water; and the place had an unused and a +deserted air. + +The Rat looked around him. `I understand,' said he. `Boating is +played out. He's tired of it, and done with it. I wonder what +new fad he has taken up now? Come along and let's look him up. +We shall hear all about it quite soon enough.' + +They disembarked, and strolled across the gay flower-decked lawns +in search of Toad, whom they presently happened upon resting in a +wicker garden-chair, with a pre-occupied expression of face, and +a large map spread out on his knees. + +`Hooray!' he cried, jumping up on seeing them, `this is +splendid!' He shook the paws of both of them warmly, never +waiting for an introduction to the Mole. `How KIND of you!' +he went on, dancing round them. `I was just going to send a boat +down the river for you, Ratty, with strict orders that you were +to be fetched up here at once, whatever you were doing. I want +you badly--both of you. Now what will you take? Come inside +and have something! You don't know how lucky it is, your turning +up just now!' + +`Let's sit quiet a bit, Toady!' said the Rat, throwing himself +into an easy chair, while the Mole took another by the side of +him and made some civil remark about Toad's `delightful +residence.' + +`Finest house on the whole river,' cried Toad boisterously. `Or +anywhere else, for that matter,' he could not help adding. + +Here the Rat nudged the Mole. Unfortunately the Toad saw him do +it, and turned very red. There was a moment's painful silence. +Then Toad burst out laughing. `All right, Ratty,' he said. +`It's only my way, you know. And it's not such a very bad house, +is it? You know you rather like it yourself. Now, look here. +Let's be sensible. You are the very animals I wanted. You've +got to help me. It's most important!' + +`It's about your rowing, I suppose,' said the Rat, with an +innocent air. `You're getting on fairly well, though you splash +a good bit still. With a great deal of patience, and any +quantity of coaching, you may----' + +`O, pooh! boating!' interrupted the Toad, in great disgust. +Silly boyish amusement. I've given that up LONG ago. Sheer +waste of time, that's what it is. It makes me downright sorry to +see you fellows, who ought to know better, spending all your +energies in that aimless manner. No, I've discovered the real +thing, the only genuine occupation for a life time. I propose to +devote the remainder of mine to it, and can only regret the +wasted years that lie behind me, squandered in trivialities. +Come with me, dear Ratty, and your amiable friend also, if he +will be so very good, just as far as the stable-yard, and you +shall see what you shall see!' + +He led the way to the stable-yard accordingly, the Rat following +with a most mistrustful expression; and there, drawn out of the +coach house into the open, they saw a gipsy caravan, shining with +newness, painted a canary-yellow picked out with green, and red +wheels. + +`There you are!' cried the Toad, straddling and expanding +himself. `There's real life for you, embodied in that little +cart. The open road, the dusty highway, the heath, the common, +the hedgerows, the rolling downs! Camps, villages, towns, +cities! Here to-day, up and off to somewhere else to-morrow! +Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before +you, and a horizon that's always changing! And mind! this is the +very finest cart of its sort that was ever built, without any +exception. Come inside and look at the arrangements. Planned +'em all myself, I did!' + +The Mole was tremendously interested and excited, and followed +him eagerly up the steps and into the interior of the caravan. +The Rat only snorted and thrust his hands deep into his pockets, +remaining where he was. + +It was indeed very compact and comfortable. Little sleeping +bunks--a little table that folded up against the wall--a cooking- +stove, lockers, bookshelves, a bird-cage with a bird in it; and +pots, pans, jugs and kettles of every size and variety. + +`All complete!' said the Toad triumphantly, pulling open a +locker. `You see--biscuits, potted lobster, sardines--everything +you can possibly want. Soda-water here--baccy there--letter- +paper, bacon, jam, cards and dominoes--you'll find,' he +continued, as they descended the steps again, `you'll find that +nothing what ever has been forgotten, when we make our start +this afternoon.' + +`I beg your pardon,' said the Rat slowly, as he chewed a straw, +`but did I overhear you say something about "WE," and +"START," and "THIS AFTERNOON?"' + +`Now, you dear good old Ratty,' said Toad, imploringly, `don't +begin talking in that stiff and sniffy sort of way, because you +know you've GOT to come. I can't possibly manage without you, +so please consider it settled, and don't argue--it's the one +thing I can't stand. You surely don't mean to stick to your dull +fusty old river all your life, and just live in a hole in a bank, +and BOAT? I want to show you the world! I'm going to make an +ANIMAL of you, my boy!' + +`I don't care,' said the Rat, doggedly. `I'm not coming, and +that's flat. And I AM going to stick to my old river, AND +live in a hole, AND boat, as I've always done. And what's +more, Mole's going to stick me and do as I do, aren't you, Mole?' + +`Of course I am,' said the Mole, loyally. `I'll always stick to +you, Rat, and what you say is to be--has got to be. All the +same, it sounds as if it might have been--well, rather fun, +you know!' he added, wistfully. Poor Mole! The Life Adventurous +was so new a thing to him, and so thrilling; and this fresh +aspect of it was so tempting; and he had fallen in love at first +sight with the canary-coloured cart and all its little fitments. + +The Rat saw what was passing in his mind, and wavered. He hated +disappointing people, and he was fond of the Mole, and would do +almost anything to oblige him. Toad was watching both of them +closely. + +`Come along in, and have some lunch,' he said, diplomatically, +`and we'll talk it over. We needn't decide anything in a hurry. +Of course, _I_ don't really care. I only want to give pleasure +to you fellows. "Live for others!" That's my motto in life.' + +During luncheon--which was excellent, of course, as everything at +Toad Hall always was--the Toad simply let himself go. +Disregarding the Rat, he proceeded to play upon the inexperienced +Mole as on a harp. Naturally a voluble animal, and always +mastered by his imagination, he painted the prospects of the trip +and the joys of the open life and the roadside in such +glowing colours that the Mole could hardly sit in his chair for +excitement. Somehow, it soon seemed taken for granted by all +three of them that the trip was a settled thing; and the Rat, +though still unconvinced in his mind, allowed his good-nature to +over-ride his personal objections. He could not bear to +disappoint his two friends, who were already deep in schemes and +anticipations, planning out each day's separate occupation for +several weeks ahead. + +When they were quite ready, the now triumphant Toad led his +companions to the paddock and set them to capture the old grey +horse, who, without having been consulted, and to his own extreme +annoyance, had been told off by Toad for the dustiest job in this +dusty expedition. He frankly preferred the paddock, and took a +deal of catching. Meantime Toad packed the lockers still tighter +with necessaries, and hung nosebags, nets of onions, bundles of +hay, and baskets from the bottom of the cart. At last the horse +was caught and harnessed, and they set off, all talking at once, +each animal either trudging by the side of the cart or sitting on +the shaft, as the humour took him. It was a golden +afternoon. The smell of the dust they kicked up was rich and +satisfying; out of thick orchards on either side the road, birds +called and whistled to them cheerily; good-natured wayfarers, +passing them, gave them `Good-day,' or stopped to say nice things +about their beautiful cart; and rabbits, sitting at their front +doors in the hedgerows, held up their fore-paws, and said, `O my! +O my! O my!' + +Late in the evening, tired and happy and miles from home, they +drew up on a remote common far from habitations, turned the horse +loose to graze, and ate their simple supper sitting on the grass +by the side of the cart. Toad talked big about all he was going +to do in the days to come, while stars grew fuller and larger all +around them, and a yellow moon, appearing suddenly and silently +from nowhere in particular, came to keep them company and listen +to their talk. At last they turned in to their little bunks in +the cart; and Toad, kicking out his legs, sleepily said, `Well, +good night, you fellows! This is the real life for a gentleman! +Talk about your old river!' + +`I DON'T talk about my river,' replied the patient Rat. +`You KNOW I don't, Toad. But I THINK about it,' he added +pathetically, in a lower tone: `I think about it--all the time!' + +The Mole reached out from under his blanket, felt for the Rat's +paw in the darkness, and gave it a squeeze. `I'll do whatever +you like, Ratty,' he whispered. `Shall we run away to-morrow +morning, quite early--VERY early--and go back to our dear old +hole on the river?' + +`No, no, we'll see it out,' whispered back the Rat. `Thanks +awfully, but I ought to stick by Toad till this trip is ended. +It wouldn't be safe for him to be left to himself. It won't take +very long. His fads never do. Good night!' + +The end was indeed nearer than even the Rat suspected. + +After so much open air and excitement the Toad slept very +soundly, and no amount of shaking could rouse him out of bed next +morning. So the Mole and Rat turned to, quietly and manfully, +and while the Rat saw to the horse, and lit a fire, and cleaned +last night's cups and platters, and got things ready for +breakfast, the Mole trudged off to the nearest village, a long +way off, for milk and eggs and various necessaries the Toad had, +of course, forgotten to provide. The hard work had all been +done, and the two animals were resting, thoroughly exhausted, by +the time Toad appeared on the scene, fresh and gay, remarking +what a pleasant easy life it was they were all leading now, after +the cares and worries and fatigues of housekeeping at home. + +They had a pleasant ramble that day over grassy downs and along +narrow by-lanes, and camped as before, on a common, only this +time the two guests took care that Toad should do his fair share +of work. In consequence, when the time came for starting next +morning, Toad was by no means so rapturous about the simplicity +of the primitive life, and indeed attempted to resume his place +in his bunk, whence he was hauled by force. Their way lay, as +before, across country by narrow lanes, and it was not till the +afternoon that they came out on the high-road, their first high- +road; and there disaster, fleet and unforeseen, sprang out on +them--disaster momentous indeed to their expedition, but simply +overwhelming in its effect on the after-career of Toad. + +They were strolling along the high-road easily, the Mole by +the horse's head, talking to him, since the horse had complained +that he was being frightfully left out of it, and nobody +considered him in the least; the Toad and the Water Rat walking +behind the cart talking together--at least Toad was talking, and +Rat was saying at intervals, `Yes, precisely; and what did YOU +say to HIM?'--and thinking all the time of something very +different, when far behind them they heard a faint warning hum; +like the drone of a distant bee. Glancing back, they saw a small +cloud of dust, with a dark centre of energy, advancing on them at +incredible speed, while from out the dust a faint `Poop-poop!' +wailed like an uneasy animal in pain. Hardly regarding it, they +turned to resume their conversation, when in an instant (as it +seemed) the peaceful scene was changed, and with a blast of wind +and a whirl of sound that made them jump for the nearest ditch, +It was on them! The `Poop-poop' rang with a brazen shout in +their ears, they had a moment's glimpse of an interior of +glittering plate-glass and rich morocco, and the magnificent +motor-car, immense, breath-snatching, passionate, with its pilot +tense and hugging his wheel, possessed all earth and air for +the fraction of a second, flung an enveloping cloud of dust that +blinded and enwrapped them utterly, and then dwindled to a speck +in the far distance, changed back into a droning bee once more. + +The old grey horse, dreaming, as he plodded along, of his quiet +paddock, in a new raw situation such as this simply abandoned +himself to his natural emotions. Rearing, plunging, backing +steadily, in spite of all the Mole's efforts at his head, and all +the Mole's lively language directed at his better feelings, he +drove the cart backwards towards the deep ditch at the side of +the road. It wavered an instant--then there was a heartrending +crash--and the canary-coloured cart, their pride and their joy, +lay on its side in the ditch, an irredeemable wreck. + +The Rat danced up and down in the road, simply transported with +passion. `You villains!' he shouted, shaking both fists, `You +scoundrels, you highwaymen, you--you--roadhogs!--I'll have the +law of you! I'll report you! I'll take you through all the +Courts!' His home-sickness had quite slipped away from him, and +for the moment he was the skipper of the canary-coloured +vessel driven on a shoal by the reckless jockeying of rival +mariners, and he was trying to recollect all the fine and biting +things he used to say to masters of steam-launches when their +wash, as they drove too near the bank, used to flood his parlour- +carpet at home. + +Toad sat straight down in the middle of the dusty road, his legs +stretched out before him, and stared fixedly in the direction of +the disappearing motor-car. He breathed short, his face wore a +placid satisfied expression, and at intervals he faintly murmured +`Poop-poop!' + +The Mole was busy trying to quiet the horse, which he succeeded +in doing after a time. Then he went to look at the cart, on its +side in the ditch. It was indeed a sorry sight. Panels and +windows smashed, axles hopelessly bent, one wheel off, sardine- +tins scattered over the wide world, and the bird in the bird-cage +sobbing pitifully and calling to be let out. + +The Rat came to help him, but their united efforts were not +sufficient to right the cart. `Hi! Toad!' they cried. `Come and +bear a hand, can't you!' + +The Toad never answered a word, or budged from his seat in the +road; so they went to see what was the matter with him. They +found him in a sort of a trance, a happy smile on his face, his +eyes still fixed on the dusty wake of their destroyer. At +intervals he was still heard to murmur `Poop-poop!' + +The Rat shook him by the shoulder. `Are you coming to help us, +Toad?' he demanded sternly. + +`Glorious, stirring sight!' murmured Toad, never offering to +move. `The poetry of motion! The REAL way to travel! The +ONLY way to travel! Here to-day--in next week to-morrow! +Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped--always somebody else's +horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!' + +`O STOP being an ass, Toad!' cried the Mole despairingly. + +`And to think I never KNEW!' went on the Toad in a dreamy +monotone. `All those wasted years that lie behind me, I never +knew, never even DREAMT! But NOW--but now that I know, now +that I fully realise! O what a flowery track lies spread before +me, henceforth! What dust-clouds shall spring up behind me as I +speed on my reckless way! What carts I shall fling +carelessly into the ditch in the wake of my magnificent onset! +Horrid little carts--common carts--canary-coloured carts!' + +`What are we to do with him?' asked the Mole of the Water Rat. + +`Nothing at all,' replied the Rat firmly. `Because there is +really nothing to be done. You see, I know him from of old. He +is now possessed. He has got a new craze, and it always takes +him that way, in its first stage. He'll continue like that for +days now, like an animal walking in a happy dream, quite useless +for all practical purposes. Never mind him. Let's go and see +what there is to be done about the cart.' + +A careful inspection showed them that, even if they succeeded in +righting it by themselves, the cart would travel no longer. The +axles were in a hopeless state, and the missing wheel was +shattered into pieces. + +The Rat knotted the horse's reins over his back and took him by +the head, carrying the bird cage and its hysterical occupant in +the other hand. `Come on!' he said grimly to the Mole. `It's +five or six miles to the nearest town, and we shall just have +to walk it. The sooner we make a start the better.' + +`But what about Toad?' asked the Mole anxiously, as they set off +together. `We can't leave him here, sitting in the middle of the +road by himself, in the distracted state he's in! It's not safe. +Supposing another Thing were to come along?' + +`O, BOTHER Toad,' said the Rat savagely; `I've done with him!' + +They had not proceeded very far on their way, however, when there +was a pattering of feet behind them, and Toad caught them up and +thrust a paw inside the elbow of each of them; still breathing +short and staring into vacancy. + +`Now, look here, Toad!' said the Rat sharply: `as soon as we get +to the town, you'll have to go straight to the police-station, +and see if they know anything about that motor-car and who it +belongs to, and lodge a complaint against it. And then you'll +have to go to a blacksmith's or a wheelwright's and arrange for +the cart to be fetched and mended and put to rights. It'll take +time, but it's not quite a hopeless smash. Meanwhile, the Mole +and I will go to an inn and find comfortable rooms where we can +stay till the cart's ready, and till your nerves have +recovered their shock.' + +`Police-station! Complaint!'murmured Toad dreamily. `Me +COMPLAIN of that beautiful, that heavenly vision that has been +vouchsafed me! MEND THE CART! I've done with carts for ever. +I never want to see the cart, or to hear of it, again. O, Ratty! +You can't think how obliged I am to you for consenting to come on +this trip! I wouldn't have gone without you, and then I might +never have seen that--that swan, that sunbeam, that thunderbolt! +I might never have heard that entrancing sound, or smelt that +bewitching smell! I owe it all to you, my best of friends!' + +The Rat turned from him in despair. `You see what it is?' he +said to the Mole, addressing him across Toad's head: `He's quite +hopeless. I give it up--when we get to the town we'll go to the +railway station, and with luck we may pick up a train there +that'll get us back to riverbank to-night. And if ever you catch +me going a-pleasuring with this provoking animal again!' + +He snorted, and during the rest of that weary trudge addressed +his remarks exclusively to Mole. + +On reaching the town they went straight to the station and +deposited Toad in the second-class waiting-room, giving a porter +twopence to keep a strict eye on him. They then left the horse +at an inn stable, and gave what directions they could about the +cart and its contents. Eventually, a slow train having landed +them at a station not very far from Toad Hall, they escorted the +spell-bound, sleep-walking Toad to his door, put him inside it, +and instructed his housekeeper to feed him, undress him, and put +him to bed. Then they got out their boat from the boat-house, +sculled down the river home, and at a very late hour sat down to +supper in their own cosy riverside parlour, to the Rat's great +joy and contentment. + +The following evening the Mole, who had risen late and taken +things very easy all day, was sitting on the bank fishing, when +the Rat, who had been looking up his friends and gossiping, came +strolling along to find him. `Heard the news?' he said. +`There's nothing else being talked about, all along the river +bank. Toad went up to Town by an early train this morning. And +he has ordered a large and very expensive motor-car.' + + + +III + +THE WILD WOOD + +The Mole had long wanted to make the I acquaintance of the +Badger. He seemed, by all accounts, to be such an important +personage and, though rarely visible, to make his unseen +influence felt by everybody about the place. But whenever the +Mole mentioned his wish to the Water Rat he always found himself +put off. `It's all right,' the Rat would say. `Badger'll turn +up some day or other--he's always turning up--and then I'll +introduce you. The best of fellows! But you must not only take +him AS you find him, but WHEN you find him.' + +`Couldn't you ask him here dinner or something?' said the Mole. + +`He wouldn't come,' replied the Rat simply. `Badger hates +Society, and invitations, and dinner, and all that sort of +thing.' + +`Well, then, supposing we go and call on HIM?' suggested the +Mole. + +`O, I'm sure he wouldn't like that at ALL,' said the Rat, +quite alarmed. `He's so very shy, he'd be sure to be offended. +I've never even ventured to call on him at his own home myself, +though I know him so well. Besides, we can't. It's quite out of +the question, because he lives in the very middle of the Wild +Wood.' + +`Well, supposing he does,' said the Mole. `You told me the Wild +Wood was all right, you know.' + +`O, I know, I know, so it is,' replied the Rat evasively. `But I +think we won't go there just now. Not JUST yet. It's a long +way, and he wouldn't be at home at this time of year anyhow, and +he'll be coming along some day, if you'll wait quietly.' + +The Mole had to be content with this. But the Badger never came +along, and every day brought its amusements, and it was not till +summer was long over, and cold and frost and miry ways kept them +much indoors, and the swollen river raced past outside their +windows with a speed that mocked at boating of any sort or +kind, that he found his thoughts dwelling again with much +persistence on the solitary grey Badger, who lived his own life +by himself, in his hole in the middle of the Wild Wood. + +In the winter time the Rat slept a great deal, retiring early and +rising late. During his short day he sometimes scribbled poetry +or did other small domestic jobs about the house; and, of course, +there were always animals dropping in for a chat, and +consequently there was a good deal of story-telling and comparing +notes on the past summer and all its doings. + +Such a rich chapter it had been, when one came to look back on it +all! With illustrations so numerous and so very highly coloured! +The pageant of the river bank had marched steadily along, +unfolding itself in scene-pictures that succeeded each other in +stately procession. Purple loosestrife arrived early, shaking +luxuriant tangled locks along the edge of the mirror whence its +own face laughed back at it. Willow-herb, tender and wistful, +like a pink sunset cloud, was not slow to follow. Comfrey, the +purple hand-in-hand with the white, crept forth to take its place +in the line; and at last one morning the diffident and +delaying dog-rose stepped delicately on the stage, and one knew, +as if string-music had announced it in stately chords that +strayed into a gavotte, that June at last was here. One member +of the company was still awaited; the shepherd-boy for the nymphs +to woo, the knight for whom the ladies waited at the window, the +prince that was to kiss the sleeping summer back to life and +love. But when meadow-sweet, debonair and odorous in amber +jerkin, moved graciously to his place in the group, then the play +was ready to begin. + +And what a play it had been! Drowsy animals, snug in their holes +while wind and rain were battering at their doors, recalled still +keen mornings, an hour before sunrise, when the white mist, as +yet undispersed, clung closely along the surface of the water; +then the shock of the early plunge, the scamper along the bank, +and the radiant transformation of earth, air, and water, when +suddenly the sun was with them again, and grey was gold and +colour was born and sprang out of the earth once more. They +recalled the languorous siesta of hot mid-day, deep in green +undergrowth, the sun striking through in tiny golden shafts and +spots; the boating and bathing of the afternoon, the rambles +along dusty lanes and through yellow cornfields; and the long, +cool evening at last, when so many threads were gathered up, so +many friendships rounded, and so many adventures planned for the +morrow. There was plenty to talk about on those short winter +days when the animals found themselves round the fire; still, the +Mole had a good deal of spare time on his hands, and so one +afternoon, when the Rat in his arm-chair before the blaze was +alternately dozing and trying over rhymes that wouldn't fit, he +formed the resolution to go out by himself and explore the Wild +Wood, and perhaps strike up an acquaintance with Mr. Badger. + +It was a cold still afternoon with a hard steely sky overhead, +when he slipped out of the warm parlour into the open air. The +country lay bare and entirely leafless around him, and he thought +that he had never seen so far and so intimately into the insides +of things as on that winter day when Nature was deep in her +annual slumber and seemed to have kicked the clothes off. +Copses, dells, quarries and all hidden places, which had been +mysterious mines for exploration in leafy summer, now exposed +themselves and their secrets pathetically, and seemed to ask him +to overlook their shabby poverty for a while, till they could +riot in rich masquerade as before, and trick and entice him with +the old deceptions. It was pitiful in a way, and yet cheering-- +even exhilarating. He was glad that he liked the country +undecorated, hard, and stripped of its finery. He had got down +to the bare bones of it, and they were fine and strong and +simple. He did not want the warm clover and the play of seeding +grasses; the screens of quickset, the billowy drapery of beech +and elm seemed best away; and with great cheerfulness of spirit +he pushed on towards the Wild Wood, which lay before him low and +threatening, like a black reef in some still southern sea. + +There was nothing to alarm him at first entry. Twigs crackled +under his feet, logs tripped him, funguses on stumps resembled +caricatures, and startled him for the moment by their likeness to +something familiar and far away; but that was all fun, and +exciting. It led him on, and he penetrated to where the light +was less, and trees crouched nearer and nearer, and holes +made ugly mouths at him on either side. + +Everything was very still now. The dusk advanced on him +steadily, rapidly, gathering in behind and before; and the light +seemed to be draining away like flood-water. + +Then the faces began. + +It was over his shoulder, and indistinctly, that he first thought +he saw a face; a little evil wedge-shaped face, looking out at +him from a hole. When he turned and confronted it, the thing had +vanished. + +He quickened his pace, telling himself cheerfully not to begin +imagining things, or there would be simply no end to it. He +passed another hole, and another, and another; and then--yes!-- +no!--yes! certainly a little narrow face, with hard eyes, had +flashed up for an instant from a hole, and was gone. He +hesitated--braced himself up for an effort and strode on. Then +suddenly, and as if it had been so all the time, every hole, far +and near, and there were hundreds of them, seemed to possess its +face, coming and going rapidly, all fixing on him glances of +malice and hatred: all hard-eyed and evil and sharp. + +If he could only get away from the holes in the banks, he +thought, there would be no more faces. He swung off the path and +plunged into the untrodden places of the wood. + +Then the whistling began. + +Very faint and shrill it was, and far behind him, when first he +heard it; but somehow it made him hurry forward. Then, still +very faint and shrill, it sounded far ahead of him, and made him +hesitate and want to go back. As he halted in indecision it +broke out on either side, and seemed to be caught up and passed +on throughout the whole length of the wood to its farthest limit. +They were up and alert and ready, evidently, whoever they were! +And he--he was alone, and unarmed, and far from any help; and the +night was closing in. + +Then the pattering began. + +He thought it was only falling leaves at first, so slight and +delicate was the sound of it. Then as it grew it took a regular +rhythm, and he knew it for nothing else but the pat-pat-pat of +little feet still a very long way off. Was it in front or +behind? It seemed to be first one, and then the other, then +both. It grew and it multiplied, till from every quarter as +he listened anxiously, leaning this way and that, it seemed to be +closing in on him. As he stood still to hearken, a rabbit came +running hard towards him through the trees. He waited, expecting +it to slacken pace, or to swerve from him into a different +course. Instead, the animal almost brushed him as it dashed +past, his face set and hard, his eyes staring. `Get out of this, +you fool, get out!' the Mole heard him mutter as he swung round a +stump and disappeared down a friendly burrow. + +The pattering increased till it sounded like sudden hail on the +dry leaf-carpet spread around him. The whole wood seemed running +now, running hard, hunting, chasing, closing in round something +or--somebody? In panic, he began to run too, aimlessly, he knew +not whither. He ran up against things, he fell over things and +into things, he darted under things and dodged round things. At +last he took refuge in the deep dark hollow of an old beech tree, +which offered shelter, concealment--perhaps even safety, but who +could tell? Anyhow, he was too tired to run any further, and +could only snuggle down into the dry leaves which had drifted +into the hollow and hope he was safe for a time. And as he lay +there panting and trembling, and listened to the whistlings and +the patterings outside, he knew it at last, in all its fullness, +that dread thing which other little dwellers in field and +hedgerow had encountered here, and known as their darkest +moment--that thing which the Rat had vainly tried to shield him +from--the Terror of the Wild Wood! + +Meantime the Rat, warm and comfortable, dozed by his fireside. +His paper of half-finished verses slipped from his knee, his head +fell back, his mouth opened, and he wandered by the verdant banks +of dream-rivers. Then a coal slipped, the fire crackled and sent +up a spurt of flame, and he woke with a start. Remembering what +he had been engaged upon, he reached down to the floor for his +verses, pored over them for a minute, and then looked round for +the Mole to ask him if he knew a good rhyme for something or +other. + +But the Mole was not there. + +He listened for a time. The house seemed very quiet. + +Then he called `Moly!' several times, and, receiving no +answer, got up and went out into the hall. + +The Mole's cap was missing from its accustomed peg. His +goloshes, which always lay by the umbrella-stand, were also gone. + +The Rat left the house, and carefully examined the muddy surface +of the ground outside, hoping to find the Mole's tracks. There +they were, sure enough. The goloshes were new, just bought for +the winter, and the pimples on their soles were fresh and sharp. +He could see the imprints of them in the mud, running along +straight and purposeful, leading direct to the Wild Wood. + +The Rat looked very grave, and stood in deep thought for a minute +or two. Then he re-entered the house, strapped a belt round his +waist, shoved a brace of pistols into it, took up a stout cudgel +that stood in a corner of the hall, and set off for the Wild Wood +at a smart pace. + +It was already getting towards dusk when he reached the first +fringe of trees and plunged without hesitation into the wood, +looking anxiously on either side for any sign of his friend. +Here and there wicked little faces popped out of holes, but +vanished immediately at sight of the valorous animal, his +pistols, and the great ugly cudgel in his grasp; and the +whistling and pattering, which he had heard quite plainly on his +first entry, died away and ceased, and all was very still. He +made his way manfully through the length of the wood, to its +furthest edge; then, forsaking all paths, he set himself to +traverse it, laboriously working over the whole ground, and all +the time calling out cheerfully, `Moly, Moly, Moly! Where are +you? It's me--it's old Rat!' + +He had patiently hunted through the wood for an hour or more, +when at last to his joy he heard a little answering cry. Guiding +himself by the sound, he made his way through the gathering +darkness to the foot of an old beech tree, with a hole in it, and +from out of the hole came a feeble voice, saying `Ratty! Is that +really you?' + +The Rat crept into the hollow, and there he found the Mole, +exhausted and still trembling. `O Rat!' he cried, `I've been so +frightened, you can't think!' + +`O, I quite understand,' said the Rat soothingly. `You shouldn't +really have gone and done it, Mole. I did my best to keep +you from it. We river-bankers, we hardly ever come here by +ourselves. If we have to come, we come in couples, at least; +then we're generally all right. Besides, there are a hundred +things one has to know, which we understand all about and you +don't, as yet. I mean passwords, and signs, and sayings which +have power and effect, and plants you carry in your pocket, and +verses you repeat, and dodges and tricks you practise; all simple +enough when you know them, but they've got to be known if you're +small, or you'll find yourself in trouble. Of course if you were +Badger or Otter, it would be quite another matter.' + +`Surely the brave Mr. Toad wouldn't mind coming here by himself, +would he?' inquired the Mole. + +`Old Toad?' said the Rat, laughing heartily. `He wouldn't show +his face here alone, not for a whole hatful of golden guineas, +Toad wouldn't.' + +The Mole was greatly cheered by the sound of the Rat's careless +laughter, as well as by the sight of his stick and his gleaming +pistols, and he stopped shivering and began to feel bolder and +more himself again. + +`Now then,' said the Rat presently, `we really must pull +ourselves together and make a start for home while there's still +a little light left. It will never do to spend the night here, +you understand. Too cold, for one thing.' + +`Dear Ratty,' said the poor Mole, `I'm dreadfully sorry, but I'm +simply dead beat and that's a solid fact. You MUST let me +rest here a while longer, and get my strength back, if I'm to get +home at all.' + +`O, all right,' said the good-natured Rat, `rest away. It's +pretty nearly pitch dark now, anyhow; and there ought to be a bit +of a moon later.' + +So the Mole got well into the dry leaves and stretched himself +out, and presently dropped off into sleep, though of a broken and +troubled sort; while the Rat covered himself up, too, as best he +might, for warmth, and lay patiently waiting, with a pistol in +his paw. + +When at last the Mole woke up, much refreshed and in his usual +spirits, the Rat said, `Now then! I'll just take a look outside +and see if everything's quiet, and then we really must be off.' + +He went to the entrance of their retreat and put his head +out. Then the Mole heard him saying quietly to himself, `Hullo! +hullo! here-- is--a--go!' + +`What's up, Ratty?' asked the Mole. + +`SNOW is up,' replied the Rat briefly; `or rather, DOWN. +It's snowing hard.' + +The Mole came and crouched beside him, and, looking out, saw the +wood that had been so dreadful to him in quite a changed aspect. +Holes, hollows, pools, pitfalls, and other black menaces to the +wayfarer were vanishing fast, and a gleaming carpet of faery was +springing up everywhere, that looked too delicate to be trodden +upon by rough feet. A fine powder filled the air and caressed +the cheek with a tingle in its touch, and the black boles of the +trees showed up in a light that seemed to come from below. + +`Well, well, it can't be helped,' said the Rat, after pondering. +`We must make a start, and take our chance, I suppose. The worst +of it is, I don't exactly know where we are. And now this snow +makes everything look so very different.' + +It did indeed. The Mole would not have known that it was the +same wood. However, they set out bravely, and took the line +that seemed most promising, holding on to each other and +pretending with invincible cheerfulness that they recognized an +old friend in every fresh tree that grimly and silently greeted +them, or saw openings, gaps, or paths with a familiar turn in +them, in the monotony of white space and black tree-trunks that +refused to vary. + +An hour or two later--they had lost all count of time--they +pulled up, dispirited, weary, and hopelessly at sea, and sat down +on a fallen tree-trunk to recover their breath and consider what +was to be done. They were aching with fatigue and bruised with +tumbles; they had fallen into several holes and got wet through; +the snow was getting so deep that they could hardly drag their +little legs through it, and the trees were thicker and more like +each other than ever. There seemed to be no end to this wood, +and no beginning, and no difference in it, and, worst of all, no +way out. + +`We can't sit here very long,' said the Rat. `We shall have to +make another push for it, and do something or other. The cold is +too awful for anything, and the snow will soon be too deep for us +to wade through.' He peered about him and considered. `Look +here,' he went on, `this is what occurs to me. There's a sort of +dell down here in front of us, where the ground seems all hilly +and humpy and hummocky. We'll make our way down into that, and +try and find some sort of shelter, a cave or hole with a dry +floor to it, out of the snow and the wind, and there we'll have a +good rest before we try again, for we're both of us pretty dead +beat. Besides, the snow may leave off, or something may turn +up.' + +So once more they got on their feet, and struggled down into the +dell, where they hunted about for a cave or some corner that was +dry and a protection from the keen wind and the whirling snow. +They were investigating one of the hummocky bits the Rat had +spoken of, when suddenly the Mole tripped up and fell forward on +his face with a squeal. + +`O my leg!' he cried. `O my poor shin!' and he sat up on the +snow and nursed his leg in both his front paws. + +`Poor old Mole!' said the Rat kindly. + +`You don't seem to be having much luck to-day, do you? Let's +have a look at the leg. Yes,' he went on, going down on his +knees to look, `you've cut your shin, sure enough. Wait till +I get at my handkerchief, and I'll tie it up for you.' + +`I must have tripped over a hidden branch or a stump,' said the +Mole miserably. `O, my! O, my!' + +`It's a very clean cut,' said the Rat, examining it again +attentively. `That was never done by a branch or a stump. Looks +as if it was made by a sharp edge of something in metal. Funny!' +He pondered awhile, and examined the humps and slopes that +surrounded them. + +`Well, never mind what done it,' said the Mole, forgetting his +grammar in his pain. `It hurts just the same, whatever done it.' + +But the Rat, after carefully tying up the leg with his +handkerchief, had left him and was busy scraping in the snow. He +scratched and shovelled and explored, all four legs working +busily, while the Mole waited impatiently, remarking at +intervals, `O, COME on, Rat!' + +Suddenly the Rat cried `Hooray!' and then `Hooray-oo-ray-oo-ray- +oo-ray!' and fell to executing a feeble jig in the snow. + +`What HAVE you found, Ratty?' asked the Mole, still nursing +his leg. + +`Come and see!' said the delighted Rat, as he jigged on. + +The Mole hobbled up to the spot and had a good look. + +`Well,' he said at last, slowly, `I SEE it right enough. Seen +the same sort of thing before, lots of times. Familiar object, I +call it. A door-scraper! Well, what of it? Why dance jigs +around a door-scraper?' + +`But don't you see what it MEANS, you--you dull-witted +animal?' cried the Rat impa-tiently. + +`Of course I see what it means,' replied the Mole. `It simply +means that some VERY careless and forgetful person has left +his door-scraper lying about in the middle of the Wild Wood, +JUST where it's SURE to trip EVERYBODY up. Very +thoughtless of him, I call it. When I get home I shall go and +complain about it to--to somebody or other, see if I don't!' + +`O, dear! O, dear!' cried the Rat, in despair at his obtuseness. +`Here, stop arguing and come and scrape!' And he set to work +again and made the snow fly in all directions around him. + +After some further toil his efforts were rewarded, and a very +shabby door-mat lay exposed to view. + +`There, what did I tell you?' exclaimed the Rat in great triumph. + +`Absolutely nothing whatever,' replied the Mole, with perfect +truthfulness. `Well now,' he went on, `you seem to have found +another piece of domestic litter, done for and thrown away, and I +suppose you're perfectly happy. Better go ahead and dance your +jig round that if you've got to, and get it over, and then +perhaps we can go on and not waste any more time over rubbish- +heaps. Can we EAT a doormat? or sleep under a door-mat? Or +sit on a door-mat and sledge home over the snow on it, you +exasperating rodent?' + +`Do--you--mean--to--say,' cried the excited Rat, `that this door- +mat doesn't TELL you anything?' + +`Really, Rat,' said the Mole, quite pettishly, `I think we'd had +enough of this folly. Who ever heard of a door-mat TELLING +anyone anything? They simply don't do it. They are not that +sort at all. Door-mats know their place.' + +`Now look here, you--you thick-headed beast,' replied the Rat, +really angry, `this must stop. Not another word, but scrape-- +scrape and scratch and dig and hunt round, especially on the +sides of the hummocks, if you want to sleep dry and warm to- +night, for it's our last chance!' + +The Rat attacked a snow-bank beside them with ardour, probing +with his cudgel everywhere and then digging with fury; and the +Mole scraped busily too, more to oblige the Rat than for any +other reason, for his opinion was that his friend was getting +light-headed. + +Some ten minutes' hard work, and the point of the Rat's cudgel +struck something that sounded hollow. He worked till he could +get a paw through and feel; then called the Mole to come and help +him. Hard at it went the two animals, till at last the result of +their labours stood full in view of the astonished and hitherto +incredulous Mole. + +In the side of what had seemed to be a snow-bank stood a solid- +looking little door, painted a dark green. An iron bell-pull +hung by the side, and below it, on a small brass plate, neatly +engraved in square capital letters, they could read by the aid of +moonlight + MR. BADGER. + +The Mole fell backwards on the snow from sheer surprise and +delight. `Rat!' he cried in penitence, `you're a wonder! A +real wonder, that's what you are. I see it all now! You argued +it out, step by step, in that wise head of yours, from the very +moment that I fell and cut my shin, and you looked at the cut, +and at once your majestic mind said to itself, "Door-scraper!" +And then you turned to and found the very door-scraper that done +it! Did you stop there? No. Some people would have been quite +satisfied; but not you. Your intellect went on working. "Let me +only just find a door-mat," says you to yourself, "and my theory +is proved!" And of course you found your door-mat. You're so +clever, I believe you could find anything you liked. "Now," says +you, "that door exists, as plain as if I saw it. There's nothing +else remains to be done but to find it!" Well, I've read about +that sort of thing in books, but I've never come across it before +in real life. You ought to go where you'll be properly +appreciated. You're simply wasted here, among us fellows. If I +only had your head, Ratty----' + +`But as you haven't,' interrupted the Rat, rather unkindly, `I +suppose you're going to sit on the snow all night and TALK +Get up at once and hang on to that bell-pull you see there, +and ring hard, as hard as you can, while I hammer!' + +While the Rat attacked the door with his stick, the Mole sprang +up at the bell-pull, clutched it and swung there, both feet well +off the ground, and from quite a long way off they could faintly +hear a deep-toned bell respond. + + + +IV + +MR. BADGER + +THEY waited patiently for what seemed a very long time, stamping +in the snow to keep their feet warm. At last they heard the +sound of slow shuflling footsteps approaching the door from the +inside. It seemed, as the Mole remarked to the Rat, like some +one walking in carpet slippers that were too large for him and +down at heel; which was intelligent of Mole, because that was +exactly what it was. + +There was the noise of a bolt shot back, and the door opened a +few inches, enough to show a long snout and a pair of sleepy +blinking eyes. + +`Now, the VERY next time this happens,' said a gruff and +suspicious voice, `I shall be exceedingly angry. Who is it +THIS time, disturbing people on such a night? Speak up!' + +`Oh, Badger,' cried the Rat, `let us in, please. It's +me, Rat, and my friend Mole, and we've lost our way in the snow.' + +`What, Ratty, my dear little man!' exclaimed the Badger, in quite +a different voice. `Come along in, both of you, at once. Why, +you must be perished. Well I never! Lost in the snow! And in +the Wild Wood, too, and at this time of night! But come in with +you.' + +The two animals tumbled over each other in their eagerness to get +inside, and heard the door shut behind them with great joy and +relief. + +The Badger, who wore a long dressing-gown, and whose slippers +were indeed very down at heel, carried a flat candlestick in his +paw and had probably been on his way to bed when their summons +sounded. He looked kindly down on them and patted both their +heads. `This is not the sort of night for small animals to be +out,' he said paternally. `I'm afraid you've been up to some of +your pranks again, Ratty. But come along; come into the kitchen. +There's a first-rate fire there, and supper and everything.' + +He shuffled on in front of them, carrying the light, and they +followed him, nudging each other in an anticipating sort of way, +down a long, gloomy, and, to tell the truth, decidedly shabby +passage, into a sort of a central hall; out of which they could +dimly see other long tunnel-like passages branching, passages +mysterious and without apparent end. But there were doors in the +hall as well--stout oaken comfortable-looking doors. One of +these the Badger flung open, and at once they found themselves in +all the glow and warmth of a large fire-lit kitchen. + +The floor was well-worn red brick, and on the wide hearth burnt a +fire of logs, between two attractive chimney-corners tucked away +in the wall, well out of any suspicion of draught. A couple of +high-backed settles, facing each other on either side of the +fire, gave further sitting accommodations for the sociably +disposed. In the middle of the room stood a long table of plain +boards placed on trestles, with benches down each side. At one +end of it, where an arm-chair stood pushed back, were spread the +remains of the Badger's plain but ample supper. Rows of spotless +plates winked from the shelves of the dresser at the far end of +the room, and from the rafters overhead hung hams, bundles of +dried herbs, nets of onions, and baskets of eggs. It seemed +a place where heroes could fitly feast after victory, where weary +harvesters could line up in scores along the table and keep their +Harvest Home with mirth and song, or where two or three friends +of simple tastes could sit about as they pleased and eat and +smoke and talk in comfort and contentment. The ruddy brick floor +smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles, shiny with +long wear, exchanged cheerful glances with each other; plates on +the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight +flickered and played over everything without distinction. + +The kindly Badger thrust them down on a settle to toast +themselves at the fire, and bade them remove their wet coats and +boots. Then he fetched them dressing-gowns and slippers, and +himself bathed the Mole's shin with warm water and mended the cut +with sticking-plaster till the whole thing was just as good as +new, if not better. In the embracing light and warmth, warm and +dry at last, with weary legs propped up in front of them, and a +suggestive clink of plates being arranged on the table behind, it +seemed to the storm-driven animals, now in safe anchorage, +that the cold and trackless Wild Wood just left outside was miles +and miles away, and all that they had suffered in it a half- +forgotten dream. + +When at last they were thoroughly toasted, the Badger summoned +them to the table, where he had been busy laying a repast. They +had felt pretty hungry before, but when they actually saw at last +the supper that was spread for them, really it seemed only a +question of what they should attack first where all was so +attractive, and whether the other things would obligingly wait +for them till they had time to give them attention. Conversation +was impossible for a long time; and when it was slowly resumed, +it was that regrettable sort of conversation that results from +talking with your mouth full. The Badger did not mind that sort +of thing at all, nor did he take any notice of elbows on the +table, or everybody speaking at once. As he did not go into +Society himself, he had got an idea that these things belonged to +the things that didn't really matter. (We know of course that he +was wrong, and took too narrow a view; because they do matter +very much, though it would take too long to explain why.) He +sat in his arm-chair at the head of the table, and nodded gravely +at intervals as the animals told their story; and he did not seem +surprised or shocked at anything, and he never said, `I told you +so,' or, `Just what I always said,' or remarked that they ought +to have done so-and-so, or ought not to have done something else. +The Mole began to feel very friendly towards him. + +When supper was really finished at last, and each animal felt +that his skin was now as tight as was decently safe, and that by +this time he didn't care a hang for anybody or anything, they +gathered round the glowing embers of the great wood fire, and +thought how jolly it was to be sitting up SO late, and SO +independent, and SO full; and after they had chatted for a +time about things in general, the Badger said heartily, `Now +then! tell us the news from your part of the world. How's old +Toad going on?' + +`Oh, from bad to worse,' said the Rat gravely, while the Mole, +cocked up on a settle and basking in the firelight, his heels +higher than his head, tried to look properly mournful. `Another +smash-up only last week, and a bad one. You see, he will insist +on driving himself, and he's hopelessly incapable. If he'd +only employ a decent, steady, well-trained animal, pay him good +wages, and leave everything to him, he'd get on all right. But +no; he's convinced he's a heaven-born driver, and nobody can +teach him anything; and all the rest follows.' + +`How many has he had?' inquired the Badger gloomily. + +`Smashes, or machines?' asked the Rat. `Oh, well, after all, +it's the same thing--with Toad. This is the seventh. As for the +others--you know that coach-house of his? Well, it's piled up-- +literally piled up to the roof--with fragments of motor-cars, +none of them bigger than your hat! That accounts for the other +six--so far as they can be accounted for.' + +`He's been in hospital three times,' put in the Mole; `and as for +the fines he's had to pay, it's simply awful to think of.' + +`Yes, and that's part of the trouble,' continued the Rat. +`Toad's rich, we all know; but he's not a millionaire. And he's +a hopelessly bad driver, and quite regardless of law and order. +Killed or ruined--it's got to be one of the two things, +sooner or later. Badger! we're his friends--oughtn't we to do +something?' + +The Badger went through a bit of hard thinking. `Now look here!' +he said at last, rather severely; `of course you know I can't do +anything NOW?' + +His two friends assented, quite understanding his point. No +animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever +expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately +active during the off-season of winter. All are sleepy--some +actually asleep. All are weather-bound, more or less; and all +are resting from arduous days and nights, during which every +muscle in them has been severely tested, and every energy kept at +full stretch. + +`Very well then!' continued the Badger. `BUT, when once the +year has really turned, and the nights are shorter, and halfway +through them one rouses and feels fidgety and wanting to be up +and doing by sunrise, if not before--YOU know!----' + +Both animals nodded gravely. THEY knew! + +`Well, THEN,' went on the Badger, `we--that is, you and me and +our friend the Mole here--we'll take Toad seriously in hand. +We'll stand no nonsense whatever. We'll bring him back to +reason, by force if need be. We'll MAKE him be a sensible +Toad. We'll--you're asleep, Rat!' + +`Not me!' said the Rat, waking up with a jerk. + +`He's been asleep two or three times since supper,' said the +Mole, laughing. He himself was feeling quite wakeful and even +lively, though he didn't know why. The reason was, of course, +that he being naturally an underground animal by birth and +breeding, the situation of Badger's house exactly suited him and +made him feel at home; while the Rat, who slept every night in a +bedroom the windows of which opened on a breezy river, naturally +felt the atmosphere still and oppressive. + +`Well, it's time we were all in bed,' said the Badger, getting up +and fetching flat candlesticks. `Come along, you two, and I'll +show you your quarters. And take your time tomorrow morning-- +breakfast at any hour you please!' + +He conducted the two animals to a long room that seemed half +bedchamber and half loft. The Badger's winter stores, which +indeed were visible everywhere, took up half the room--piles +of apples, turnips, and potatoes, baskets full of nuts, and jars +of honey; but the two little white beds on the remainder of the +floor looked soft and inviting, and the linen on them, though +coarse, was clean and smelt beautifully of lavender; and the Mole +and the Water Rat, shaking off their garments in some thirty +seconds, tumbled in between the sheets in great joy and +contentment. + +In accordance with the kindly Badger's injunctions, the two tired +animals came down to breakfast very late next morning, and found +a bright fire burning in the kitchen, and two young hedgehogs +sitting on a bench at the table, eating oatmeal porridge out of +wooden bowls. The hedgehogs dropped their spoons, rose to their +feet, and ducked their heads respectfully as the two entered. + +`There, sit down, sit down,' said the Rat pleasantly, `and go on +with your porridge. Where have you youngsters come from? Lost +your way in the snow, I suppose?' + +`Yes, please, sir,' said the elder of the two hedgehogs +respectfully. `Me and little Billy here, we was trying to find +our way to school--mother WOULD have us go, was the +weather ever so--and of course we lost ourselves, sir, and Billy +he got frightened and took and cried, being young and faint- +hearted. And at last we happened up against Mr. Badger's back +door, and made so bold as to knock, sir, for Mr. Badger he's a +kind-hearted gentleman, as everyone knows----' + +`I understand,' said the Rat, cutting himself some rashers from a +side of bacon, while the Mole dropped some eggs into a saucepan. +`And what's the weather like outside? You needn't "sir" me quite +so much?' he added. + +`O, terrible bad, sir, terrible deep the snow is,' said the +hedgehog. `No getting out for the likes of you gentlemen to- +day.' + +`Where's Mr. Badger?' inquired the Mole, as he warmed the coffee- +pot before the fire. + +`The master's gone into his study, sir,' replied the hedgehog, +`and he said as how he was going to be particular busy this +morning, and on no account was he to be disturbed.' + +This explanation, of course, was thoroughly understood by every +one present. The fact is, as already set forth, when you live a +life of intense activity for six months in the year, and of +comparative or actual somnolence for the other six, during the +latter period you cannot be continually pleading sleepiness when +there are people about or things to be done. The excuse gets +monotonous. The animals well knew that Badger, having eaten a +hearty breakfast, had retired to his study and settled himself in +an arm-chair with his legs up on another and a red cotton +handkerchief over his face, and was being `busy' in the usual way +at this time of the year. + +The front-door bell clanged loudly, and the Rat, who was very +greasy with buttered toast, sent Billy, the smaller hedgehog, to +see who it might be. There was a sound of much stamping in the +hall, and presently Billy returned in front of the Otter, who +threw himself on the Rat with an embrace and a shout of +affectionate greeting. + +`Get off!' spluttered the Rat, with his mouth full. + +`Thought I should find you here all right,' said the Otter +cheerfully. `They were all in a great state of alarm along River +Bank when I arrived this morning. Rat never been home all +night--nor Mole either--something dreadful must have +happened, they said; and the snow had covered up all your tracks, +of course. But I knew that when people were in any fix they +mostly went to Badger, or else Badger got to know of it somehow, +so I came straight off here, through the Wild Wood and the snow! +My! it was fine, coming through the snow as the red sun was +rising and showing against the black tree-trunks! As you went +along in the stillness, every now and then masses of snow slid +off the branches suddenly with a flop! making you jump and run +for cover. Snow-castles and snow-caverns had sprung up out of +nowhere in the night--and snow bridges, terraces, ramparts--I +could have stayed and played with them for hours. Here and there +great branches had been torn away by the sheer weight of the +snow, and robins perched and hopped on them in their perky +conceited way, just as if they had done it themselves. A ragged +string of wild geese passed overhead, high on the grey sky, and a +few rooks whirled over the trees, inspected, and flapped off +homewards with a disgusted expression; but I met no sensible +being to ask the news of. About halfway across I came on a +rabbit sitting on a stump, cleaning his silly face with his +paws. He was a pretty scared animal when I crept up behind him +and placed a heavy forepaw on his shoulder. I had to cuff his +head once or twice to get any sense out of it at all. At last I +managed to extract from him that Mole had been seen in the Wild +Wood last night by one of them. It was the talk of the burrows, +he said, how Mole, Mr. Rat's particular friend, was in a bad fix; +how he had lost his way, and "They" were up and out hunting, and +were chivvying him round and round. "Then why didn't any of you +DO something?" I asked. "You mayn't be blest with brains, but +there are hundreds and hundreds of you, big, stout fellows, as +fat as butter, and your burrows running in all directions, and +you could have taken him in and made him safe and comfortable, or +tried to, at all events." "What, US?" he merely said: "DO +something? us rabbits?" So I cuffed him again and left him. +There was nothing else to be done. At any rate, I had learnt +something; and if I had had the luck to meet any of "Them" I'd +have learnt something more--or THEY would.' + +`Weren't you at all--er--nervous?' asked the Mole, some of +yesterday's terror coming back to him at the mention of the Wild +Wood. + +`Nervous?' The Otter showed a gleaming set of strong white teeth +as he laughed. `I'd give 'em nerves if any of them tried +anything on with me. Here, Mole, fry me some slices of ham, like +the good little chap you are. I'm frightfully hungry, and I've +got any amount to say to Ratty here. Haven't seen him for an +age.' + +So the good-natured Mole, having cut some slices of ham, set the +hedgehogs to fry it, and returned to his own breakfast, while the +Otter and the Rat, their heads together, eagerly talked river- +shop, which is long shop and talk that is endless, running on +like the babbling river itself. + +A plate of fried ham had just been cleared and sent back for +more, when the Badger entered, yawning and rubbing his eyes, and +greeted them all in his quiet, simple way, with kind enquiries +for every one. `It must be getting on for luncheon time,' he +remarked to the Otter. `Better stop and have it with us. You +must be hungry, this cold morning.' + +`Rather!' replied the Otter, winking at the Mole. `The sight of +these greedy young hedgehogs stuffing themselves with fried ham +makes me feel positively famished.' + +The hedgehogs, who were just beginning to feel hungry again after +their porridge, and after working so hard at their frying, looked +timidly up at Mr. Badger, but were too shy to say anything. + +`Here, you two youngsters be off home to your mother,' said the +Badger kindly. `I'll send some one with you to show you the way. +You won't want any dinner to-day, I'll be bound.' + +He gave them sixpence apiece and a pat on the head, and they went +off with much respectful swinging of caps and touching of +forelocks. + +Presently they all sat down to luncheon together. The Mole found +himself placed next to Mr. Badger, and, as the other two were +still deep in river-gossip from which nothing could divert them, +he took the opportunity to tell Badger how comfortable and home- +like it all felt to him. `Once well underground,' he said, `you +know exactly where you are. Nothing can happen to you, and +nothing can get at you. You're entirely your own master, and you +don't have to consult anybody or mind what they say. Things go +on all the same overhead, and you let 'em, and don't bother about +'em. When you want to, up you go, and there the things are, +waiting for you.' + +The Badger simply beamed on him. `That's exactly what I say,' he +replied. `There's no security, or peace and tranquillity, except +underground. And then, if your ideas get larger and you want to +expand--why, a dig and a scrape, and there you are! If you feel +your house is a bit too big, you stop up a hole or two, and there +you are again! No builders, no tradesmen, no remarks passed on +you by fellows looking over your wall, and, above all, no +WEATHER. Look at Rat, now. A couple of feet of flood water, +and he's got to move into hired lodgings; uncomfortable, +inconveniently situated, and horribly expensive. Take Toad. I +say nothing against Toad Hall; quite the best house in these +parts, AS a house. But supposing a fire breaks out--where's +Toad? Supposing tiles are blown off, or walls sink or crack, or +windows get broken--where's Toad? Supposing the rooms are +draughty--I HATE a draught myself--where's Toad? No, up and +out of doors is good enough to roam about and get one's living +in; but underground to come back to at last--that's my idea of +HOME' + +The Mole assented heartily; and the Badger in consequence got +very friendly with him. `When lunch is over,' he said, `I'll +take you all round this little place of mine. I can see you'll +appreciate it. You understand what domestic architecture ought +to be, you do.' + +After luncheon, accordingly, when the other two had settled +themselves into the chimney-corner and had started a heated +argument on the subject of EELS, the Badger lighted a lantern +and bade the Mole follow him. Crossing the hall, they passed +down one of the principal tunnels, and the wavering light of the +lantern gave glimpses on either side of rooms both large and +small, some mere cupboards, others nearly as broad and imposing +as Toad's dining-hall. A narrow passage at right angles led them +into another corridor, and here the same thing was repeated. The +Mole was staggered at the size, the extent, the ramifications of +it all; at the length of the dim passages, the solid +vaultings of the crammed store-chambers, the masonry +everywhere, the pillars, the arches, the pavements. `How on +earth, Badger,' he said at last, `did you ever find time and +strength to do all this? It's astonishing!' + +`It WOULD be astonishing indeed,' said the Badger simply, `if +I HAD done it. But as a matter of fact I did none of it--only +cleaned out the passages and chambers, as far as I had need of +them. There's lots more of it, all round about. I see you don't +understand, and I must explain it to you. Well, very long ago, +on the spot where the Wild Wood waves now, before ever it had +planted itself and grown up to what it now is, there was a city-- +a city of people, you know. Here, where we are standing, they +lived, and walked, and talked, and slept, and carried on their +business. Here they stabled their horses and feasted, from here +they rode out to fight or drove out to trade. They were a +powerful people, and rich, and great builders. They built to +last, for they thought their city would last for ever.' + +`But what has become of them all?' asked the Mole. + +`Who can tell?' said the Badger. `People come--they stay for +a while, they flourish, they build--and they go. It is their +way. But we remain. There were badgers here, I've been told, +long before that same city ever came to be. And now there are +badgers here again. We are an enduring lot, and we may move out +for a time, but we wait, and are patient, and back we come. And +so it will ever be.' + +`Well, and when they went at last, those people?' said the Mole. + +`When they went,' continued the Badger, `the strong winds and +persistent rains took the matter in hand, patiently, ceaselessly, +year after year. Perhaps we badgers too, in our small way, +helped a little--who knows? It was all down, down, down, +gradually--ruin and levelling and disappearance. Then it was all +up, up, up, gradually, as seeds grew to saplings, and saplings to +forest trees, and bramble and fern came creeping in to help. +Leaf-mould rose and obliterated, streams in their winter freshets +brought sand and soil to clog and to cover, and in course of time +our home was ready for us again, and we moved in. Up above us, +on the surface, the same thing happened. Animals arrived, liked +the look of the place, took up their quarters, settled down, +spread, and flourished. They didn't bother themselves about the +past--they never do; they're too busy. The place was a bit humpy +and hillocky, naturally, and full of holes; but that was rather +an advantage. And they don't bother about the future, either-- +the future when perhaps the people will move in again--for a +time--as may very well be. The Wild Wood is pretty well +populated by now; with all the usual lot, good, bad, and +indifferent--I name no names. It takes all sorts to make a +world. But I fancy you know something about them yourself by +this time.' + +`I do indeed,' said the Mole, with a slight shiver. + +`Well, well,' said the Badger, patting him on the shoulder, `it +was your first experience of them, you see. They're not so bad +really; and we must all live and let live. But I'll pass the +word around to-morrow, and I think you'll have no further +trouble. Any friend of MINE walks where he likes in this +country, or I'll know the reason why!' + +When they got back to the kitchen again, they found the Rat +walking up and down, very restless. The underground +atmosphere was oppressing him and getting on his nerves, and he +seemed really to be afraid that the river would run away if he +wasn't there to look after it. So he had his overcoat on, and +his pistols thrust into his belt again. `Come along, Mole,' he +said anxiously, as soon as he caught sight of them. `We must get +off while it's daylight. Don't want to spend another night in +the Wild Wood again.' + +`It'll be all right, my fine fellow,' said the Otter. `I'm +coming along with you, and I know every path blindfold; and if +there's a head that needs to be punched, you can confidently rely +upon me to punch it.' + +`You really needn't fret, Ratty,' added the Badger placidly. `My +passages run further than you think, and I've bolt-holes to the +edge of the wood in several directions, though I don't care for +everybody to know about them. When you really have to go, you +shall leave by one of my short cuts. Meantime, make yourself +easy, and sit down again.' + +The Rat was nevertheless still anxious to be off and attend to +his river, so the Badger, taking up his lantern again, led the +way along a damp and airless tunnel that wound and dipped, +part vaulted, part hewn through solid rock, for a weary distance +that seemed to be miles. At last daylight began to show itself +confusedly through tangled growth overhanging the mouth of the +passage; and the Badger, bidding them a hasty good-bye, pushed +them hurriedly through the opening, made everything look as +natural as possible again, with creepers, brushwood, and dead +leaves, and retreated. + +They found themselves standing on the very edge of the Wild Wood. +Rocks and brambles and tree-roots behind them, confusedly heaped +and tangled; in front, a great space of quiet fields, hemmed by +lines of hedges black on the snow, and, far ahead, a glint of the +familiar old river, while the wintry sun hung red and low on the +horizon. The Otter, as knowing all the paths, took charge of the +party, and they trailed out on a bee-line for a distant stile. +Pausing there a moment and looking back, they saw the whole mass +of the Wild Wood, dense, menacing, compact, grimly set in vast +white surroundings; simultaneously they turned and made swiftly +for home, for firelight and the familiar things it played on, +for the voice, sounding cheerily outside their window, of the +river that they knew and trusted in all its moods, that never +made them afraid with any amazement. + +As he hurried along, eagerly anticipating the moment when he +would be at home again among the things he knew and liked, the +Mole saw clearly that he was an animal of tilled field and hedge- +row, linked to the ploughed furrow, the frequented pasture, the +lane of evening lingerings, the cultivated garden-plot. For +others the asperities, the stubborn endurance, or the clash of +actual conflict, that went with Nature in the rough; he must be +wise, must keep to the pleasant places in which his lines were +laid and which held adventure enough, in their way, to last for a +lifetime. + + +V + +DULCE DOMUM + +The sheep ran huddling together against the hurdles, blowing out +thin nostrils and stamping with delicate fore-feet, their heads +thrown back and a light steam rising from the crowded sheep-pen +into the frosty air, as the two animals hastened by in high +spirits, with much chatter and laughter. They were returning +across country after a long day's outing with Otter, hunting and +exploring on the wide uplands where certain streams tributary to +their own River had their first small beginnings; and the shades +of the short winter day were closing in on them, and they had +still some distance to go. Plodding at random across the plough, +they had heard the sheep and had made for them; and now, leading +from the sheep-pen, they found a beaten track that made walking a +lighter business, and responded, moreover, to that small +inquiring something which all animals carry inside them, saying +unmistakably, `Yes, quite right; THIS leads home!' + +`It looks as if we were coming to a village,' said the Mole +somewhat dubiously, slackening his pace, as the track, that had +in time become a path and then had developed into a lane, now +handed them over to the charge of a well-metalled road. The +animals did not hold with villages, and their own highways, +thickly frequented as they were, took an independent course, +regardless of church, post office, or public-house. + +`Oh, never mind!' said the Rat. `At this season of the year +they're all safe indoors by this time, sitting round the fire; +men, women, and children, dogs and cats and all. We shall slip +through all right, without any bother or unpleasantness, and we +can have a look at them through their windows if you like, and +see what they're doing.' + +The rapid nightfall of mid-December had quite beset the little +village as they approached it on soft feet over a first thin fall +of powdery snow. Little was visible but squares of a dusky +orange-red on either side of the street, where the firelight +or lamplight of each cottage overflowed through the casements +into the dark world without. Most of the low latticed windows +were innocent of blinds, and to the lookers-in from outside, the +inmates, gathered round the tea-table, absorbed in handiwork, or +talking with laughter and gesture, had each that happy grace +which is the last thing the skilled actor shall capture--the +natural grace which goes with perfect unconsciousness of +observation. Moving at will from one theatre to another, the two +spectators, so far from home themselves, had something of +wistfulness in their eyes as they watched a cat being stroked, a +sleepy child picked up and huddled off to bed, or a tired man +stretch and knock out his pipe on the end of a smouldering log. + +But it was from one little window, with its blind drawn down, a +mere blank transparency on the night, that the sense of home and +the little curtained world within walls--the larger stressful +world of outside Nature shut out and forgotten--most pulsated. +Close against the white blind hung a bird-cage, clearly +silhouetted, every wire, perch, and appurtenance distinct and +recognisable, even to yesterday's dull-edged lump of sugar. On +the middle perch the fluffy occupant, head tucked well into +feathers, seemed so near to them as to be easily stroked, had +they tried; even the delicate tips of his plumped-out plumage +pencilled plainly on the illuminated screen. As they looked, the +sleepy little fellow stirred uneasily, woke, shook himself, and +raised his head. They could see the gape of his tiny beak as he +yawned in a bored sort of way, looked round, and then settled his +head into his back again, while the ruffled feathers gradually +subsided into perfect stillness. Then a gust of bitter wind took +them in the back of the neck, a small sting of frozen sleet on +the skin woke them as from a dream, and they knew their toes to +be cold and their legs tired, and their own home distant a weary +way. + +Once beyond the village, where the cottages ceased abruptly, on +either side of the road they could smell through the darkness the +friendly fields again; and they braced themselves for the last +long stretch, the home stretch, the stretch that we know is bound +to end, some time, in the rattle of the door-latch, the sudden +firelight, and the sight of familiar things greeting us as +long-absent travellers from far over-sea. They plodded along +steadily and silently, each of them thinking his own thoughts. +The Mole's ran a good deal on supper, as it was pitch-dark, and +it was all a strange country for him as far as he knew, and he +was following obediently in the wake of the Rat, leaving the +guidance entirely to him. As for the Rat, he was walking a +little way ahead, as his habit was, his shoulders humped, his +eyes fixed on the straight grey road in front of him; so he did +not notice poor Mole when suddenly the summons reached him, and +took him like an electric shock. + +We others, who have long lost the more subtle of the physical +senses, have not even proper terms to express an animal's inter- +communications with his surroundings, living or otherwise, and +have only the word `smell,' for instance, to include the whole +range of delicate thrills which murmur in the nose of the animal +night and day, summoning, warning? inciting, repelling. It was +one of these mysterious fairy calls from out the void that +suddenly reached Mole in the darkness, making him tingle through +and through with its very familiar appeal, even while yet he +could not clearly remember what it was. He stopped dead in his +tracks, his nose searching hither and thither in its efforts to +recapture the fine filament, the telegraphic current, that had so +strongly moved him. A moment, and he had caught it again; and +with it this time came recollection in fullest flood. + +Home! That was what they meant, those caressing appeals, those +soft touches wafted through the air, those invisible little hands +pulling and tugging, all one way! Why, it must be quite close by +him at that moment, his old home that he had hurriedly forsaken +and never sought again, that day when he first found the river! +And now it was sending out its scouts and its messengers to +capture him and bring him in. Since his escape on that bright +morning he had hardly given it a thought, so absorbed had he been +in his new life, in all its pleasures, its surprises, its fresh +and captivating experiences. Now, with a rush of old memories, +how clearly it stood up before him, in the darkness! Shabby +indeed, and small and poorly furnished, and yet his, the home he +had made for himself, the home he had been so happy to get back +to after his day's work. And the home had been happy with +him, too, evidently, and was missing him, and wanted him back, +and was telling him so, through his nose, sorrowfully, +reproachfully, but with no bitterness or anger; only with +plaintive reminder that it was there, and wanted him. + +The call was clear, the summons was plain. He must obey it +instantly, and go. `Ratty!' he called, full of joyful +excitement, `hold on! Come back! I want you, quick!' + +`Oh, COME along, Mole, do!' replied the Rat cheerfully, still +plodding along. + +`PLEASE stop, Ratty!' pleaded the poor Mole, in anguish of +heart. `You don't understand! It's my home, my old home! I've +just come across the smell of it, and it's close by here, really +quite close. And I MUST go to it, I must, I must! Oh, come +back, Ratty! Please, please come back!' + +The Rat was by this time very far ahead, too far to hear clearly +what the Mole was calling, too far to catch the sharp note of +painful appeal in his voice. And he was much taken up with the +weather, for he too could smell something--something suspiciously +like approaching snow. + +`Mole, we mustn't stop now, really!' he called back. `We'll +come for it to-morrow, whatever it is you've found. But I +daren't stop now--it's late, and the snow's coming on again, and +I'm not sure of the way! And I want your nose, Mole, so come on +quick, there's a good fellow!' And the Rat pressed forward on +his way without waiting for an answer. + +Poor Mole stood alone in the road, his heart torn asunder, and a +big sob gathering, gathering, somewhere low down inside him, to +leap up to the surface presently, he knew, in passionate escape. +But even under such a test as this his loyalty to his friend +stood firm. Never for a moment did he dream of abandoning him. +Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, +conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously. He dared not +tarry longer within their magic circle. With a wrench that tore +his very heartstrings he set his face down the road and followed +submissively in the track of the Rat, while faint, thin little +smells, still dogging his retreating nose, reproached him for his +new friendship and his callous forgetfulness. + +With an effort he caught up to the unsuspecting Rat, who began +chattering cheerfully about what they would do when they got +back, and how jolly a fire of logs in the parlour would be, +and what a supper he meant to eat; never noticing his companion's +silence and distressful state of mind. At last, however, when +they had gone some considerable way further, and were passing +some tree-stumps at the edge of a copse that bordered the road, +he stopped and said kindly, `Look here, Mole old chap, you seem +dead tired. No talk left in you, and your feet dragging like +lead. We'll sit down here for a minute and rest. The snow has +held off so far, and the best part of our journey is over.' + +The Mole subsided forlornly on a tree-stump and tried to control +himself, for he felt it surely coming. The sob he had fought +with so long refused to be beaten. Up and up, it forced its way +to the air, and then another, and another, and others thick and +fast; till poor Mole at last gave up the struggle, and cried +freely and helplessly and openly, now that he knew it was all +over and he had lost what he could hardly be said to have found. + +The Rat, astonished and dismayed at the violence of Mole's +paroxysm of grief, did not dare to speak for a while. At last he +said, very quietly and sympathetically, `What is it, old +fellow? Whatever can be the matter? Tell us your trouble, and +let me see what I can do.' + +Poor Mole found it difficult to get any words out between the +upheavals of his chest that followed one upon another so quickly +and held back speech and choked it as it came. `I know it's a-- +shabby, dingy little place,' he sobbed forth at last, brokenly: +`not like--your cosy quarters--or Toad's beautiful hall--or +Badger's great house--but it was my own little home--and I was +fond of it--and I went away and forgot all about it--and then I +smelt it suddenly--on the road, when I called and you wouldn't +listen, Rat--and everything came back to me with a rush--and I +WANTED it!--O dear, O dear!--and when you WOULDN'T turn +back, Ratty--and I had to leave it, though I was smelling it all +the time--I thought my heart would break.--We might have just +gone and had one look at it, Ratty--only one look--it was close +by--but you wouldn't turn back, Ratty, you wouldn't turn back! O +dear, O dear!' + +Recollection brought fresh waves of sorrow, and sobs again +took full charge of him, preventing further speech. + +The Rat stared straight in front of him, saying nothing, only +patting Mole gently on the shoulder. After a time he muttered +gloomily, `I see it all now! What a PIG I have been! A pig-- +that's me! Just a pig--a plain pig!' + +He waited till Mole's sobs became gradually less stormy and more +rhythmical; he waited till at last sniffs were frequent and sobs +only intermittent. Then he rose from his seat, and, remarking +carelessly, `Well, now we'd really better be getting on, old +chap!' set off up the road again, over the toilsome way they had +come. + +`Wherever are you (hic) going to (hic), Ratty?' cried the tearful +Mole, looking up in alarm. + +`We're going to find that home of yours, old fellow,' replied the +Rat pleasantly; `so you had better come along, for it will take +some finding, and we shall want your nose.' + +`Oh, come back, Ratty, do!' cried the Mole, getting up and +hurrying after him. `It's no good, I tell you! It's too late, +and too dark, and the place is too far off, and the snow's +coming! And--and I never meant to let you know I was feeling +that way about it--it was all an accident and a mistake! And +think of River Bank, and your supper!' + +`Hang River Bank, and supper too!' said the Rat heartily. `I +tell you, I'm going to find this place now, if I stay out all +night. So cheer up, old chap, and take my arm, and we'll very +soon be back there again.' + +Still snuffling, pleading, and reluctant, Mole suffered himself +to be dragged back along the road by his imperious companion, who +by a flow of cheerful talk and anecdote endeavoured to beguile +his spirits back and make the weary way seem shorter. When at +last it seemed to the Rat that they must be nearing that part of +the road where the Mole had been `held up,' he said, `Now, no +more talking. Business! Use your nose, and give your mind to +it.' + +They moved on in silence for some little way, when suddenly the +Rat was conscious, through his arm that was linked in Mole's, of +a faint sort of electric thrill that was passing down that +animal's body. Instantly he disengaged himself, fell back a +pace, and waited, all attention. + +The signals were coming through! + +Mole stood a moment rigid, while his uplifted nose, quivering +slightly, felt the air. + +Then a short, quick run forward--a fault--a check--a try back; +and then a slow, steady, confident advance. + +The Rat, much excited, kept close to his heels as the Mole, with +something of the air of a sleep-walker, crossed a dry ditch, +scrambled through a hedge, and nosed his way over a field open +and trackless and bare in the faint starlight. + +Suddenly, without giving warning, he dived; but the Rat was on +the alert, and promptly followed him down the tunnel to which his +unerring nose had faithfully led him. + +It was close and airless, and the earthy smell was strong, and it +seemed a long time to Rat ere the passage ended and he could +stand erect and stretch and shake himself. The Mole struck a +match, and by its light the Rat saw that they were standing in an +open space, neatly swept and sanded underfoot, and directly +facing them was Mole's little front door, with `Mole End' +painted, in Gothic lettering, over the bell-pull at the side. + +Mole reached down a lantern from a nail on the wail and lit it, +and the Rat, looking round him, saw that they were in a sort of +fore-court. A garden-seat stood on one side of the door, and on +the other a roller; for the Mole, who was a tidy animal when at +home, could not stand having his ground kicked up by other +animals into little runs that ended in earth-heaps. On the walls +hung wire baskets with ferns in them, alternating with brackets +carrying plaster statuary--Garibaldi, and the infant Samuel, and +Queen Victoria, and other heroes of modern Italy. Down on one +side of the forecourt ran a skittle-alley, with benches along it +and little wooden tables marked with rings that hinted at beer- +mugs. In the middle was a small round pond containing gold-fish +and surrounded by a cockle-shell border. Out of the centre of +the pond rose a fanciful erection clothed in more cockle-shells +and topped by a large silvered glass ball that reflected +everything all wrong and had a very pleasing effect. + +Mole's face-beamed at the sight of all these objects so dear to +him, and he hurried Rat through the door, lit a lamp in the +hall, and took one glance round his old home. He saw the dust +lying thick on everything, saw the cheerless, deserted look of +the long-neglected house, and its narrow, meagre dimensions, its +worn and shabby contents--and collapsed again on a hall-chair, +his nose to his paws. `O Ratty!' he cried dismally, `why ever +did I do it? Why did I bring you to this poor, cold little +place, on a night like this, when you might have been at River +Bank by this time, toasting your toes before a blazing fire, with +all your own nice things about you!' + +The Rat paid no heed to his doleful self-reproaches. He was +running here and there, opening doors, inspecting rooms and +cupboards, and lighting lamps and candles and sticking them, up +everywhere. `What a capital little house this is!' he called out +cheerily. `So compact! So well planned! Everything here and +everything in its place! We'll make a jolly night of it. The +first thing we want is a good fire; I'll see to that--I always +know where to find things. So this is the parlour? Splendid! +Your own idea, those little sleeping-bunks in the wall? Capital! +Now, I'll fetch the wood and the coals, and you get a +duster, Mole--you'll find one in the drawer of the kitchen +table--and try and smarten things up a bit. Bustle about, old +chap!' + +Encouraged by his inspiriting companion, the Mole roused himself +and dusted and polished with energy and heartiness, while the +Rat, running to and fro with armfuls of fuel, soon had a cheerful +blaze roaring up the chimney. He hailed the Mole to come and +warm himself; but Mole promptly had another fit of the blues, +dropping down on a couch in dark despair and burying his face in +his duster. `Rat,' he moaned, `how about your supper, you poor, +cold, hungry, weary animal? I've nothing to give you--nothing-- +not a crumb!' + +`What a fellow you are for giving in!' said the Rat +reproachfully. `Why, only just now I saw a sardine-opener on the +kitchen dresser, quite distinctly; and everybody knows that means +there are sardines about somewhere in the neighbourhood. Rouse +yourself! pull yourself together, and come with me and forage.' + +They went and foraged accordingly, hunting through every cupboard +and turning out every drawer. The result was not so very +depressing after all, though of course it might have been +better; a tin of sardines--a box of captain's biscuits, nearly +full--and a German sausage encased in silver paper. + +`There's a banquet for you!' observed the Rat, as he arranged the +table. `I know some animals who would give their ears to be +sitting down to supper with us to-night!' + +`No bread!' groaned the Mole dolorously; `no butter, no----' + +`No pate de foie gras, no champagne!' continued the Rat, +grinning. `And that reminds me--what's that little door at the +end of the passage? Your cellar, of course! Every luxury in +this house! Just you wait a minute.' + +He made for the cellar-door, and presently reappeared, somewhat +dusty, with a bottle of beer in each paw and another under each +arm, `Self-indulgent beggar you seem to be, Mole,' he observed. +`Deny yourself nothing. This is really the jolliest little place +I ever was in. Now, wherever did you pick up those prints? Make +the place look so home-like, they do. No wonder you're so fond +of it, Mole. Tell us all about it, and how you came to make it +what it is.' + +Then, while the Rat busied himself fetching plates, and knives +and forks, and mustard which he mixed in an egg-cup, the Mole, +his bosom still heaving with the stress of his recent emotion, +related--somewhat shyly at first, but with more freedom as he +warmed to his subject--how this was planned, and how that was +thought out, and how this was got through a windfall from an +aunt, and that was a wonderful find and a bargain, and this other +thing was bought out of laborious savings and a certain amount of +`going without.' His spirits finally quite restored, he must +needs go and caress his possessions, and take a lamp and show off +their points to his visitor and expatiate on them, quite +forgetful of the supper they both so much needed; Rat, who was +desperately hungry but strove to conceal it, nodding seriously, +examining with a puckered brow, and saying, `wonderful,' and +`most remarkable,' at intervals, when the chance for an +observation was given him. + +At last the Rat succeeded in decoying him to the table, and had +just got seriously to work with the sardine-opener when sounds +were heard from the fore-court without--sounds like the +scuffling of small feet in the gravel and a confused murmur +of tiny voices, while broken sentences reached them--`Now, all in +a line--hold the lantern up a bit, Tommy--clear your throats +first--no coughing after I say one, two, three.--Where's young +Bill?--Here, come on, do, we're all a-waiting----' + +`What's up?' inquired the Rat, pausing in his labours. + +`I think it must be the field-mice,' replied the Mole, with a +touch of pride in his manner. `They go round carol-singing +regularly at this time of the year. They're quite an institution +in these parts. And they never pass me over--they come to Mole +End last of all; and I used to give them hot drinks, and supper +too sometimes, when I could afford it. It will be like old times +to hear them again.' + +`Let's have a look at them!' cried the Rat, jumping up and +running to the door. + +It was a pretty sight, and a seasonable one, that met their eyes +when they flung the door open. In the fore-court, lit by the dim +rays of a horn lantern, some eight or ten little fieldmice stood +in a semicircle, red worsted comforters round their throats, +their fore-paws thrust deep into their pockets, their feet +jigging for warmth. With bright beady eyes they glanced shyly at +each other, sniggering a little, sniffing and applying coat- +sleeves a good deal. As the door opened, one of the elder ones +that carried the lantern was just saying, `Now then, one, two, +three!' and forthwith their shrill little voices uprose on the +air, singing one of the old-time carols that their forefathers +composed in fields that were fallow and held by frost, or when +snow-bound in chimney corners, and handed down to be sung in the +miry street to lamp-lit windows at Yule-time. + + +CAROL + +Villagers all, this frosty tide, +Let your doors swing open wide, +Though wind may follow, and snow beside, +Yet draw us in by your fire to bide; + Joy shall be yours in the morning! + +Here we stand in the cold and the sleet, +Blowing fingers and stamping feet, +Come from far away you to greet-- +You by the fire and we in the street-- + Bidding you joy in the morning! + +For ere one half of the night was gone, +Sudden a star has led us on, +Raining bliss and benison-- +Bliss to-morrow and more anon, + Joy for every morning! + +Goodman Joseph toiled through the snow-- +Saw the star o'er a stable low; +Mary she might not further go-- +Welcome thatch, and litter below! + Joy was hers in the morning! + +And then they heard the angels tell +`Who were the first to cry NOWELL? +Animals all, as it befell, +In the stable where they did dwell! + Joy shall be theirs in the morning!' + + +The voices ceased, the singers, bashful but smiling, exchanged +sidelong glances, and silence succeeded--but for a moment only. +Then, from up above and far away, down the tunnel they had so +lately travelled was borne to their ears in a faint musical hum +the sound of distant bells ringing a joyful and clangorous peal. + +`Very well sung, boys!' cried the Rat heartily. `And now come +along in, all of you, and warm yourselves by the fire, and have +something hot!' + +`Yes, come along, field-mice,' cried the Mole eagerly. `This is +quite like old times! Shut the door after you. Pull up that +settle to the fire. Now, you just wait a minute, while we--O, +Ratty!' he cried in despair, plumping down on a seat, with tears +impending. `Whatever are we doing? We've nothing to give them!' + +`You leave all that to me,' said the masterful Rat. `Here, you +with the lantern! Come over this way. I want to talk to you. +Now, tell me, are there any shops open at this hour of the +night?' + +`Why, certainly, sir,' replied the field-mouse respectfully. `At +this time of the year our shops keep open to all sorts of hours.' + +`Then look here!' said the Rat. `You go off at once, you and +your lantern, and you get me----' + +Here much muttered conversation ensued, and the Mole only heard +bits of it, such as--`Fresh, mind!--no, a pound of that will do-- +see you get Buggins's, for I won't have any other--no, only the +best--if you can't get it there, try somewhere else--yes, of +course, home-made, no tinned stuff--well then, do the best you +can!' Finally, there was a chink of coin passing from paw to +paw, the field-mouse was provided with an ample basket for his +purchases, and off he hurried, he and his lantern. + +The rest of the field-mice, perched in a row on the settle, their +small legs swinging, gave themselves up to enjoyment of the fire, +and toasted their chilblains till they tingled; while the +Mole, failing to draw them into easy conversation, plunged into +family history and made each of them recite the names of his +numerous brothers, who were too young, it appeared, to be allowed +to go out a-carolling this year, but looked forward very shortly +to winning the parental consent. + +The Rat, meanwhile, was busy examining the label on one of the +beer-bottles. `I perceive this to be Old Burton,' he remarked +approvingly. `SENSIBLE Mole! The very thing! Now we shall +be able to mull some ale! Get the things ready, Mole, while I +draw the corks.' + +It did not take long to prepare the brew and thrust the tin +heater well into the red heart of the fire; and soon every field- +mouse was sipping and coughing and choking (for a little mulled +ale goes a long way) and wiping his eyes and laughing and +forgetting he had ever been cold in all his life. + +`They act plays too, these fellows,' the Mole explained to the +Rat. `Make them up all by themselves, and act them afterwards. +And very well they do it, too! They gave us a capital one last +year, about a field-mouse who was captured at sea by a +Barbary corsair, and made to row in a galley; and when he escaped +and got home again, his lady-love had gone into a convent. Here, +YOU! You were in it, I remember. Get up and recite a bit.' + +The field-mouse addressed got up on his legs, giggled shyly, +looked round the room, and remained absolutely tongue-tied. His +comrades cheered him on, Mole coaxed and encouraged him, and the +Rat went so far as to take him by the shoulders and shake him; +but nothing could overcome his stage-fright. They were all +busily engaged on him like watermen applying the Royal Humane +Society's regulations to a case of long submersion, when the +latch clicked, the door opened, and the field-mouse with the +lantern reappeared, staggering under the weight of his basket. + +There was no more talk of play-acting once the very real and +solid contents of the basket had been tumbled out on the table. +Under the generalship of Rat, everybody was set to do something +or to fetch something. In a very few minutes supper was ready, +and Mole, as he took the head of the table in a sort of a dream, +saw a lately barren board set thick with savoury comforts; +saw his little friends' faces brighten and beam as they fell to +without delay; and then let himself loose--for he was famished +indeed--on the provender so magically provided, thinking what a +happy home-coming this had turned out, after all. As they ate, +they talked of old times, and the field-mice gave him the local +gossip up to date, and answered as well as they could the hundred +questions he had to ask them. The Rat said little or nothing, +only taking care that each guest had what he wanted, and plenty +of it, and that Mole had no trouble or anxiety about anything. + +They clattered off at last, very grateful and showering wishes of +the season, with their jacket pockets stuffed with remembrances +for the small brothers and sisters at home. When the door had +closed on the last of them and the chink of the lanterns had died +away, Mole and Rat kicked the fire up, drew their chairs in, +brewed themselves a last nightcap of mulled ale, and discussed +the events of the long day. At last the Rat, with a tremendous +yawn, said, `Mole, old chap, I'm ready to drop. Sleepy is simply +not the word. That your own bunk over on that side? Very well, +then, I'll take this. What a ripping little house this is! +Everything so handy!' + +He clambered into his bunk and rolled himself well up in the +blankets, and slumber gathered him forthwith, as a swathe of +barley is folded into the arms of the reaping machine. + +The weary Mole also was glad to turn in without delay, and soon +had his head on his pillow, in great joy and contentment. But +ere he closed his eyes he let them wander round his old room, +mellow in the glow of the firelight that played or rested on +familiar and friendly things which had long been unconsciously a +part of him, and now smilingly received him back, without +rancour. He was now in just the frame of mind that the tactful +Rat had quietly worked to bring about in him. He saw clearly how +plain and simple--how narrow, even--it all was; but clearly, too, +how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such +anchorage in one's existence. He did not at all want to abandon +the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and +air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the +upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down +there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But +it was good to think he had this to come back to; this place +which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him +again and could always be counted upon for the same simple +welcome. + + + +VI + +MR. TOAD + +It was a bright morning in the early part of summer; the river +had resumed its wonted banks and its accustomed pace, and a hot +sun seemed to be pulling everything green and bushy and spiky up +out of the earth towards him, as if by strings. The Mole and the +Water Rat had been up since dawn, very busy on matters connected +with boats and the opening of the boating season; painting and +varnishing, mending paddles, repairing cushions, hunting for +missing boat-hooks, and so on; and were finishing breakfast in +their little parlour and eagerly discussing their plans for the +day, when a heavy knock sounded at the door. + +`Bother!' said the Rat, all over egg. `See who it is, Mole, like +a good chap, since you've finished.' + +The Mole went to attend the summons, and the Rat heard +him utter a cry of surprise. Then he flung the parlour door +open, and announced with much importance, `Mr. Badger!' + +This was a wonderful thing, indeed, that the Badger should pay a +formal call on them, or indeed on anybody. He generally had to +be caught, if you wanted him badly, as he slipped quietly along a +hedgerow of an early morning or a late evening, or else hunted up +in his own house in the middle of the Wood, which was a serious +undertaking. + +The Badger strode heavily into the room, and stood looking at the +two animals with an expression full of seriousness. The Rat let +his egg-spoon fall on the table-cloth, and sat open-mouthed. + +`The hour has come!' said the Badger at last with great +solemnity. + +`What hour?' asked the Rat uneasily, glancing at the clock on the +mantelpiece. + +`WHOSE hour, you should rather say,' replied the Badger. +`Why, Toad's hour! The hour of Toad! I said I would take him in +hand as soon as the winter was well over, and I'm going to take +him in hand to-day!' + +`Toad's hour, of course!' cried the Mole delightedly. +`Hooray! I remember now! WE'LL teach him to be a sensible +Toad!' + +`This very morning,' continued the Badger, taking an arm-chair, +`as I learnt last night from a trustworthy source, another new +and exceptionally powerful motor-car will arrive at Toad Hall on +approval or return. At this very moment, perhaps, Toad is busy +arraying himself in those singularly hideous habiliments so dear +to him, which transform him from a (comparatively) good-looking +Toad into an Object which throws any decent-minded animal that +comes across it into a violent fit. We must be up and doing, ere +it is too late. You two animals will accompany me instantly to +Toad Hall, and the work of rescue shall be accomplished.' + +`Right you are!' cried the Rat, starting up. `We'll rescue the +poor unhappy animal! We'll convert him! He'll be the most +converted Toad that ever was before we've done with him!' + +They set off up the road on their mission of mercy, Badger +leading the way. Animals when in company walk in a proper and +sensible manner, in single file, instead of sprawling all +across the road and being of no use or support to each other +in case of sudden trouble or danger. + +They reached the carriage-drive of Toad Hall to find, as the +Badger had anticipated, a shiny new motor-car, of great size, +painted a bright red (Toad's favourite colour), standing in front +of the house. As they neared the door it was flung open, and Mr. +Toad, arrayed in goggles, cap, gaiters, and enormous overcoat, +came swaggering down the steps, drawing on his gauntleted gloves. + +`Hullo! come on, you fellows!' he cried cheerfully on catching +sight of them. `You're just in time to come with me for a +jolly--to come for a jolly--for a--er--jolly----' + +His hearty accents faltered and fell away as he noticed the stern +unbending look on the countenances of his silent friends, and his +invitation remained unfinished. + +The Badger strode up the steps. `Take him inside,' he said +sternly to his companions. Then, as Toad was hustled through the +door, struggling and protesting, he turned to the chauffeur in +charge of the new motor-car. + +`I'm afraid you won't be wanted to-day,' he said. `Mr. Toad +has changed his mind. He will not require the car. Please +understand that this is final. You needn't wait.' Then he +followed the others inside and shut the door. + +`Now then!' he said to the Toad, when the four of them stood +together in the Hall, `first of all, take those ridiculous things +off!' + +`Shan't!' replied Toad, with great spirit. `What is the meaning +of this gross outrage? I demand an instant explanation.' + +`Take them off him, then, you two,' ordered the Badger briefly. + +They had to lay Toad out on the floor, kicking and calling all +sorts of names, before they could get to work properly. Then the +Rat sat on him, and the Mole got his motor-clothes off him bit by +bit, and they stood him up on his legs again. A good deal of his +blustering spirit seemed to have evaporated with the removal of +his fine panoply. Now that he was merely Toad, and no longer the +Terror of the Highway, he giggled feebly and looked from one to +the other appealingly, seeming quite to understand the situation. + +`You knew it must come to this, sooner or later, Toad,' the +Badger explained severely. + +You've disregarded all the warnings we've given you, you've gone +on squandering the money your father left you, and you're getting +us animals a bad name in the district by your furious driving and +your smashes and your rows with the police. Independence is all +very well, but we animals never allow our friends to make fools +of themselves beyond a certain limit; and that limit you've +reached. Now, you're a good fellow in many respects, and I don't +want to be too hard on you. I'll make one more effort to bring +you to reason. You will come with me into the smoking-room, and +there you will hear some facts about yourself; and we'll see +whether you come out of that room the same Toad that you went +in.' + +He took Toad firmly by the arm, led him into the smoking-room, +and closed the door behind them. + +`THAT'S no good!' said the Rat contemptuously. `TALKING to +Toad'll never cure him. He'll SAY anything.' + +They made themselves comfortable in armchairs and waited +patiently. Through the closed door they could just hear the long +continuous drone of the Badger's voice, rising and falling +in waves of oratory; and presently they noticed that the sermon +began to be punctuated at intervals by long-drawn sobs, evidently +proceeding from the bosom of Toad, who was a soft-hearted and +affectionate fellow, very easily converted--for the time being-- +to any point of view. + +After some three-quarters of an hour the door opened, and the +Badger reappeared, solemnly leading by the paw a very limp and +dejected Toad. His skin hung baggily about him, his legs +wobbled, and his cheeks were furrowed by the tears so plentifully +called forth by the Badger's moving discourse. + +`Sit down there, Toad,' said the Badger kindly, pointing to a +chair. `My friends,' he went on, `I am pleased to inform you +that Toad has at last seen the error of his ways. He is truly +sorry for his misguided conduct in the past, and he has +undertaken to give up motor-cars entirely and for ever. I have +his solemn promise to that effect.' + +`That is very good news,' said the Mole gravely. + +`Very good news indeed,' observed the Rat dubiously, `if only-- +IF only----' + +He was looking very hard at Toad as he said this, and could not +help thinking he perceived something vaguely resembling a twinkle +in that animal's still sorrowful eye. + +`There's only one thing more to be done,' continued the gratified +Badger. `Toad, I want you solemnly to repeat, before your +friends here, what you fully admitted to me in the smoking-room +just now. First, you are sorry for what you've done, and you see +the folly of it all?' + +There was a long, long pause. Toad looked desperately this way +and that, while the other animals waited in grave silence. At +last he spoke. + +`No!' he said, a little sullenly, but stoutly; `I'm NOT sorry. +And it wasn't folly at all! It was simply glorious!' + +`What?' cried the Badger, greatly scandalised. `You backsliding +animal, didn't you tell me just now, in there----' + +`Oh, yes, yes, in THERE,' said Toad impatiently. `I'd have +said anything in THERE. You're so eloquent, dear Badger, and +so moving, and so convincing, and put all your points so +frightfully well--you can do what you like with me in +THERE, and you know it. But I've been searching my mind +since, and going over things in it, and I find that I'm not a bit +sorry or repentant really, so it's no earthly good saying I am; +now, is it?' + +`Then you don't promise,' said the Badger, `never to touch a +motor-car again?' + +`Certainly not!' replied Toad emphatically. `On the contrary, I +faithfully promise that the very first motor-car I see, poop- +poop! off I go in it!' + +`Told you so, didn't I?' observed the Rat to the Mole. + +`Very well, then,' said the Badger firmly, rising to his feet. +`Since you won't yield to persuasion, we'll try what force can +do. I feared it would come to this all along. You've often +asked us three to come and stay with you, Toad, in this handsome +house of yours; well, now we're going to. When we've converted +you to a proper point of view we may quit, but not before. Take +him upstairs, you two, and lock him up in his bedroom, while we +arrange matters between ourselves.' + +`It's for your own good, Toady, you know,' said the Rat kindly, +as Toad, kicking and struggling, was hauled up the stairs by +his two faithful friends. `Think what fun we shall all have +together, just as we used to, when you've quite got over this-- +this painful attack of yours!' + +`We'll take great care of everything for you till you're well, +Toad,' said the Mole; `and we'll see your money isn't wasted, as +it has been.' + +`No more of those regrettable incidents with the police, Toad,' +said the Rat, as they thrust him into his bedroom. + +`And no more weeks in hospital, being ordered about by female +nurses, Toad,' added the Mole, turning the key on him. + +They descended the stair, Toad shouting abuse at them through the +keyhole; and the three friends then met in conference on the +situation. + +`It's going to be a tedious business,' said the Badger, sighing. +`I've never seen Toad so determined. However, we will see it +out. He must never be left an instant unguarded. We shall have +to take it in turns to be with him, till the poison has worked +itself out of his system.' + +They arranged watches accordingly. Each animal took it in turns +to sleep in Toad's room at night, and they divided the day up +between them. At first Toad was undoubtedly very trying to his +careful guardians. When his violent paroxysms possessed him he +would arrange bedroom chairs in rude resemblance of a motor-car +and would crouch on the foremost of them, bent forward and +staring fixedly ahead, making uncouth and ghastly noises, till +the climax was reached, when, turning a complete somersault, he +would lie prostrate amidst the ruins of the chairs, apparently +completely satisfied for the moment. As time passed, however, +these painful seizures grew gradually less frequent, and his +friends strove to divert his mind into fresh channels. But his +interest in other matters did not seem to revive, and he grew +apparently languid and depressed. + +One fine morning the Rat, whose turn it was to go on duty, went +upstairs to relieve Badger, whom he found fidgeting to be off and +stretch his legs in a long ramble round his wood and down his +earths and burrows. `Toad's still in bed,' he told the Rat, +outside the door. `Can't get much out of him, except, "O leave +him alone, he wants nothing, perhaps he'll be better +presently, it may pass off in time, don't be unduly anxious," and +so on. Now, you look out, Rat! When Toad's quiet and submissive +and playing at being the hero of a Sunday-school prize, then he's +at his artfullest. There's sure to be something up. I know him. +Well, now, I must be off.' + +`How are you to-day, old chap?' inquired the Rat cheerfully, as +he approached Toad's bedside. + +He had to wait some minutes for an answer. At last a feeble +voice replied, `Thank you so much, dear Ratty! So good of you to +inquire! But first tell me how you are yourself, and the +excellent Mole?' + +`O, WE'RE all right,' replied the Rat. `Mole,' he added +incautiously, `is going out for a run round with Badger. They'll +be out till luncheon time, so you and I will spend a pleasant +morning together, and I'll do my best to amuse you. Now jump up, +there's a good fellow, and don't lie moping there on a fine +morning like this!' + +`Dear, kind Rat,' murmured Toad, `how little you realise my +condition, and how very far I am from "jumping up" now--if ever! +But do not trouble about me. I hate being a burden to my +friends, and I do not expect to be one much longer. Indeed, I +almost hope not.' + +`Well, I hope not, too,' said the Rat heartily. `You've been a +fine bother to us all this time, and I'm glad to hear it's going +to stop. And in weather like this, and the boating season just +beginning! It's too bad of you, Toad! It isn't the trouble we +mind, but you're making us miss such an awful lot.' + +`I'm afraid it IS the trouble you mind, though,' replied the +Toad languidly. `I can quite understand it. It's natural +enough. You're tired of bothering about me. I mustn't ask you +to do anything further. I'm a nuisance, I know.' + +`You are, indeed,' said the Rat. `But I tell you, I'd take any +trouble on earth for you, if only you'd be a sensible animal.' + +`If I thought that, Ratty,' murmured Toad, more feebly than ever, +`then I would beg you--for the last time, probably--to step round +to the village as quickly as possible--even now it may be too +late--and fetch the doctor. But don't you bother. It's only a +trouble, and perhaps we may as well let things take their +course.' + +`Why, what do you want a doctor for?' inquired the Rat, coming +closer and examining him. He certainly lay very still and flat, +and his voice was weaker and his manner much changed. + +`Surely you have noticed of late----' murmured Toad. `But, no-- +why should you? Noticing things is only a trouble. To-morrow, +indeed, you may be saying to yourself, "O, if only I had noticed +sooner! If only I had done something!" But no; it's a trouble. +Never mind--forget that I asked.' + +`Look here, old man,' said the Rat, beginning to get rather +alarmed, `of course I'll fetch a doctor to you, if you really +think you want him. But you can hardly be bad enough for that +yet. Let's talk about something else.' + +`I fear, dear friend,' said Toad, with a sad smile, `that "talk" +can do little in a case like this--or doctors either, for that +matter; still, one must grasp at the slightest straw. And, by +the way--while you are about it--I HATE to give you additional +trouble, but I happen to remember that you will pass the door-- +would you mind at the same time asking the lawyer to step up? It +would be a convenience to me, and there are moments--perhaps +I should say there is A moment--when one must face +disagreeable tasks, at whatever cost to exhausted nature!' + +`A lawyer! O, he must be really bad!' the affrighted Rat said to +himself, as he hurried from the room, not forgetting, however, to +lock the door carefully behind him. + +Outside, he stopped to consider. The other two were far away, +and he had no one to consult. + +`It's best to be on the safe side,' he said, on reflection. +`I've known Toad fancy himself frightfully bad before, without +the slightest reason; but I've never heard him ask for a lawyer! +If there's nothing really the matter, the doctor will tell him +he's an old ass, and cheer him up; and that will be something +gained. I'd better humour him and go; it won't take very long.' +So he ran off to the village on his errand of mercy. + +The Toad, who had hopped lightly out of bed as soon as he heard +the key turned in the lock, watched him eagerly from the window +till he disappeared down the carriage-drive. Then, laughing +heartily, he dressed as quickly as possible in the smartest +suit he could lay hands on at the moment, filled his pockets with +cash which he took from a small drawer in the dressing-table, and +next, knotting the sheets from his bed together and tying one end +of the improvised rope round the central mullion of the handsome +Tudor window which formed such a feature of his bedroom, he +scrambled out, slid lightly to the ground, and, taking the +opposite direction to the Rat, marched off lightheartedly, +whistling a merry tune. + +It was a gloomy luncheon for Rat when the Badger and the Mole at +length returned, and he had to face them at table with his +pitiful and unconvincing story. The Badger's caustic, not to say +brutal, remarks may be imagined, and therefore passed over; but +it was painful to the Rat that even the Mole, though he took his +friend's side as far as possible, could not help saying, `You've +been a bit of a duffer this time, Ratty! Toad, too, of all +animals!' + +`He did it awfully well,' said the crestfallen Rat. + +`He did YOU awfully well!' rejoined the Badger hotly. +`However, talking won't mend matters. He's got clear away for +the time, that's certain; and the worst of it is, he'll be +so conceited with what he'll think is his cleverness that he may +commit any folly. One comfort is, we're free now, and needn't +waste any more of our precious time doing sentry-go. But we'd +better continue to sleep at Toad Hall for a while longer. Toad +may be brought back at any moment--on a stretcher, or between two +policemen.' + +So spoke the Badger, not knowing what the future held in store, +or how much water, and of how turbid a character, was to run +under bridges before Toad should sit at ease again in his +ancestral Hall. + + +Meanwhile, Toad, gay and irresponsible, was walking briskly along +the high road, some miles from home. At first he had taken by- +paths, and crossed many fields, and changed his course several +times, in case of pursuit; but now, feeling by this time safe +from recapture, and the sun smiling brightly on him, and all +Nature joining in a chorus of approval to the song of self-praise +that his own heart was singing to him, he almost danced along the +road in his satisfaction and conceit. + +`Smart piece of work that!' he remarked to himself chuckling. +`Brain against brute force--and brain came out on the top--as +it's bound to do. Poor old Ratty! My! won't he catch it when +the Badger gets back! A worthy fellow, Ratty, with many good +qualities, but very little intelligence and absolutely no +education. I must take him in hand some day, and see if I can +make something of him.' + +Filled full of conceited thoughts such as these he strode along, +his head in the air, till he reached a little town, where the +sign of `The Red Lion,' swinging across the road halfway down the +main street, reminded him that he had not breakfasted that day, +and that he was exceedingly hungry after his long walk. He +marched into the Inn, ordered the best luncheon that could be +provided at so short a notice, and sat down to eat it in the +coffee-room. + +He was about half-way through his meal when an only too familiar +sound, approaching down the street, made him start and fall a- +trembling all over. The poop-poop! drew nearer and nearer, the +car could be heard to turn into the inn-yard and come to a stop, +and Toad had to hold on to the leg of the table to conceal +his over-mastering emotion. Presently the party entered the +coffee-room, hungry, talkative, and gay, voluble on their +experiences of the morning and the merits of the chariot that had +brought them along so well. Toad listened eagerly, all ears, for +a time; at last he could stand it no longer. He slipped out of +the room quietly, paid his bill at the bar, and as soon as he got +outside sauntered round quietly to the inn-yard. `There cannot +be any harm,' he said to himself, `in my only just LOOKING at +it!' + +The car stood in the middle of the yard, quite unattended, the +stable-helps and other hangers-on being all at their dinner. +Toad walked slowly round it, inspecting, criticising, musing +deeply. + +`I wonder,' he said to himself presently, `I wonder if this sort +of car STARTS easily?' + +Next moment, hardly knowing how it came about, he found he had +hold of the handle and was turning it. As the familiar sound +broke forth, the old passion seized on Toad and completely +mastered him, body and soul. As if in a dream he found himself, +somehow, seated in the driver's seat; as if in a dream, he +pulled the lever and swung the car round the yard and out through +the archway; and, as if in a dream, all sense of right and wrong, +all fear of obvious consequences, seemed temporarily suspended. +He increased his pace, and as the car devoured the street and +leapt forth on the high road through the open country, he was +only conscious that he was Toad once more, Toad at his best and +highest, Toad the terror, the traffic-queller, the Lord of the +lone trail, before whom all must give way or be smitten into +nothingness and everlasting night. He chanted as he flew, and +the car responded with sonorous drone; the miles were eaten up +under him as he sped he knew not whither, fulfilling his +instincts, living his hour, reckless of what might come to him. + + +* * * * * * + +`To my mind,' observed the Chairman of the Bench of Magistrates +cheerfully, `the ONLY difficulty that presents itself in this +otherwise very clear case is, how we can possibly make it +sufficiently hot for the incorrigible rogue and hardened ruffian +whom we see cowering in the dock before us. Let me see: he has +been found guilty, on the clearest evidence, first, of +stealing a valuable motor-car; secondly, of driving to the public +danger; and, thirdly, of gross impertinence to the rural police. +Mr. Clerk, will you tell us, please, what is the very stiffest +penalty we can impose for each of these offences? Without, of +course, giving the prisoner the benefit of any doubt, because +there isn't any.' + +The Clerk scratched his nose with his pen. `Some people would +consider,' he observed, `that stealing the motor-car was the +worst offence; and so it is. But cheeking the police undoubtedly +carries the severest penalty; and so it ought. Supposing you +were to say twelve months for the theft, which is mild; and three +years for the furious driving, which is lenient; and fifteen +years for the cheek, which was pretty bad sort of cheek, judging +by what we've heard from the witness-box, even if you only +believe one-tenth part of what you heard, and I never believe +more myself--those figures, if added together correctly, tot up +to nineteen years----' + +`First-rate!' said the Chairman. + +`--So you had better make it a round twenty years and be on +the safe side,' concluded the Clerk. + +`An excellent suggestion!' said the Chairman approvingly. +`Prisoner! Pull yourself together and try and stand up straight. +It's going to be twenty years for you this time. And mind, if +you appear before us again, upon any charge whatever, we shall +have to deal with you very seriously!' + +Then the brutal minions of the law fell upon the hapless Toad; +loaded him with chains, and dragged him from the Court House, +shrieking, praying, protesting; across the marketplace, where the +playful populace, always as severe upon detected crime as they +are sympathetic and helpful when one is merely `wanted,' assailed +him with jeers, carrots, and popular catch-words; past hooting +school children, their innocent faces lit up with the pleasure +they ever derive from the sight of a gentleman in difficulties; +across the hollow-sounding drawbridge, below the spiky +portcullis, under the frowning archway of the grim old castle, +whose ancient towers soared high overhead; past guardrooms full +of grinning soldiery off duty, past sentries who coughed in a +horrid, sarcastic way, because that is as much as a sentry +on his post dare do to show his contempt and abhorrence of crime; +up time-worn winding stairs, past men-at-arms in casquet and +corselet of steel, darting threatening looks through their +vizards; across courtyards, where mastiffs strained at their +leash and pawed the air to get at him; past ancient warders, +their halberds leant against the wall, dozing over a pasty and a +flagon of brown ale; on and on, past the rack-chamber and the +thumbscrew-room, past the turning that led to the private +scaffold, till they reached the door of the grimmest dungeon that +lay in the heart of the innermost keep. There at last they +paused, where an ancient gaoler sat fingering a bunch of mighty +keys. + +`Oddsbodikins!' said the sergeant of police, taking off his +helmet and wiping his forehead. `Rouse thee, old loon, and take +over from us this vile Toad, a criminal of deepest guilt and +matchless artfulness and resource. Watch and ward him with all +thy skill; and mark thee well, greybeard, should aught untoward +befall, thy old head shall answer for his--and a murrain on both +of them!' + +The gaoler nodded grimly, laying his withered hand on the +shoulder of the miserable Toad. The rusty key creaked in the +lock, the great door clanged behind them; and Toad was a helpless +prisoner in the remotest dungeon of the best-guarded keep of the +stoutest castle in all the length and breadth of Merry England. + + + +VII + +THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN + +The Willow-Wren was twittering his thin little song, hidden +himself in the dark selvedge of the river bank. Though it was +past ten o'clock at night, the sky still clung to and retained +some lingering skirts of light from the departed day; and the +sullen heats of the torrid afternoon broke up and rolled away at +the dispersing touch of the cool fingers of the short midsummer +night. Mole lay stretched on the bank, still panting from the +stress of the fierce day that had been cloudless from dawn to +late sunset, and waited for his friend to return. He had been on +the river with some companions, leaving the Water Rat free to +keep a engagement of long standing with Otter; and he had come +back to find the house dark and deserted, and no sign of Rat, who +was doubtless keeping it up late with his old comrade. +It was still too hot to think of staying indoors, so he lay on +some cool dock-leaves, and thought over the past day and its +doings, and how very good they all had been. + +The Rat's light footfall was presently heard approaching over the +parched grass. `O, the blessed coolness!' he said, and sat down, +gazing thoughtfully into the river, silent and pre-occupied. + +`You stayed to supper, of course?' said the Mole presently. + +`Simply had to,' said the Rat. `They wouldn't hear of my going +before. You know how kind they always are. And they made things +as jolly for me as ever they could, right up to the moment I +left. But I felt a brute all the time, as it was clear to me +they were very unhappy, though they tried to hide it. Mole, I'm +afraid they're in trouble. Little Portly is missing again; and +you know what a lot his father thinks of him, though he never +says much about it.' + +`What, that child?' said the Mole lightly. `Well, suppose he is; +why worry about it? He's always straying off and getting lost, +and turning up again; he's so adventurous. But no harm ever +happens to him. Everybody hereabouts knows him and likes him, +just as they do old Otter, and you may be sure some animal or +other will come across him and bring him back again all right. +Why, we've found him ourselves, miles from home, and quite self- +possessed and cheerful!' + +`Yes; but this time it's more serious,' said the Rat gravely. +`He's been missing for some days now, and the Otters have hunted +everywhere, high and low, without finding the slightest trace. +And they've asked every animal, too, for miles around, and no one +knows anything about him. Otter's evidently more anxious than +he'll admit. I got out of him that young Portly hasn't learnt to +swim very well yet, and I can see he's thinking of the weir. +There's a lot of water coming down still, considering the time of +the year, and the place always had a fascination for the child. +And then there are--well, traps and things--YOU know. Otter's +not the fellow to be nervous about any son of his before it's +time. And now he IS nervous. When I left, he came out with +me--said he wanted some air, and talked about stretching his +legs. But I could see it wasn't that, so I drew him out and +pumped him, and got it all from him at last. He was going to +spend the night watching by the ford. You know the place where +the old ford used to be, in by-gone days before they built the +bridge?' + +`I know it well,' said the Mole. `But why should Otter choose to +watch there?' + +`Well, it seems that it was there he gave Portly his first +swimming-lesson,' continued the Rat. `From that shallow, +gravelly spit near the bank. And it was there he used to teach +him fishing, and there young Portly caught his first fish, of +which he was so very proud. The child loved the spot, and Otter +thinks that if he came wandering back from wherever he is--if he +IS anywhere by this time, poor little chap--he might make for +the ford he was so fond of; or if he came across it he'd remember +it well, and stop there and play, perhaps. So Otter goes there +every night and watches--on the chance, you know, just on the +chance!' + +They were silent for a time, both thinking of the same thing--the +lonely, heart-sore animal, crouched by the ford, watching and +waiting, the long night through--on the chance. + +`Well, well,' said the Rat presently, `I suppose we ought to be +thinking about turning in.' But he never offered to move. + +`Rat,' said the Mole, `I simply can't go and turn in, and go to +sleep, and DO nothing, even though there doesn't seem to be +anything to be done. We'll get the boat out, and paddle up +stream. The moon will be up in an hour or so, and then we will +search as well as we can--anyhow, it will be better than going to +bed and doing NOTHING.' + +`Just what I was thinking myself,' said the Rat. `It's not the +sort of night for bed anyhow; and daybreak is not so very far +off, and then we may pick up some news of him from early risers +as we go along.' + +They got the boat out, and the Rat took the sculls, paddling with +caution. Out in midstream, there was a clear, narrow track that +faintly reflected the sky; but wherever shadows fell on the water +from bank, bush, or tree, they were as solid to all appearance as +the banks themselves, and the Mole had to steer with judgment +accordingly. Dark and deserted as it was, the night was full of +small noises, song and chatter and rustling, telling of the busy +little population who were up and about, plying their trades +and vocations through the night till sunshine should fall on them +at last and send them off to their well-earned repose. The +water's own noises, too, were more apparent than by day, its +gurglings and `cloops' more unexpected and near at hand; and +constantly they started at what seemed a sudden clear call from +an actual articulate voice. + +The line of the horizon was clear and hard against the sky, and +in one particular quarter it showed black against a silvery +climbing phosphorescence that grew and grew. At last, over the +rim of the waiting earth the moon lifted with slow majesty till +it swung clear of the horizon and rode off, free of moorings; and +once more they began to see surfaces--meadows wide-spread, and +quiet gardens, and the river itself from bank to bank, all softly +disclosed, all washed clean of mystery and terror, all radiant +again as by day, but with a difference that was tremendous. +Their old haunts greeted them again in other raiment, as if they +had slipped away and put on this pure new apparel and come +quietly back, smiling as they shyly waited to see if they would +be recognised again under it. + +Fastening their boat to a willow, the friends landed in this +silent, silver kingdom, and patiently explored the hedges, the +hollow trees, the runnels and their little culverts, the ditches +and dry water-ways. Embarking again and crossing over, they +worked their way up the stream in this manner, while the moon, +serene and detached in a cloudless sky, did what she could, +though so far off, to help them in their quest; till her hour +came and she sank earthwards reluctantly, and left them, and +mystery once more held field and river. + +Then a change began slowly to declare itself. The horizon became +clearer, field and tree came more into sight, and somehow with a +different look; the mystery began to drop away from them. A bird +piped suddenly, and was still; and a light breeze sprang up and +set the reeds and bulrushes rustling. Rat, who was in the stern +of the boat, while Mole sculled, sat up suddenly and listened +with a passionate intentness. Mole, who with gentle strokes was +just keeping the boat moving while he scanned the banks with +care, looked at him with curiosity. + +`It's gone!' sighed the Rat, sinking back in his seat again. `So +beautiful and strange and new. Since it was to end so soon, +I almost wish I had never heard it. For it has roused a longing +in me that is pain, and nothing seems worth while but just to +hear that sound once more and go on listening to it for ever. +No! There it is again!' he cried, alert once more. Entranced, +he was silent for a long space, spellbound. + +`Now it passes on and I begin to lose it,' he said presently. `O +Mole! the beauty of it! The merry bubble and joy, the thin, +clear, happy call of the distant piping! Such music I never +dreamed of, and the call in it is stronger even than the music is +sweet! Row on, Mole, row! For the music and the call must be +for us.' + +The Mole, greatly wondering, obeyed. `I hear nothing myself,' he +said, `but the wind playing in the reeds and rushes and osiers.' + +The Rat never answered, if indeed he heard. Rapt, transported, +trembling, he was possessed in all his senses by this new divine +thing that caught up his helpless soul and swung and dandled it, +a powerless but happy infant in a strong sustaining grasp. + +In silence Mole rowed steadily, and soon they came to a point +where the river divided, a long backwater branching off to +one side. With a slight movement of his head Rat, who had long +dropped the rudder-lines, directed the rower to take the +backwater. The creeping tide of light gained and gained, and now +they could see the colour of the flowers that gemmed the water's +edge. + +`Clearer and nearer still,' cried the Rat joyously. `Now you +must surely hear it! Ah--at last--I see you do!' + +Breathless and transfixed the Mole stopped rowing as the liquid +run of that glad piping broke on him like a wave, caught him up, +and possessed him utterly. He saw the tears on his comrade's +cheeks, and bowed his head and understood. For a space they hung +there, brushed by the purple loose-strife that fringed the bank; +then the clear imperious summons that marched hand-in-hand with +the intoxicating melody imposed its will on Mole, and +mechanically he bent to his oars again. And the light grew +steadily stronger, but no birds sang as they were wont to do at +the approach of dawn; and but for the heavenly music all was +marvellously still. + +On either side of them, as they glided onwards, the rich +meadow-grass seemed that morning of a freshness and a greenness +unsurpassable. Never had they noticed the roses so vivid, the +willow-herb so riotous, the meadow-sweet so odorous and +pervading. Then the murmur of the approaching weir began to hold +the air, and they felt a consciousness that they were nearing the +end, whatever it might be, that surely awaited their expedition. + +A wide half-circle of foam and glinting lights and shining +shoulders of green water, the great weir closed the backwater +from bank to bank, troubled all the quiet surface with twirling +eddies and floating foam-streaks, and deadened all other sounds +with its solemn and soothing rumble. In midmost of the stream, +embraced in the weir's shimmering arm-spread, a small island lay +anchored, fringed close with willow and silver birch and alder. +Reserved, shy, but full of significance, it hid whatever it might +hold behind a veil, keeping it till the hour should come, and, +with the hour, those who were called and chosen. + +Slowly, but with no doubt or hesitation whatever, and in +something of a solemn expectancy, the two animals passed through +the broken tumultuous water and moored their boat at the +flowery margin of the island. In silence they landed, and pushed +through the blossom and scented herbage and undergrowth that led +up to the level ground, till they stood on a little lawn of a +marvellous green, set round with Nature's own orchard-trees-- +crab-apple, wild cherry, and sloe. + +`This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played +to me,' whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. `Here, in this +holy place, here if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!' + +Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe +that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his +feet to the ground. It was no panic terror--indeed he felt +wonderfully at peace and happy--but it was an awe that smote and +held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that +some august Presence was very, very near. With difficulty he +turned to look for his friend. and saw him at his side cowed, +stricken, and trembling violently. And still there was utter +silence in the populous bird-haunted branches around them; and +still the light grew and grew. + +Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that, +though the piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed +still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death +himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with +mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, +and raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of +the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fulness of +incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he +looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the +backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing +daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that +were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth +broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles +on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand +still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted +lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in +majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between +his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and +contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the +baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and +intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he +lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered. + +`Rat!' he found breath to whisper, shaking. `Are you afraid?' + +`Afraid?' murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable +love. `Afraid! Of HIM? O, never, never! And yet--and yet-- +O, Mole, I am afraid!' + +Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads +and did worship. + +Sudden and magnificent, the sun's broad golden disc showed itself +over the horizon facing them; and the first rays, shooting across +the level water-meadows, took the animals full in the eyes and +dazzled them. When they were able to look once more, the Vision +had vanished, and the air was full of the carol of birds that +hailed the dawn. + +As they stared blankly. in dumb misery deepening as they slowly +realised all they had seen and all they had lost, a capricious +little breeze, dancing up from the surface of the water, tossed +the aspens, shook the dewy roses and blew lightly and caressingly +in their faces; and with its soft touch came instant +oblivion. For this is the last best gift that the kindly demi- +god is careful to bestow on those to whom he has revealed himself +in their helping: the gift of forgetfulness. Lest the awful +remembrance should remain and grow, and overshadow mirth and +pleasure, and the great haunting memory should spoil all the +after-lives of little animals helped out of difficulties, in +order that they should be happy and lighthearted as before. + +Mole rubbed his eyes and stared at Rat, who was looking about him +in a puzzled sort of way. `I beg your pardon; what did you say, +Rat?' he asked. + +`I think I was only remarking,' said Rat slowly, `that this was +the right sort of place, and that here, if anywhere, we should +find him. And look! Why, there he is, the little fellow!' And +with a cry of delight he ran towards the slumbering Portly. + +But Mole stood still a moment, held in thought. As one wakened +suddenly from a beautiful dream, who struggles to recall it, and +can re-capture nothing but a dim sense of the beauty of it, the +beauty! Till that, too, fades away in its turn, and the +dreamer bitterly accepts the hard, cold waking and all its +penalties; so Mole, after struggling with his memory for a brief +space, shook his head sadly and followed the Rat. + +Portly woke up with a joyous squeak, and wriggled with pleasure +at the sight of his father's friends, who had played with him so +often in past days. In a moment, however, his face grew blank, +and he fell to hunting round in a circle with pleading whine. As +a child that has fallen happily asleep in its nurse's arms, and +wakes to find itself alone and laid in a strange place, and +searches corners and cupboards, and runs from room to room, +despair growing silently in its heart, even so Portly searched +the island and searched, dogged and unwearying, till at last the +black moment came for giving it up, and sitting down and crying +bitterly. + +The Mole ran quickly to comfort the little animal; but Rat, +lingering, looked long and doubtfully at certain hoof-marks deep +in the sward. + +`Some--great--animal--has been here,' he murmured slowly and +thoughtfully; and stood musing, musing; his mind strangely +stirred. + +`Come along, Rat!' called the Mole. `Think of poor Otter, +waiting up there by the ford!' + +Portly had soon been comforted by the promise of a treat--a jaunt +on the river in Mr. Rat's real boat; and the two animals +conducted him to the water's side, placed him securely between +them in the bottom of the boat, and paddled off down the +backwater. The sun was fully up by now, and hot on them, birds +sang lustily and without restraint, and flowers smiled and nodded +from either bank, but somehow--so thought the animals--with less +of richness and blaze of colour than they seemed to remember +seeing quite recently somewhere--they wondered where. + +The main river reached again, they turned the boat's head +upstream, towards the point where they knew their friend was +keeping his lonely vigil. As they drew near the familiar ford, +the Mole took the boat in to the bank, and they lifted Portly out +and set him on his legs on the tow-path, gave him his marching +orders and a friendly farewell pat on the back, and shoved out +into mid-stream. They watched the little animal as he waddled +along the path contentedly and with importance; watched him +till they saw his muzzle suddenly lift and his waddle break into +a clumsy amble as he quickened his pace with shrill whines and +wriggles of recognition. Looking up the river, they could see +Otter start up, tense and rigid, from out of the shallows where +he crouched in dumb patience, and could hear his amazed and +joyous bark as he bounded up through the osiers on to the path. +Then the Mole, with a strong pull on one oar, swung the boat +round and let the full stream bear them down again whither it +would, their quest now happily ended. + +`I feel strangely tired, Rat,' said the Mole, leaning wearily +over his oars as the boat drifted. `It's being up all night, +you'll say, perhaps; but that's nothing. We do as much half the +nights of the week, at this time of the year. No; I feel as if I +had been through something very exciting and rather terrible, and +it was just over; and yet nothing particular has happened.' + +`Or something very surprising and splendid and beautiful,' +murmured the Rat, leaning back and closing his eyes. `I feel +just as you do, Mole; simply dead tired, though not body +tired. It's lucky we've got the stream with us, to take us +home. Isn't it jolly to feel the sun again, soaking into one's +bones! And hark to the wind playing in the reeds!' + +`It's like music--far away music,' said the Mole nodding +drowsily. + +`So I was thinking,' murmured the Rat, dreamful and languid. +`Dance-music--the lilting sort that runs on without a stop--but +with words in it, too--it passes into words and out of them +again--I catch them at intervals--then it is dance-music once +more, and then nothing but the reeds' soft thin whispering.' + +`You hear better than I,' said the Mole sadly. `I cannot catch +the words.' + +`Let me try and give you them,' said the Rat softly, his eyes +still closed. `Now it is turning into words again--faint but +clear-- Lest the awe should dwell--And turn your frolic to +fret--You shall look on my power at the helping hour--But then +you shall forget! Now the reeds take it up--forget, forget, +they sigh, and it dies away in a rustle and a whisper. Then the +voice returns-- + +`Lest limbs be reddened and rent--I spring the trap that is +set--As I loose the snare you may glimpse me there--For +surely you shall forget! Row nearer, Mole, nearer to the reeds! +It is hard to catch, and grows each minute fainter. + +`Helper and healer, I cheer--Small waifs in the woodland wet-- +Strays I find in it, wounds I bind in it--Bidding them all +forget! Nearer, Mole, nearer! No, it is no good; the song has +died away into reed-talk.' + +`But what do the words mean?' asked the wondering Mole. + +`That I do not know,' said the Rat simply. `I passed them on to +you as they reached me. Ah! now they return again, and this time +full and clear! This time, at last, it is the real, the +unmistakable thing, simple--passionate--perfect----' + +`Well, let's have it, then,' said the Mole, after he had waited +patiently for a few minutes, half-dozing in the hot sun. + +But no answer came. He looked, and understood the silence. With +a smile of much happiness on his face, and something of a +listening look still lingering there, the weary Rat was fast +asleep. + + + +VIII + +TOAD'S ADVENTURES + +When Toad found himself immured in a dank and noisome dungeon, +and knew that all the grim darkness of a medieval fortress lay +between him and the outer world of sunshine and well-metalled +high roads where he had lately been so happy, disporting himself +as if he had bought up every road in England, he flung himself at +full length on the floor, and shed bitter tears, and abandoned +himself to dark despair. `This is the end of everything' (he +said), `at least it is the end of the career of Toad, which is +the same thing; the popular and handsome Toad, the rich and +hospitable Toad, the Toad so free and careless and debonair! How +can I hope to be ever set at large again' (he said), `who have +been imprisoned so justly for stealing so handsome a motor-car in +such an audacious manner, and for such lurid and +imaginative cheek, bestowed upon such a number of fat, red-faced +policemen!' (Here his sobs choked him.) `Stupid animal that I +was' (he said), `now I must languish in this dungeon, till people +who were proud to say they knew me, have forgotten the very name +of Toad! O wise old Badger!' (he said), `O clever, intelligent +Rat and sensible Mole! What sound judgments, what a knowledge of +men and matters you possess! O unhappy and forsaken Toad!' With +lamentations such as these he passed his days and nights for +several weeks, refusing his meals or intermediate light +refreshments, though the grim and ancient gaoler, knowing that +Toad's pockets were well lined, frequently pointed out that many +comforts, and indeed luxuries, could by arrangement be sent in-- +at a price--from outside. + +Now the gaoler had a daughter, a pleasant wench and good-hearted, +who assisted her father in the lighter duties of his post. She +was particularly fond of animals, and, besides her canary, whose +cage hung on a nail in the massive wall of the keep by day, to +the great annoyance of prisoners who relished an afterdinner +nap, and was shrouded in an antimacassar on the parlour table at +night, she kept several piebald mice and a restless revolving +squirrel. This kind-hearted girl, pitying the misery of Toad, +said to her father one day, `Father! I can't bear to see that +poor beast so unhappy, and getting so thin! You let me have the +managing of him. You know how fond of animals I am. I'll make +him eat from my hand, and sit up, and do all sorts of things.' + +Her father replied that she could do what she liked with him. He +was tired of Toad, and his sulks and his airs and his meanness. +So that day she went on her errand of mercy, and knocked at the +door of Toad's cell. + +`Now, cheer up, Toad,' she said, coaxingly, on entering, `and sit +up and dry your eyes and be a sensible animal. And do try and +eat a bit of dinner. See, I've brought you some of mine, hot +from the oven!' + +It was bubble-and-squeak, between two plates, and its fragrance +filled the narrow cell. The penetrating smell of cabbage reached +the nose of Toad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the floor, +and gave him the idea for a moment that perhaps life was not such +a blank and desperate thing as he had imagined. But still +he wailed, and kicked with his legs, and refused to be comforted. +So the wise girl retired for the time, but, of course, a good +deal of the smell of hot cabbage remained behind, as it will do, +and Toad, between his sobs, sniffed and reflected, and gradually +began to think new and inspiring thoughts: of chivalry, and +poetry, and deeds still to be done; of broad meadows, and cattle +browsing in them, raked by sun and wind; of kitchen-gardens, and +straight herb-borders, and warm snap-dragon beset by bees; and of +the comforting clink of dishes set down on the table at Toad +Hall, and the scrape of chair-legs on the floor as every one +pulled himself close up to his work. The air of the narrow cell +took a rosy tinge; he began to think of his friends, and how they +would surely be able to do something; of lawyers, and how they +would have enjoyed his case, and what an ass he had been not to +get in a few; and lastly, he thought of his own great cleverness +and resource, and all that he was capable of if he only gave his +great mind to it; and the cure was almost complete. + +When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a +tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate +piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on +both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in +great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of +that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain +voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty +mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when +one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the +fender; of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of +sleepy canaries. Toad sat up on end once more, dried his eyes, +sipped his tea and munched his toast, and soon began talking +freely about himself, and the house he lived in, and his doings +there, and how important he was, and what a lot his friends +thought of him. + +The gaoler's daughter saw that the topic was doing him as much +good as the tea, as indeed it was, and encouraged him to go on. + +`Tell me about Toad Hall," said she. `It sounds beautiful.' + +`Toad Hall,' said the Toad proudly, `is an eligible self- +contained gentleman's residence very unique; dating in part +from the fourteenth century, but replete with every modern +convenience. Up-to-date sanitation. Five minutes from church, +post-office, and golf-links, Suitable for----' + +`Bless the animal,' said the girl, laughing, `I don't want to +TAKE it. Tell me something REAL about it. But first wait +till I fetch you some more tea and toast.' + +She tripped away, and presently returned with a fresh trayful; +and Toad, pitching into the toast with avidity, his spirits quite +restored to their usual level, told her about the boathouse, and +the fish-pond, and the old walled kitchen-garden; and about the +pig-styes, and the stables, and the pigeon-house, and the hen- +house; and about the dairy, and the wash-house, and the china- +cupboards, and the linen-presses (she liked that bit especially); +and about the banqueting-hall, and the fun they had there when +the other animals were gathered round the table and Toad was at +his best, singing songs, telling stories, carrying on generally. +Then she wanted to know about his animal-friends, and was very +interested in all he had to tell her about them and how they +lived, and what they did to pass their time. Of course, she +did not say she was fond of animals as PETS, because she had +the sense to see that Toad would be extremely offended. When she +said good night, having filled his water-jug and shaken up his +straw for him, Toad was very much the same sanguine, self- +satisfied animal that he had been of old. He sang a little song +or two, of the sort he used to sing at his dinner-parties, curled +himself up in the straw, and had an excellent night's rest and +the pleasantest of dreams. + +They had many interesting talks together, after that, as the +dreary days went on; and the gaoler's daughter grew very sorry +for Toad, and thought it a great shame that a poor little animal +should be locked up in prison for what seemed to her a very +trivial offence. Toad, of course, in his vanity, thought that +her interest in him proceeded from a growing tenderness; and he +could not help half-regretting that the social gulf between them +was so very wide, for she was a comely lass, and evidently +admired him very much. + +One morning the girl was very thoughtful, and answered at random, +and did not seem to Toad to be paying proper attention to +his witty sayings and sparkling comments. + +`Toad,' she said presently, `just listen, please. I have an aunt +who is a washerwoman.' + +`There, there,' said Toad, graciously and affably, `never mind; +think no more about it. _I_ have several aunts who OUGHT to +be washerwomen.' + +`Do be quiet a minute, Toad,' said the girl. `You talk too much, +that's your chief fault, and I'm trying to think, and you hurt my +head. As I said, I have an aunt who is a washerwoman; she does +the washing for all the prisoners in this castle--we try to keep +any paying business of that sort in the family, you understand. +She takes out the washing on Monday morning, and brings it in on +Friday evening. This is a Thursday. Now, this is what occurs to +me: you're very rich--at least you're always telling me so--and +she's very poor. A few pounds wouldn't make any difference to +you, and it would mean a lot to her. Now, I think if she were +properly approached--squared, I believe is the word you animals +use--you could come to some arrangement by which she would let +you have her dress and bonnet and so on, and you could +escape from the castle as the official washerwoman. You're very +alike in many respects--particularly about the figure.' + +`We're NOT,' said the Toad in a huff. `I have a very elegant +figure--for what I am.' + +`So has my aunt,' replied the girl, `for what SHE is. But +have it your own way. You horrid, proud, ungrateful animal, when +I'm sorry for you, and trying to help you!' + +`Yes, yes, that's all right; thank you very much indeed,' said +the Toad hurriedly. `But look here! you wouldn't surely have Mr. +Toad of Toad Hall, going about the country disguised as a +washerwoman!' + +`Then you can stop here as a Toad,' replied the girl with much +spirit. `I suppose you want to go off in a coach-and-four!' + +Honest Toad was always ready to admit himself in the wrong. `You +are a good, kind, clever girl,' he said, `and I am indeed a proud +and a stupid toad. Introduce me to your worthy aunt, if you will +be so kind, and I have no doubt that the excellent lady and I +will be able to arrange terms satisfactory to both parties.' + +Next evening the girl ushered her aunt into Toad's cell, +bearing his week's washing pinned up in a towel. The old lady +had been prepared beforehand for the interview, and the sight of +certain gold sovereigns that Toad had thoughtfully placed on the +table in full view practically completed the matter and left +little further to discuss. In return for his cash, Toad received +a cotton print gown, an apron, a shawl, and a rusty black bonnet; +the only stipulation the old lady made being that she should be +gagged and bound and dumped down in a corner. By this not very +convincing artifice, she explained, aided by picturesque fiction +which she could supply herself, she hoped to retain her +situation, in spite of the suspicious appearance of things. + +Toad was delighted with the suggestion. It would enable him to +leave the prison in some style, and with his reputation for being +a desperate and dangerous fellow untarnished; and he readily +helped the gaoler's daughter to make her aunt appear as much as +possible the victim of circumstances over which she had no +control. + +`Now it's your turn, Toad,' said the girl. `Take off that coat +and waistcoat of yours; you're fat enough as it is.' + +Shaking with laughter, she proceeded to `hook-and-eye' him into +the cotton print gown, arranged the shawl with a professional +fold, and tied the strings of the rusty bonnet under his chin. + +`You're the very image of her,' she giggled, `only I'm sure you +never looked half so respectable in all your life before. Now, +good-bye, Toad, and good luck. Go straight down the way you came +up; and if any one says anything to you, as they probably will, +being but men, you can chaff back a bit, of course, but remember +you're a widow woman, quite alone in the world, with a character +to lose.' + +With a quaking heart, but as firm a footstep as he could command, +Toad set forth cautiously on what seemed to be a most hare- +brained and hazardous undertaking; but he was soon agreeably +surprised to find how easy everything was made for him, and a +little humbled at the thought that both his popularity, and the +sex that seemed to inspire it, were really another's. The +washerwoman's squat figure in its familiar cotton print seemed a +passport for every barred door and grim gateway; even when he +hesitated, uncertain as to the right turning to take, he +found himself helped out of his difficulty by the warder at the +next gate, anxious to be off to his tea, summoning him to come +along sharp and not keep him waiting there all night. The chaff +and the humourous sallies to which he was subjected, and to +which, of course, he had to provide prompt and effective reply, +formed, indeed, his chief danger; for Toad was an animal with a +strong sense of his own dignity, and the chaff was mostly (he +thought) poor and clumsy, and the humour of the sallies entirely +lacking. However, he kept his temper, though with great +difficulty, suited his retorts to his company and his supposed +character, and did his best not to overstep the limits of good +taste. + +It seemed hours before he crossed the last courtyard, rejected +the pressing invitations from the last guardroom, and dodged the +outspread arms of the last warder, pleading with simulated +passion for just one farewell embrace. But at last he heard the +wicket-gate in the great outer door click behind him, felt the +fresh air of the outer world upon his anxious brow, and knew that +he was free! + +Dizzy with the easy success of his daring exploit, he walked +quickly towards the lights of the town, not knowing in the least +what he should do next, only quite certain of one thing, that he +must remove himself as quickly as possible from the neighbourhood +where the lady he was forced to represent was so well-known and +so popular a character. + +As he walked along, considering, his attention was caught by some +red and green lights a little way off, to one side of the town, +and the sound of the puffing and snorting of engines and the +banging of shunted trucks fell on his ear. `Aha!' he thought, +`this is a piece of luck! A railway station is the thing I want +most in the whole world at this moment; and what's more, I +needn't go through the town to get it, and shan't have to support +this humiliating character by repartees which, though thoroughly +effective, do not assist one's sense of self-respect.' + +He made his way to the station accordingly, consulted a time- +table, and found that a train, bound more or less in the +direction of his home, was due to start in half-an-hour. `More +luck!' said Toad, his spirits rising rapidly, and went off to the +booking-office to buy his ticket. + +He gave the name of the station that he knew to be nearest to the +village of which Toad Hall was the principal feature, and +mechanically put his fingers, in search of the necessary money, +where his waiscoat pocket should have been. But here the cotton +gown, which had nobly stood by him so far, and which he had +basely forgotten, intervened, and frustrated his efforts. In a +sort of nightmare he struggled with the strange uncanny thing +that seemed to hold his hands, turn all muscular strivings to +water, and laugh at him all the time; while other travellers, +forming up in a line behind, waited with impatience, making +suggestions of more or less value and comments of more or less +stringency and point. At last--somehow--he never rightly +understood how--he burst the barriers, attained the goal, arrived +at where all waistcoat pockets are eternally situated, and +found--not only no money, but no pocket to hold it, and no +waistcoat to hold the pocket! + +To his horror he recollected that he had left both coat and +waistcoat behind him in his cell, and with them his pocket-book, +money, keys, watch, matches, pencil-case--all that makes life +worth living, all that distinguishes the many-pocketed +animal, the lord of creation, from the inferior one-pocketed or +no-pocketed productions that hop or trip about permissively, +unequipped for the real contest. + +In his misery he made one desperate effort to carry the thing +off, and, with a return to his fine old manner--a blend of the +Squire and the College Don--he said, `Look here! I find I've +left my purse behind. Just give me that ticket, will you, and +I'll send the money on to-morrow? I'm well-known in these +parts.' + +The clerk stared at him and the rusty black bonnet a moment, and +then laughed. `I should think you were pretty well known in +these parts,' he said, `if you've tried this game on often. +Here, stand away from the window, please, madam; you're +obstructing the other passengers!' + +An old gentleman who had been prodding him in the back for some +moments here thrust him away, and, what was worse, addressed him +as his good woman, which angered Toad more than anything that had +occurred that evening. + +Baffled and full of despair, he wandered blindly down the +platform where the train was standing, and tears trickled down +each side of his nose. It was hard, he thought, to be +within sight of safety and almost of home, and to be baulked by +the want of a few wretched shillings and by the pettifogging +mistrustfulness of paid officials. Very soon his escape would be +discovered, the hunt would be up, he would be caught, reviled, +loaded with chains, dragged back again to prison and bread-and- +water and straw; his guards and penalities would be doubled; and +O, what sarcastic remarks the girl would make! What was to be +done? He was not swift of foot; his figure was unfortunately +recognisable. Could he not squeeze under the seat of a carriage? +He had seen this method adopted by schoolboys, when the journey- +money provided by thoughtful parents had been diverted to other +and better ends. As he pondered, he found himself opposite the +engine, which was being oiled, wiped, and generally caressed by +its affectionate driver, a burly man with an oil-can in one hand +and a lump of cotton-waste in the other. + +`Hullo, mother!' said the engine-driver, `what's the trouble? +You don't look particularly cheerful.' + +`O, sir!' said Toad, crying afresh, `I am a poor unhappy +washerwoman, and I've lost all my money, and can't pay for a +ticket, and I must get home to-night somehow, and whatever I am +to do I don't know. O dear, O dear!' + +`That's a bad business, indeed,' said the engine-driver +reflectively. `Lost your money--and can't get home--and got some +kids, too, waiting for you, I dare say?' + +`Any amount of 'em,' sobbed Toad. `And they'll be hungry--and +playing with matches--and upsetting lamps, the little +innocents!--and quarrelling, and going on generally. O dear, O +dear!' + +`Well, I'll tell you what I'll do,' said the good engine-driver. +`You're a washerwoman to your trade, says you. Very well, that's +that. And I'm an engine-driver, as you well may see, and there's +no denying it's terribly dirty work. Uses up a power of shirts, +it does, till my missus is fair tired of washing of 'em. If +you'll wash a few shirts for me when you get home, and send 'em +along, I'll give you a ride on my engine. It's against the +Company's regulations, but we're not so very particular in these +out-of-the-way parts.' + +The Toad's misery turned into rapture as he eagerly +scrambled up into the cab of the engine. Of course, he had never +washed a shirt in his life, and couldn't if he tried and, anyhow, +he wasn't going to begin; but he thought: `When I get safely home +to Toad Hall, and have money again, and pockets to put it in, I +will send the engine-driver enough to pay for quite a quantity of +washing, and that will be the same thing, or better.' + +The guard waved his welcome flag, the engine-driver whistled in +cheerful response, and the train moved out of the station. As +the speed increased, and the Toad could see on either side of him +real fields, and trees, and hedges, and cows, and horses, all +flying past him, and as he thought how every minute was bringing +him nearer to Toad Hall, and sympathetic friends, and money to +chink in his pocket, and a soft bed to sleep in, and good things +to eat, and praise and admiration at the recital of his +adventures and his surpassing cleverness, he began to skip up and +down and shout and sing snatches of song, to the great +astonishment of the engine-driver, who had come across +washerwomen before, at long intervals, but never one at all like +this. + +They had covered many and many a mile, and Toad was already +considering what he would have for supper as soon as he got home, +when he noticed that the engine-driver, with a puzzled expression +on his face, was leaning over the side of the engine and +listening hard. Then he saw him climb on to the coals and gaze +out over the top of the train; then he returned and said to Toad: +`It's very strange; we're the last train running in this +direction to-night, yet I could be sworn that I heard another +following us!' + +Toad ceased his frivolous antics at once. He became grave and +depressed, and a dull pain in the lower part of his spine, +communicating itself to his legs, made him want to sit down and +try desperately not to think of all the possibilities. + +By this time the moon was shining brightly, and the engine- +driver, steadying himself on the coal, could command a view of +the line behind them for a long distance. + +Presently he called out, `I can see it clearly now! It is an +engine, on our rails, coming along at a great pace! It looks as +if we were being pursued!' + +The miserable Toad, crouching in the coal-dust, tried hard +to think of something to do, with dismal want of success. + +`They are gaining on us fast!' cried the engine-driver. And the +engine is crowded with the queerest lot of people! Men like +ancient warders, waving halberds; policemen in their helmets, +waving truncheons; and shabbily dressed men in pot-hats, obvious +and unmistakable plain-clothes detectives even at this distance, +waving revolvers and walking-sticks; all waving, and all shouting +the same thing--"Stop, stop, stop!"' + +Then Toad fell on his knees among the coals and, raising his +clasped paws in supplication, cried, `Save me, only save me, dear +kind Mr. Engine-driver, and I will confess everything! I am not +the simple washerwoman I seem to be! I have no children waiting +for me, innocent or otherwise! I am a toad--the well-known and +popular Mr. Toad, a landed proprietor; I have just escaped, by my +great daring and cleverness, from a loathsome dungeon into which +my enemies had flung me; and if those fellows on that engine +recapture me, it will be chains and bread-and-water and straw and +misery once more for poor, unhappy, innocent Toad!' + +The engine-driver looked down upon him very sternly, and said, +`Now tell the truth; what were you put in prison for?' + +`It was nothing very much,' said poor Toad, colouring deeply. `I +only borrowed a motorcar while the owners were at lunch; they had +no need of it at the time. I didn't mean to steal it, really; +but people--especially magistrates--take such harsh views of +thoughtless and high-spirited actions.' + +The engine-driver looked very grave and said, `I fear that you +have been indeed a wicked toad, and by rights I ought to give you +up to offended justice. But you are evidently in sore trouble +and distress, so I will not desert you. I don't hold with motor- +cars, for one thing; and I don't hold with being ordered about by +policemen when I'm on my own engine, for another. And the sight +of an animal in tears always makes me feel queer and softhearted. +So cheer up, Toad! I'll do my best, and we may beat them yet!' + +They piled on more coals, shovelling furiously; the furnace +roared, the sparks flew, the engine leapt and swung but still +their pursuers slowly gained. The engine-driver, with a sigh, +wiped his brow with a handful of cotton-waste, and said, +`I'm afraid it's no good, Toad. You see, they are running light, +and they have the better engine. There's just one thing left for +us to do, and it's your only chance, so attend very carefully to +what I tell you. A short way ahead of us is a long tunnel, and +on the other side of that the line passes through a thick wood. +Now, I will put on all the speed I can while we are running +through the tunnel, but the other fellows will slow down a bit, +naturally, for fear of an accident. When we are through, I will +shut off steam and put on brakes as hard as I can, and the moment +it's safe to do so you must jump and hide in the wood, before +they get through the tunnel and see you. Then I will go full +speed ahead again, and they can chase me if they like, for as +long as they like, and as far as they like. Now mind and be +ready to jump when I tell you!' + +They piled on more coals, and the train shot into the tunnel, and +the engine rushed and roared and rattled, till at last they shot +out at the other end into fresh air and the peaceful moonlight, +and saw the wood lying dark and helpful upon either side of the +line. The driver shut off steam and put on brakes, the Toad +got down on the step, and as the train slowed down to almost a +walking pace he heard the driver call out, `Now, jump!' + +Toad jumped, rolled down a short embankment, picked himself up +unhurt, scrambled into the wood and hid. + +Peeping out, he saw his train get up speed again and disappear at +a great pace. Then out of the tunnel burst the pursuing engine, +roaring and whistling, her motley crew waving their various +weapons and shouting, `Stop! stop! stop!' When they were past, +the Toad had a hearty laugh--for the first time since he was +thrown into prison. + +But he soon stopped laughing when he came to consider that it was +now very late and dark and cold, and he was in an unknown wood, +with no money and no chance of supper, and still far from friends +and home; and the dead silence of everything, after the roar and +rattle of the train, was something of a shock. He dared not +leave the shelter of the trees, so he struck into the wood, with +the idea of leaving the railway as far as possible behind him. + +After so many weeks within walls, he found the wood strange +and unfriendly and inclined, he thought, to make fun of him. +Night-jars, sounding their mechanical rattle, made him think that +the wood was full of searching warders, closing in on him. An +owl, swooping noiselessly towards him, brushed his shoulder with +its wing, making him jump with the horrid certainty that it was a +hand; then flitted off, moth-like, laughing its low ho! ho! ho; +which Toad thought in very poor taste. Once he met a fox, who +stopped, looked him up and down in a sarcastic sort of way, and +said, `Hullo, washerwoman! Half a pair of socks and a pillow- +case short this week! Mind it doesn't occur again!' and +swaggered off, sniggering. Toad looked about for a stone to +throw at him, but could not succeed in finding one, which vexed +him more than anything. At last, cold, hungry, and tired out, he +sought the shelter of a hollow tree, where with branches and dead +leaves he made himself as comfortable a bed as he could, and +slept soundly till the morning. + + + +IX + +WAYFARERS ALL + +The Water Rat was restless, and he did not exactly know why. To +all appearance the summer's pomp was still at fullest height, and +although in the tilled acres green had given way to gold, though +rowans were reddening, and the woods were dashed here and there +with a tawny fierceness, yet light and warmth and colour were +still present in undiminished measure, clean of any chilly +premonitions of the passing year. But the constant chorus of the +orchards and hedges had shrunk to a casual evensong from a few +yet unwearied performers; the robin was beginning to assert +himself once more; and there was a feeling in the air of change +and departure. The cuckoo, of course, had long been silent; but +many another feathered friend, for months a part of the familiar +landscape and its small society, was missing too and it +seemed that the ranks thinned steadily day by day. Rat, ever +observant of all winged movement, saw that it was taking daily a +southing tendency; and even as he lay in bed at night he thought +he could make out, passing in the darkness overhead, the beat and +quiver of impatient pinions, obedient to the peremptory call. + +Nature's Grand Hotel has its Season, like the others. As the +guests one by one pack, pay, and depart, and the seats at the +table-d'hote shrink pitifully at each succeeding meal; as +suites of rooms are closed, carpets taken up, and waiters sent +away; those boarders who are staying on, en pension, until the +next year's full re-opening, cannot help being somewhat affected +by all these flittings and farewells, this eager discussion of +plans, routes, and fresh quarters, this daily shrinkage in the +stream of comradeship. One gets unsettled, depressed, and +inclined to be querulous. Why this craving for change? Why not +stay on quietly here, like us, and be jolly? You don't know this +hotel out of the season, and what fun we have among ourselves, we +fellows who remain and see the whole interesting year out. All +very true, no doubt the others always reply; we quite envy +you--and some other year perhaps--but just now we have +engagements--and there's the bus at the door--our time is up! So +they depart, with a smile and a nod, and we miss them, and feel +resentful. The Rat was a self-sufficing sort of animal, rooted +to the land, and, whoever went, he stayed; still, he could not +help noticing what was in the air, and feeling some of its +influence in his bones. + +It was difficult to settle down to anything seriously, with all +this flitting going on. Leaving the water-side, where rushes +stood thick and tall in a stream that was becoming sluggish and +low, he wandered country-wards, crossed a field or two of +pasturage already looking dusty and parched, and thrust into the +great sea of wheat, yellow, wavy, and murmurous, full of quiet +motion and small whisperings. Here he often loved to wander, +through the forest of stiff strong stalks that carried their own +golden sky away over his head--a sky that was always dancing, +shimmering, softly talking; or swaying strongly to the passing +wind and recovering itself with a toss and a merry laugh. Here, +too, he had many small friends, a society complete in +itself, leading full and busy lives, but always with a spare +moment to gossip, and exchange news with a visitor. Today, +however, though they were civil enough, the field-mice and +harvest-mice seemed preoccupied. Many were digging and +tunnelling busily; others, gathered together in small groups, +examined plans and drawings of small flats, stated to be +desirable and compact, and situated conveniently near the Stores. +Some were hauling out dusty trunks and dress-baskets, others were +already elbow-deep packing their belongings; while everywhere +piles and bundles of wheat, oats, barley, beech-mast and nuts, +lay about ready for transport. + +`Here's old Ratty!' they cried as soon as they saw him. `Come +and bear a hand, Rat, and don't stand about idle!' + +`What sort of games are you up to?' said the Water Rat severely. +`You know it isn't time to be thinking of winter quarters yet, by +a long way!' + +`O yes, we know that,' explained a field-mouse rather +shamefacedly; `but it's always as well to be in good time, isn't +it? We really MUST get all the furniture and baggage and +stores moved out of this before those horrid machines begin +clicking round the fields; and then, you know, the best flats get +picked up so quickly nowadays, and if you're late you have to put +up with ANYTHING; and they want such a lot of doing up, too, +before they're fit to move into. Of course, we're early, we know +that; but we're only just making a start.' + +`O, bother STARTS,' said the Rat. `It's a splendid day. Come +for a row, or a stroll along the hedges, or a picnic in the +woods, or something.' + +`Well, I THINK not TO-DAY, thank you,' replied the field- +mouse hurriedly. `Perhaps some OTHER day--when we've more +TIME----' + +The Rat, with a snort of contempt, swung round to go, tripped +over a hat-box, and fell, with undignified remarks. + +`If people would be more careful,' said a field-mouse rather +stiffly, `and look where they're going, people wouldn't hurt +themselves--and forget themselves. Mind that hold-all, Rat! +You'd better sit down somewhere. In an hour or two we may be +more free to attend to you.' + +`You won't be "free" as you call it much this side of +Christmas, I can see that,' retorted the Rat grumpily, as he +picked his way out of the field. + +He returned somewhat despondently to his river again--his +faithful, steady-going old river, which never packed up, flitted, +or went into winter quarters. + +In the osiers which fringed the bank he spied a swallow sitting. +Presently it was joined by another, and then by a third; and the +birds, fidgeting restlessly on their bough, talked together +earnestly and low. + +`What, ALREADY,' said the Rat, strolling up to them. `What's +the hurry? I call it simply ridiculous.' + +`O, we're not off yet, if that's what you mean,' replied the +first swallow. `We're only making plans and arranging things. +Talking it over, you know--what route we're taking this year, and +where we'll stop, and so on. That's half the fun!' + +`Fun?' said the Rat; `now that's just what I don't understand. +If you've GOT to leave this pleasant place, and your friends +who will miss you, and your snug homes that you've just settled +into, why, when the hour strikes I've no doubt you'll go +bravely, and face all the trouble and discomfort and change and +newness, and make believe that you're not very unhappy. But to +want to talk about it, or even think about it, till you really +need----' + +`No, you don't understand, naturally,' said the second swallow. +`First, we feel it stirring within us, a sweet unrest; then back +come the recollections one by one, like homing pigeons. They +flutter through our dreams at night, they fly with us in our +wheelings and circlings by day. We hunger to inquire of each +other, to compare notes and assure ourselves that it was all +really true, as one by one the scents and sounds and names of +long-forgotten places come gradually back and beckon to us.' + +`Couldn't you stop on for just this year?' suggested the Water +Rat, wistfully. `We'll all do our best to make you feel at home. +You've no idea what good times we have here, while you are far +away.' + +`I tried "stopping on" one year,' said the third swallow. `I had +grown so fond of the place that when the time came I hung back +and let the others go on without me. For a few weeks it was all +well enough, but afterwards, O the weary length of the +nights! The shivering, sunless days! The air so clammy and +chill, and not an insect in an acre of it! No, it was no good; +my courage broke down, and one cold, stormy night I took wing, +flying well inland on account of the strong easterly gales. It +was snowing hard as I beat through the passes of the great +mountains, and I had a stiff fight to win through; but never +shall I forget the blissful feeling of the hot sun again on my +back as I sped down to the lakes that lay so blue and placid +below me, and the taste of my first fat insect! The past was +like a bad dream; the future was all happy holiday as I moved +southwards week by week, easily, lazily, lingering as long as I +dared, but always heeding the call! No, I had had my warning; +never again did I think of disobedience.' + +`Ah, yes, the call of the South, of the South!' twittered the +other two dreamily. `Its songs its hues, its radiant air! O, do +you remember----' and, forgetting the Rat, they slid into +passionate reminiscence, while he listened fascinated, and his +heart burned within him. In himself, too, he knew that it was +vibrating at last, that chord hitherto dormant and +unsuspected. The mere chatter of these southern-bound +birds, their pale and second-hand reports, had yet power to +awaken this wild new sensation and thrill him through and through +with it; what would one moment of the real thing work in him--one +passionate touch of the real southern sun, one waft of the +authentic odor? With closed eyes he dared to dream a moment in +full abandonment, and when he looked again the river seemed +steely and chill, the green fields grey and lightless. Then his +loyal heart seemed to cry out on his weaker self for its +treachery. + +`Why do you ever come back, then, at all?' he demanded of the +swallows jealously. `What do you find to attract you in this +poor drab little country?' + +`And do you think,' said the first swallow, `that the other call +is not for us too, in its due season? The call of lush meadow- +grass, wet orchards, warm, insect-haunted ponds, of browsing +cattle, of haymaking, and all the farm-buildings clustering round +the House of the perfect Eaves?' + +`Do you suppose,' asked the second one, that you are the only +living thing that craves with a hungry longing to hear the +cuckoo's note again?' + +`In due time,' said the third, `we shall be home-sick once more +for quiet water-lilies swaying on the surface of an English +stream. But to-day all that seems pale and thin and very far +away. Just now our blood dances to other music.' + +They fell a-twittering among themselves once more, and this time +their intoxicating babble was of violet seas, tawny sands, and +lizard-haunted walls. + +Restlessly the Rat wandered off once more, climbed the slope that +rose gently from the north bank of the river, and lay looking out +towards the great ring of Downs that barred his vision further +southwards--his simple horizon hitherto, his Mountains of the +Moon, his limit behind which lay nothing he had cared to see or +to know. To-day, to him gazing South with a new-born need +stirring in his heart, the clear sky over their long low outline +seemed to pulsate with promise; to-day, the unseen was +everything, the unknown the only real fact of life. On this side +of the hills was now the real blank, on the other lay the crowded +and coloured panorama that his inner eye was seeing so +clearly. What seas lay beyond, green, leaping, and crested! +What sun-bathed coasts, along which the white villas glittered +against the olive woods! What quiet harbours, thronged with +gallant shipping bound for purple islands of wine and spice, +islands set low in languorous waters! + +He rose and descended river-wards once more; then changed his +mind and sought the side of the dusty lane. There, lying half- +buried in the thick, cool under-hedge tangle that bordered it, he +could muse on the metalled road and all the wondrous world that +it led to; on all the wayfarers, too, that might have trodden it, +and the fortunes and adventures they had gone to seek or found +unseeking--out there, beyond--beyond! + +Footsteps fell on his ear, and the figure of one that walked +somewhat wearily came into view; and he saw that it was a Rat, +and a very dusty one. The wayfarer, as he reached him, saluted +with a gesture of courtesy that had something foreign about it-- +hesitated a moment--then with a pleasant smile turned from the +track and sat down by his side in the cool herbage. He seemed +tired, and the Rat let him rest unquestioned, understanding +something of what was in his thoughts; knowing, too, the value +all animals attach at times to mere silent companionship, when +the weary muscles slacken and the mind marks time. + +The wayfarer was lean and keen-featured, and somewhat bowed at +the shoulders; his paws were thin and long, his eyes much +wrinkled at the corners, and he wore small gold ear rings in his +neatly-set well-shaped ears. His knitted jersey was of a faded +blue, his breeches, patched and stained, were based on a blue +foundation, and his small belongings that he carried were tied up +in a blue cotton handkerchief. + +When he had rested awhile the stranger sighed, snuffed the air, +and looked about him. + +`That was clover, that warm whiff on the breeze,' he remarked; +`and those are cows we hear cropping the grass behind us and +blowing softly between mouthfuls. There is a sound of distant +reapers, and yonder rises a blue line of cottage smoke against +the woodland. The river runs somewhere close by, for I hear the +call of a moorhen, and I see by your build that you're a +freshwater mariner. Everything seems asleep, and yet going +on all the time. It is a goodly life that you lead, friend; no +doubt the best in the world, if only you are strong enough to +lead it!' + +`Yes, it's THE life, the only life, to live,' responded the +Water Rat dreamily, and without his usual whole-hearted +conviction. + +`I did not say exactly that,' replied the stranger cautiously; +`but no doubt it's the best. I've tried it, and I know. And +because I've just tried it--six months of it--and know it's the +best, here am I, footsore and hungry, tramping away from it, +tramping southward, following the old call, back to the old life, +THE life which is mine and which will not let me go.' + +`Is this, then, yet another of them?' mused the Rat. `And where +have you just come from?' he asked. He hardly dared to ask where +he was bound for; he seemed to know the answer only too well. + +`Nice little farm,' replied the wayfarer, briefly. `Upalong in +that direction'--he nodded northwards. `Never mind about it. I +had everything I could want--everything I had any right to expect +of life, and more; and here I am! Glad to be here all the same, +though, glad to be here! So many miles further on the road, +so many hours nearer to my heart's desire!' + +His shining eyes held fast to the horizon, and he seemed to be +listening for some sound that was wanting from that inland +acreage, vocal as it was with the cheerful music of pasturage and +farmyard. + +`You are not one of US,' said the Water Rat, `nor yet a +farmer; nor even, I should judge, of this country.' + +`Right,' replied the stranger. `I'm a seafaring rat, I am, and +the port I originally hail from is Constantinople, though I'm a +sort of a foreigner there too, in a manner of speaking. You will +have heard of Constantinople, friend? A fair city, and an +ancient and glorious one. And you may have heard, too, of +Sigurd, King of Norway, and how he sailed thither with sixty +ships, and how he and his men rode up through streets all +canopied in their honour with purple and gold; and how the +Emperor and Empress came down and banqueted with him on board his +ship. When Sigurd returned home, many of his Northmen remained +behind and entered the Emperor's body-guard, and my +ancestor, a Norwegian born, stayed behind too, with the ships +that Sigurd gave the Emperor. Seafarers we have ever been, and +no wonder; as for me, the city of my birth is no more my home +than any pleasant port between there and the London River. I +know them all, and they know me. Set me down on any of their +quays or foreshores, and I am home again.' + +`I suppose you go great voyages,' said the Water Rat with growing +interest. `Months and months out of sight of land, and +provisions running short, and allowanced as to water, and your +mind communing with the mighty ocean, and all that sort of +thing?' + +`By no means,' said the Sea Rat frankly. `Such a life as you +describe would not suit me at all. I'm in the coasting trade, +and rarely out of sight of land. It's the jolly times on shore +that appeal to me, as much as any seafaring. O, those southern +seaports! The smell of them, the riding-lights at night, the +glamour!' + +`Well, perhaps you have chosen the better way,' said the Water +Rat, but rather doubtfully. `Tell me something of your coasting, +then, if you have a mind to, and what sort of harvest an +animal of spirit might hope to bring home from it to warm his +latter days with gallant memories by the fireside; for my life, I +confess to you, feels to me to-day somewhat narrow and +circumscribed.' + +`My last voyage,' began the Sea Rat, `that landed me eventually +in this country, bound with high hopes for my inland farm, will +serve as a good example of any of them, and, indeed, as an +epitome of my highly-coloured life. Family troubles, as usual, +began it. The domestic storm-cone was hoisted, and I shipped +myself on board a small trading vessel bound from Constantinople, +by classic seas whose every wave throbs with a deathless memory, +to the Grecian Islands and the Levant. Those were golden days +and balmy nights! In and out of harbour all the time--old +friends everywhere--sleeping in some cool temple or ruined +cistern during the heat of the day--feasting and song after +sundown, under great stars set in a velvet sky! Thence we turned +and coasted up the Adriatic, its shores swimming in an atmosphere +of amber, rose, and aquamarine; we lay in wide land-locked +harbours, we roamed through ancient and noble cities, until +at last one morning, as the sun rose royally behind us, we rode +into Venice down a path of gold. O, Venice is a fine city, +wherein a rat can wander at his ease and take his pleasure! Or, +when weary of wandering, can sit at the edge of the Grand Canal +at night, feasting with his friends, when the air is full of +music and the sky full of stars, and the lights flash and shimmer +on the polished steel prows of the swaying gondolas, packed so +that you could walk across the canal on them from side to side! +And then the food--do you like shellfish? Well, well, we won't +linger over that now.' + +He was silent for a time; and the Water Rat, silent too and +enthralled, floated on dream-canals and heard a phantom song +pealing high between vaporous grey wave-lapped walls. + +`Southwards we sailed again at last,' continued the Sea Rat, +`coasting down the Italian shore, till finally we made Palermo, +and there I quitted for a long, happy spell on shore. I never +stick too long to one ship; one gets narrow-minded and +prejudiced. Besides, Sicily is one of my happy hunting-grounds. +I know everybody there, and their ways just suit me. I +spent many jolly weeks in the island, staying with friends up +country. When I grew restless again I took advantage of a ship +that was trading to Sardinia and Corsica; and very glad I was to +feel the fresh breeze and the sea-spray in my face once more.' + +`But isn't it very hot and stuffy, down in the--hold, I think you +call it?' asked the Water Rat. + +The seafarer looked at him with the suspicion go a wink. `I'm an +old hand,' he remarked with much simplicity. `The captain's +cabin's good enough for me.' + +`It's a hard life, by all accounts,' murmured the Rat, sunk in +deep thought. + +`For the crew it is,' replied the seafarer gravely, again with +the ghost of a wink. + +`From Corsica,' he went on, `I made use of a ship that was taking +wine to the mainland. We made Alassio in the evening, lay to, +hauled up our wine-casks, and hove them overboard, tied one to +the other by a long line. Then the crew took to the boats and +rowed shorewards, singing as they went, and drawing after them +the long bobbing procession of casks, like a mile of +porpoises. On the sands they had horses waiting, which dragged +the casks up the steep street of the little town with a fine rush +and clatter and scramble. When the last cask was in, we went and +refreshed and rested, and sat late into the night, drinking with +our friends, and next morning I took to the great olive-woods for +a spell and a rest. For now I had done with islands for the +time, and ports and shipping were plentiful; so I led a lazy life +among the peasants, lying and watching them work, or stretched +high on the hillside with the blue Mediterranean far below me. +And so at length, by easy stages, and partly on foot, partly by +sea, to Marseilles, and the meeting of old shipmates, and the +visiting of great ocean-bound vessels, and feasting once more. +Talk of shell-fish! Why, sometimes I dream of the shell-fish of +Marseilles, and wake up crying!' + +`That reminds me,' said the polite Water Rat; `you happened to +mention that you were hungry, and I ought to have spoken earlier. +Of course, you will stop and take your midday meal with me? My +hole is close by; it is some time past noon, and you are very +welcome to whatever there is.' + +`Now I call that kind and brotherly of you,' said the Sea Rat. +`I was indeed hungry when I sat down, and ever since I +inadvertently happened to mention shell-fish, my pangs have been +extreme. But couldn't you fetch it along out here? I am none +too fond of going under hatches, unless I'm obliged to; and then, +while we eat, I could tell you more concerning my voyages and the +pleasant life I lead--at least, it is very pleasant to me, and by +your attention I judge it commends itself to you; whereas if we +go indoors it is a hundred to one that I shall presently fall +asleep.' + +`That is indeed an excellent suggestion,' said the Water Rat, and +hurried off home. There he got out the luncheon-basket and +packed a simple meal, in which, remembering the stranger's origin +and preferences, he took care to include a yard of long French +bread, a sausage out of which the garlic sang, some cheese which +lay down and cried, and a long-necked straw-covered flask wherein +lay bottled sunshine shed and garnered on far Southern slopes. +Thus laden, he returned with all speed, and blushed for pleasure +at the old seaman's commendations of his taste and judgment, as +together they unpacked the basket and laid out the contents +on the grass by the roadside. + +The Sea Rat, as soon as his hunger was somewhat assuaged, +continued the history of his latest voyage, conducting his simple +hearer from port to port of Spain, landing him at Lisbon, Oporto, +and Bordeaux, introducing him to the pleasant harbours of +Cornwall and Devon, and so up the Channel to that final quayside, +where, landing after winds long contrary, storm-driven and +weather-beaten, he had caught the first magical hints and +heraldings of another Spring, and, fired by these, had sped on a +long tramp inland, hungry for the experiment of life on some +quiet farmstead, very far from the weary beating of any sea. + +Spell-bound and quivering with excitement, the Water Rat followed +the Adventurer league by league, over stormy bays, through +crowded roadsteads, across harbour bars on a racing tide, up +winding rivers that hid their busy little towns round a sudden +turn; and left him with a regretful sigh planted at his dull +inland farm, about which he desired to hear nothing. + +By this time their meal was over, and the Seafarer, refreshed and +strengthened, his voice more vibrant, his eye lit with a +brightness that seemed caught from some far-away sea-beacon, +filled his glass with the red and glowing vintage of the South, +and, leaning towards the Water Rat, compelled his gaze and held +him, body and soul, while he talked. Those eyes were of the +changing foam-streaked grey-green of leaping Northern seas; in +the glass shone a hot ruby that seemed the very heart of the +South, beating for him who had courage to respond to its +pulsation. The twin lights, the shifting grey and the steadfast +red, mastered the Water Rat and held him bound, fascinated, +powerless. The quiet world outside their rays receded far away +and ceased to be. And the talk, the wonderful talk flowed on--or +was it speech entirely, or did it pass at times into song--chanty +of the sailors weighing the dripping anchor, sonorous hum of the +shrouds in a tearing North-Easter, ballad of the fisherman +hauling his nets at sundown against an apricot sky, chords of +guitar and mandoline from gondola or caique? Did it change into +the cry of the wind, plaintive at first, angrily shrill as it +freshened, rising to a tearing whistle, sinking to a musical +trickle of air from the leech of the bellying sail? All +these sounds the spell-bound listener seemed to hear, and +with them the hungry complaint of the gulls and the sea-mews, the +soft thunder of the breaking wave, the cry of the protesting +shingle. Back into speech again it passed, and with beating +heart he was following the adventures of a dozen seaports, the +fights, the escapes, the rallies, the comradeships, the gallant +undertakings; or he searched islands for treasure, fished in +still lagoons and dozed day-long on warm white sand. Of deep-sea +fishings he heard tell, and mighty silver gatherings of the mile- +long net; of sudden perils, noise of breakers on a moonless +night, or the tall bows of the great liner taking shape overhead +through the fog; of the merry home-coming, the headland rounded, +the harbour lights opened out; the groups seen dimly on the quay, +the cheery hail, the splash of the hawser; the trudge up the +steep little street towards the comforting glow of red-curtained +windows. + +Lastly, in his waking dream it seemed to him that the Adventurer +had risen to his feet, but was still speaking, still holding him +fast with his sea-grey eyes. + +`And now,' he was softly saying, `I take to the road again, +holding on southwestwards for many a long and dusty day; till at +last I reach the little grey sea town I know so well, that clings +along one steep side of the harbour. There through dark doorways +you look down flights of stone steps, overhung by great pink +tufts of valerian and ending in a patch of sparkling blue water. +The little boats that lie tethered to the rings and stanchions of +the old sea-wall are gaily painted as those I clambered in and +out of in my own childhood; the salmon leap on the flood tide, +schools of mackerel flash and play past quay-sides and +foreshores, and by the windows the great vessels glide, night and +day, up to their moorings or forth to the open sea. There, +sooner or later, the ships of all seafaring nations arrive; and +there, at its destined hour, the ship of my choice will let go +its anchor. I shall take my time, I shall tarry and bide, till +at last the right one lies waiting for me, warped out into +midstream, loaded low, her bowsprit pointing down harbour. I +shall slip on board, by boat or along hawser; and then one +morning I shall wake to the song and tramp of the sailors, the +clink of the capstan, and the rattle of the anchor-chain +coming merrily in. We shall break out the jib and the +foresail, the white houses on the harbour side will glide slowly +past us as she gathers steering-way, and the voyage will have +begun! As she forges towards the headland she will clothe +herself with canvas; and then, once outside, the sounding slap of +great green seas as she heels to the wind, pointing South! + +`And you, you will come too, young brother; for the days pass, +and never return, and the South still waits for you. Take the +Adventure, heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment passes!' +'Tis but a banging of the door behind you, a blithesome step +forward, and you are out of the old life and into the new! Then +some day, some day long hence, jog home here if you will, when +the cup has been drained and the play has been played, and sit +down by your quiet river with a store of goodly memories for +company. You can easily overtake me on the road, for you are +young, and I am ageing and go softly. I will linger, and look +back; and at last I will surely see you coming, eager and light- +hearted, with all the South in your face!' + +The voice died away and ceased as an insect's tiny trumpet +dwindles swiftly into silence; and the Water Rat, paralysed +and staring, saw at last but a distant speck on the white surface +of the road. + +Mechanically he rose and proceeded to repack the luncheon-basket, +carefully and without haste. Mechanically he returned home, +gathered together a few small necessaries and special treasures +he was fond of, and put them in a satchel; acting with slow +deliberation, moving about the room like a sleep-walker; +listening ever with parted lips. He swung the satchel over his +shoulder, carefully selected a stout stick for his wayfaring, and +with no haste, but with no hesitation at all, he stepped across +the threshold just as the Mole appeared at the door. + +`Why, where are you off to, Ratty?' asked the Mole in great +surprise, grasping him by the arm. + +`Going South, with the rest of them,' murmured the Rat in a +dreamy monotone, never looking at him. `Seawards first and then +on shipboard, and so to the shores that are calling me!' + +He pressed resolutely forward, still without haste, but with +dogged fixity of purpose; but the Mole, now thoroughly +alarmed, placed himself in front of him, and looking into his +eyes saw that they were glazed and set and turned a streaked and +shifting grey--not his friend's eyes, but the eyes of some other +animal! Grappling with him strongly he dragged him inside, threw +him down, and held him. + +The Rat struggled desperately for a few moments, and then his +strength seemed suddenly to leave him, and he lay still and +exhausted, with closed eyes, trembling. Presently the Mole +assisted him to rise and placed him in a chair, where he sat +collapsed and shrunken into himself, his body shaken by a violent +shivering, passing in time into an hysterical fit of dry sobbing. +Mole made the door fast, threw the satchel into a drawer and +locked it, and sat down quietly on the table by his friend, +waiting for the strange seizure to pass. Gradually the Rat sank +into a troubled doze, broken by starts and confused murmurings of +things strange and wild and foreign to the unenlightened Mole; +and from that he passed into a deep slumber. + +Very anxious in mind, the Mole left him for a time and busied +himself with household matters; and it was getting dark when +he returned to the parlour and found the Rat where he had left +him, wide awake indeed, but listless, silent, and dejected. He +took one hasty glance at his eyes; found them, to his great +gratification, clear and dark and brown again as before; and then +sat down and tried to cheer him up and help him to relate what +had happened to him. + +Poor Ratty did his best, by degrees, to explain things; but how +could he put into cold words what had mostly been suggestion? +How recall, for another's benefit, the haunting sea voices that +had sung to him, how reproduce at second-hand the magic of the +Seafarer's hundred reminiscences? Even to himself, now the spell +was broken and the glamour gone, he found it difficult to account +for what had seemed, some hours ago, the inevitable and only +thing. It is not surprising, then, that he failed to convey to +the Mole any clear idea of what he had been through that day. + +To the Mole this much was plain: the fit, or attack, had passed +away, and had left him sane again, though shaken and cast down by +the reaction. But he seemed to have lost all interest for +the time in the things that went to make up his daily life, as +well as in all pleasant forecastings of the altered days and +doings that the changing season was surely bringing. + +Casually, then, and with seeming indifference, the Mole turned +his talk to the harvest that was being gathered in, the towering +wagons and their straining teams, the growing ricks, and the +large moon rising over bare acres dotted with sheaves. He talked +of the reddening apples around, of the browning nuts, of jams and +preserves and the distilling of cordials; till by easy stages +such as these he reached midwinter, its hearty joys and its snug +home life, and then he became simply lyrical. + +By degrees the Rat began to sit up and to join in. His dull eye +brightened, and he lost some of his listening air. + +Presently the tactful Mole slipped away and returned with a +pencil and a few half-sheets of paper, which he placed on the +table at his friend's elbow. + +`It's quite a long time since you did any poetry,' he remarked. +`You might have a try at it this evening, instead of--well, +brooding over things so much. I've an idea that you'll feel +a lot better when you've got something jotted down--if it's only +just the rhymes.' + +The Rat pushed the paper away from him wearily, but the discreet +Mole took occasion to leave the room, and when he peeped in again +some time later, the Rat was absorbed and deaf to the world; +alternately scribbling and sucking the top of his pencil. It is +true that he sucked a good deal more than he scribbled; but it +was joy to the Mole to know that the cure had at least begun. + + + +THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF TOAD + +The front door of the hollow tree faced eastwards, so Toad was +called at an early hour; partly by the bright sunlight streaming +in on him, partly by the exceeding coldness of his toes, which +made him dream that he was at home in bed in his own handsome +room with the Tudor window, on a cold winter's night, and his +bedclothes had got up, grumbling and protesting they couldn't +stand the cold any longer, and had run downstairs to the kitchen +fire to warm themselves; and he had followed, on bare feet, along +miles and miles of icy stone-paved passages, arguing and +beseeching them to be reasonable. He would probably have been +aroused much earlier, had he not slept for some weeks on straw +over stone flags, and almost forgotten the friendly +feeling of thick blankets pulled well up round the chin. + +Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes first and his complaining toes +next, wondered for a moment where he was, looking round for +familiar stone wall and little barred window; then, with a leap +of the heart, remembered everything--his escape, his flight, his +pursuit; remembered, first and best thing of all, that he was +free! + +Free! The word and the thought alone were worth fifty blankets. +He was warm from end to end as he thought of the jolly world +outside, waiting eagerly for him to make his triumphal entrance, +ready to serve him and play up to him, anxious to help him and to +keep him company, as it always had been in days of old before +misfortune fell upon him. He shook himself and combed the dry +leaves out of his hair with his fingers; and, his toilet +complete, marched forth into the comfortable morning sun, cold +but confident, hungry but hopeful, all nervous terrors of +yesterday dispelled by rest and sleep and frank and heartening +sunshine. + +He had the world all to himself, that early summer morning. The +dewy woodland, as he threaded it, was solitary and still: the +green fields that succeeded the trees were his own to do as +he liked with; the road itself, when he reached it, in that +loneliness that was everywhere, seemed, like a stray dog, to be +looking anxiously for company. Toad, however, was looking for +something that could talk, and tell him clearly which way he +ought to go. It is all very well, when you have a light heart, +and a clear conscience, and money in your pocket, and nobody +scouring the country for you to drag you off to prison again, to +follow where the road beckons and points, not caring whither. +The practical Toad cared very much indeed, and he could have +kicked the road for its helpless silence when every minute was of +importance to him. + +The reserved rustic road was presently joined by a shy little +brother in the shape of a canal, which took its hand and ambled +along by its side in perfect confidence, but with the same +tongue-tied, uncommunicative attitude towards strangers. `Bother +them!' said Toad to himself. `But, anyhow, one thing's clear. +They must both be coming FROM somewhere, and going TO +somewhere. You can't get over that. Toad, my boy!' So he +marched on patiently by the water's edge. + +Round a bend in the canal came plodding a solitary horse, +stooping forward as if in anxious thought. From rope traces +attached to his collar stretched a long line, taut, but dipping +with his stride, the further part of it dripping pearly drops. +Toad let the horse pass, and stood waiting for what the fates +were sending him. + +With a pleasant swirl of quiet water at its blunt bow the barge +slid up alongside of him, its gaily painted gunwale level with +the towing-path, its sole occupant a big stout woman wearing a +linen sun-bonnet, one brawny arm laid along the tiller. + +`A nice morning, ma'am!' she remarked to Toad, as she drew up +level with him. + +`I dare say it is, ma'am!' responded Toad politely, as he walked +along the tow-path abreast of her. `I dare it IS a nice +morning to them that's not in sore trouble, like what I am. +Here's my married daughter, she sends off to me post-haste to +come to her at once; so off I comes, not knowing what may be +happening or going to happen, but fearing the worst, as you will +understand, ma'am, if you're a mother, too. And I've left my +business to look after itself--I'm in the washing and +laundering line, you must know, ma'am--and I've left my young +children to look after themselves, and a more mischievous and +troublesome set of young imps doesn't exist, ma'am; and I've lost +all my money, and lost my way, and as for what may be happening +to my married daughter, why, I don't like to think of it, ma'am!' + +`Where might your married daughter be living, ma'am?' asked the +barge-woman. + +`She lives near to the river, ma'am,' replied Toad. `Close to a +fine house called Toad Hall, that's somewheres hereabouts in +these parts. Perhaps you may have heard of it.' + +`Toad Hall? Why, I'm going that way myself,' replied the barge- +woman. `This canal joins the river some miles further on, a +little above Toad Hall; and then it's an easy walk. You come +along in the barge with me, and I'll give you a lift.' + +She steered the barge close to the bank, and Toad, with many +humble and grateful acknowledgments, stepped lightly on board and +sat down with great satisfaction. `Toad's luck again!' thought +he. `I always come out on top!' + +`So you're in the washing business, ma'am?' said the barge-woman +politely, as they glided along. `And a very good business you've +got too, I dare say, if I'm not making too free in saying so.' + +`Finest business in the whole country,' said Toad airily. `All +the gentry come to me--wouldn't go to any one else if they were +paid, they know me so well. You see, I understand my work +thoroughly, and attend to it all myself. Washing, ironing, +clear-starching, making up gents' fine shirts for evening wear-- +everything's done under my own eye!' + +`But surely you don't DO all that work yourself, ma'am?' asked +the barge-woman respectfully. + +`O, I have girls,' said Toad lightly: `twenty girls or +thereabouts, always at work. But you know what GIRLS are, +ma'am! Nasty little hussies, that's what _I_ call 'em!' + +`So do I, too,' said the barge-woman with great heartiness. `But +I dare say you set yours to rights, the idle trollops! And are +you very fond of washing?' + +`I love it,' said Toad. `I simply dote on it. Never so happy as +when I've got both arms in the wash-tub. But, then, it comes so +easy to me! No trouble at all! A real pleasure, I assure +you, ma'am!' + +`What a bit of luck, meeting you!' observed the barge-woman, +thoughtfully. `A regular piece of good fortune for both of us!' + +`Why, what do you mean?' asked Toad, nervously. + +`Well, look at me, now,' replied the barge-woman. `_I_ like +washing, too, just the same as you do; and for that matter, +whether I like it or not I have got to do all my own, naturally, +moving about as I do. Now my husband, he's such a fellow for +shirking his work and leaving the barge to me, that never a +moment do I get for seeing to my own affairs. By rights he ought +to be here now, either steering or attending to the horse, though +luckily the horse has sense enough to attend to himself. Instead +of which, he's gone off with the dog, to see if they can't pick +up a rabbit for dinner somewhere. Says he'll catch me up at the +next lock. Well, that's as may be--I don't trust him, once he +gets off with that dog, who's worse than he is. But meantime, +how am I to get on with my washing?' + +`O, never mind about the washing,' said Toad, not liking the +subject. `Try and fix your mind on that rabbit. A nice fat +young rabbit, I'll be bound. Got any onions?' + +`I can't fix my mind on anything but my washing,' said the barge- +woman, `and I wonder you can be talking of rabbits, with such a +joyful prospect before you. There's a heap of things of mine +that you'll find in a corner of the cabin. If you'll just take +one or two of the most necessary sort--I won't venture to +describe them to a lady like you, but you'll recognise them at a +glance--and put them through the wash-tub as we go along, why, +it'll be a pleasure to you, as you rightly say, and a real help +to me. You'll find a tub handy, and soap, and a kettle on the +stove, and a bucket to haul up water from the canal with. Then I +shall know you're enjoying yourself, instead of sitting here +idle, looking at the scenery and yawning your head off.' + +`Here, you let me steer!' said Toad, now thoroughly frightened, +`and then you can get on with your washing your own way. I might +spoil your things, or not do 'em as you like. I'm more used to +gentlemen's things myself. It's my special line.' + +`Let you steer?' replied the barge-woman, laughing. `It takes +some practice to steer a barge properly. Besides, it's dull +work, and I want you to be happy. No, you shall do the washing +you are so fond of, and I'll stick to the steering that I +understand. Don't try and deprive me of the pleasure of giving +you a treat!' + +Toad was fairly cornered. He looked for escape this way and +that, saw that he was too far from the bank for a flying leap, +and sullenly resigned himself to his fate. `If it comes to +that,' he thought in desperation, `I suppose any fool can +WASH!' + +He fetched tub, soap, and other necessaries from the cabin, +selected a few garments at random, tried to recollect what he had +seen in casual glances through laundry windows, and set to. + +A long half-hour passed, and every minute of it saw Toad getting +crosser and crosser. Nothing that he could do to the things +seemed to please them or do them good. He tried coaxing, he +tried slapping, he tried punching; they smiled back at him out of +the tub unconverted, happy in their original sin. Once or twice +he looked nervously over his shoulder at the barge-woman, +but she appeared to be gazing out in front of her, absorbed in +her steering. His back ached badly, and he noticed with dismay +that his paws were beginning to get all crinkly. Now Toad was +very proud of his paws. He muttered under his breath words that +should never pass the lips of either washerwomen or Toads; and +lost the soap, for the fiftieth time. + +A burst of laughter made him straighten himself and look round. +The barge-woman was leaning back and laughing unrestrainedly, +till the tears ran down her cheeks. + +`I've been watching you all the time,' she gasped. `I thought +you must be a humbug all along, from the conceited way you +talked. Pretty washerwoman you are! Never washed so much as a +dish-clout in your life, I'll lay!' + +Toad's temper which had been simmering viciously for some time, +now fairly boiled over, and he lost all control of himself. + +`You common, low, FAT barge-woman!' he shouted; `don't you +dare to talk to your betters like that! Washerwoman indeed! I +would have you to know that I am a Toad, a very well-known, +respected, distinguished Toad! I may be under a bit of a +cloud at present, but I will NOT be laughed at by a +bargewoman!' + +The woman moved nearer to him and peered under his bonnet keenly +and closely. `Why, so you are!' she cried. `Well, I never! A +horrid, nasty, crawly Toad! And in my nice clean barge, too! +Now that is a thing that I will NOT have.' + +She relinquished the tiller for a moment. One big mottled arm +shot out and caught Toad by a fore-leg, while the other-gripped +him fast by a hind-leg. Then the world turned suddenly upside +down, the barge seemed to flit lightly across the sky, the wind +whistled in his ears, and Toad found himself flying through the +air, revolving rapidly as he went. + +The water, when he eventually reached it with a loud splash, +proved quite cold enough for his taste, though its chill was not +sufficient to quell his proud spirit, or slake the heat of his +furious temper. He rose to the surface spluttering, and when he +had wiped the duck-weed out of his eyes the first thing he saw +was the fat barge-woman looking back at him over the stern of the +retreating barge and laughing; and he vowed, as he coughed +and choked, to be even with her. + +He struck out for the shore, but the cotton gown greatly impeded +his efforts, and when at length he touched land he found it hard +to climb up the steep bank unassisted. He had to take a minute +or two's rest to recover his breath; then, gathering his wet +skirts well over his arms, he started to run after the barge as +fast as his legs would carry him, wild with indignation, +thirsting for revenge. + +The barge-woman was still laughing when he drew up level with +her. `Put yourself through your mangle, washerwoman,' she called +out, `and iron your face and crimp it, and you'll pass for quite +a decent-looking Toad!' + +Toad never paused to reply. Solid revenge was what he wanted, +not cheap, windy, verbal triumphs, though he had a thing or two +in his mind that he would have liked to say. He saw what he +wanted ahead of him. Running swiftly on he overtook the horse, +unfastened the towrope and cast off, jumped lightly on the +horse's back, and urged it to a gallop by kicking it vigorously +in the sides. He steered for the open country, abandoning the +tow-path, and swinging his steed down a rutty lane. Once he +looked back, and saw that the barge had run aground on the other +side of the canal, and the barge-woman was gesticulating wildly +and shouting, `Stop, stop, stop!' `I've heard that song before,' +said Toad, laughing, as he continued to spur his steed onward in +its wild career. + +The barge-horse was not capable of any very sustained effort, and +its gallop soon subsided into a trot, and its trot into an easy +walk; but Toad was quite contented with this, knowing that he, at +any rate, was moving, and the barge was not. He had quite +recovered his temper, now that he had done something he thought +really clever; and he was satisfied to jog along quietly in the +sun, steering his horse along by-ways and bridle-paths, and +trying to forget how very long it was since he had had a square +meal, till the canal had been left very far behind him. + +He had travelled some miles, his horse and he, and he was feeling +drowsy in the hot sunshine, when the horse stopped, lowered his +head, and began to nibble the grass; and Toad, waking up, just +saved himself from falling off by an effort. He looked +about him and found he was on a wide common, dotted with patches +of gorse and bramble as far as he could see. Near him stood a +dingy gipsy caravan, and beside it a man was sitting on a bucket +turned upside down, very busy smoking and staring into the wide +world. A fire of sticks was burning near by, and over the fire +hung an iron pot, and out of that pot came forth bubblings and +gurglings, and a vague suggestive steaminess. Also smells--warm, +rich, and varied smells--that twined and twisted and wreathed +themselves at last into one complete, voluptuous, perfect smell +that seemed like the very soul of Nature taking form and +appearing to her children, a true Goddess, a mother of solace and +comfort. Toad now knew well that he had not been really hungry +before. What he had felt earlier in the day had been a mere +trifling qualm. This was the real thing at last, and no mistake; +and it would have to be dealt with speedily, too, or there would +be trouble for somebody or something. He looked the gipsy over +carefully, wondering vaguely whether it would be easier to fight +him or cajole him. So there he sat, and sniffed and sniffed, and +looked at the gipsy; and the gipsy sat and smoked, and +looked at him. + +Presently the gipsy took his pipe out of his mouth and remarked +in a careless way, `Want to sell that there horse of yours?' + +Toad was completely taken aback. He did not know that gipsies +were very fond of horse-dealing, and never missed an opportunity, +and he had not reflected that caravans were always on the move +and took a deal of drawing. It had not occurred to him to turn +the horse into cash, but the gipsy's suggestion seemed to smooth +the way towards the two things he wanted so badly--ready money, +and a solid breakfast. + +`What?' he said, `me sell this beautiful young horse of mine? O, +no; it's out of the question. Who's going to take the washing +home to my customers every week? Besides, I'm too fond of him, +and he simply dotes on me.' + +`Try and love a donkey,' suggested the gipsy. `Some people do.' + +`You don't seem to see,' continued Toad, `that this fine horse of +mine is a cut above you altogether. He's a blood horse, he is, +partly; not the part you see, of course--another part. And +he's been a Prize Hackney, too, in his time--that was the time +before you knew him, but you can still tell it on him at a +glance, if you understand anything about horses. No, it's not to +be thought of for a moment. All the same, how much might you be +disposed to offer me for this beautiful young horse of mine?' + +The gipsy looked the horse over, and then he looked Toad over +with equal care, and looked at the horse again. `Shillin' a +leg,' he said briefly, and turned away, continuing to smoke and +try to stare the wide world out of countenance. + +`A shilling a leg?' cried Toad. `If you please, I must take a +little time to work that out, and see just what it comes to.' + +He climbed down off his horse, and left it to graze, and sat down +by the gipsy, and did sums on his fingers, and at last he said, +`A shilling a leg? Why, that comes to exactly four shillings, +and no more. O, no; I could not think of accepting four +shillings for this beautiful young horse of mine.' + +`Well,' said the gipsy, `I'll tell you what I will do. I'll make +it five shillings, and that's three-and-sixpence more than the +animal's worth. And that's my last word.' + +Then Toad sat and pondered long and deeply. For he was hungry +and quite penniless, and still some way--he knew not how far-- +from home, and enemies might still be looking for him. To one in +such a situation, five shillings may very well appear a large sum +of money. On the other hand, it did not seem very much to get +for a horse. But then, again, the horse hadn't cost him +anything; so whatever he got was all clear profit. At last he +said firmly, `Look here, gipsy! I tell you what we will do; and +this is MY last word. You shall hand me over six shillings +and sixpence, cash down; and further, in addition thereto, you +shall give me as much breakfast as I can possibly eat, at one +sitting of course, out of that iron pot of yours that keeps +sending forth such delicious and exciting smells. In return, I +will make over to you my spirited young horse, with all the +beautiful harness and trappings that are on him, freely thrown +in. If that's not good enough for you, say so, and I'll be +getting on. I know a man near here who's wanted this horse of +mine for years.' + +The gipsy grumbled frightfully, and declared if he did a few more +deals of that sort he'd be ruined. But in the end he lugged +a dirty canvas bag out of the depths of his trouser pocket, and +counted out six shillings and sixpence into Toad's paw. Then he +disappeared into the caravan for an instant, and returned with a +large iron plate and a knife, fork, and spoon. He tilted up the +pot, and a glorious stream of hot rich stew gurgled into the +plate. It was, indeed, the most beautiful stew in the world, +being made of partridges, and pheasants, and chickens, and hares, +and rabbits, and pea-hens, and guinea-fowls, and one or two other +things. Toad took the plate on his lap, almost crying, and +stuffed, and stuffed, and stuffed, and kept asking for more, and +the gipsy never grudged it him. He thought that he had never +eaten so good a breakfast in all his life. + +When Toad had taken as much stew on board as he thought he could +possibly hold, he got up and said good-bye to the gipsy, and took +an affectionate farewell of the horse; and the gipsy, who knew +the riverside well, gave him directions which way to go, and he +set forth on his travels again in the best possible spirits. He +was, indeed, a very different Toad from the animal of an hour +ago. The sun was shining brightly, his wet clothes were +quite dry again, he had money in his pocket once more, he was +nearing home and friends and safety, and, most and best of all, +he had had a substantial meal, hot and nourishing, and felt big, +and strong, and careless, and self-confident. + +As he tramped along gaily, he thought of his adventures and +escapes, and how when things seemed at their worst he had always +managed to find a way out; and his pride and conceit began to +swell within him. `Ho, ho!' he said to himself as he marched +along with his chin in the air, `what a clever Toad I am! There +is surely no animal equal to me for cleverness in the whole +world! My enemies shut me up in prison, encircled by sentries, +watched night and day by warders; I walk out through them all, by +sheer ability coupled with courage. They pursue me with engines, +and policemen, and revolvers; I snap my fingers at them, and +vanish, laughing, into space. I am, unfortunately, thrown into a +canal by a woman fat of body and very evil-minded. What of it? +I swim ashore, I seize her horse, I ride off in triumph, and I +sell the horse for a whole pocketful of money and an excellent +breakfast! Ho, ho! I am The Toad, the handsome, the +popular, the successful Toad!' He got so puffed up with conceit +that he made up a song as he walked in praise of himself, and +sang it at the top of his voice, though there was no one to hear +it but him. It was perhaps the most conceited song that any +animal ever composed. + + `The world has held great Heroes, + As history-books have showed; + But never a name to go down to fame + Compared with that of Toad! + + `The clever men at Oxford + Know all that there is to be knowed. + But they none of them know one half as much + As intelligent Mr. Toad! + + `The animals sat in the Ark and cried, + Their tears in torrents flowed. + Who was it said, "There's land ahead?" + Encouraging Mr. Toad! + + `The army all saluted + As they marched along the road. + Was it the King? Or Kitchener? + No. It was Mr. Toad. + + `The Queen and her Ladies-in-waiting + Sat at the window and sewed. + She cried, "Look! who's that HANDSOME man?" + They answered, "Mr. Toad."' + + +There was a great deal more of the same sort, but too dreadfully +conceited to be written down. These are some of the milder +verses. + +He sang as he walked, and he walked as he sang, and got more +inflated every minute. But his pride was shortly to have a +severe fall. + +After some miles of country lanes he reached the high road, and +as he turned into it and glanced along its white length, he saw +approaching him a speck that turned into a dot and then into a +blob, and then into something very familiar; and a double note of +warning, only too well known, fell on his delighted ear. + +`This is something like!' said the excited Toad. `This is real +life again, this is once more the great world from which I have +been missed so long! I will hail them, my brothers of the wheel, +and pitch them a yarn, of the sort that has been so successful +hitherto; and they will give me a lift, of course, and then I +will talk to them some more; and, perhaps, with luck, it may even +end in my driving up to Toad Hall in a motor-car! That will be +one in the eye for Badger!' + +He stepped confidently out into the road to hail the motor- +car, which came along at an easy pace, slowing down as it neared +the lane; when suddenly he became very pale, his heart turned to +water, his knees shook and yielded under him, and he doubled up +and collapsed with a sickening pain in his interior. And well he +might, the unhappy animal; for the approaching car was the very +one he had stolen out of the yard of the Red Lion Hotel on that +fatal day when all his troubles began! And the people in it were +the very same people he had sat and watched at luncheon in the +coffee-room! + +He sank down in a shabby, miserable heap in the road, murmuring +to himself in his despair, `It's all up! It's all over now! +Chains and policemen again! Prison again! Dry bread and water +again! O, what a fool I have been! What did I want to go +strutting about the country for, singing conceited songs, and +hailing people in broad day on the high road, instead of hiding +till nightfall and slipping home quietly by back ways! O hapless +Toad! O ill-fated animal!' + +The terrible motor-car drew slowly nearer and nearer, till at +last he heard it stop just short of him. Two gentlemen got +out and walked round the trembling heap of crumpled misery lying +in the road, and one of them said, `O dear! this is very sad! +Here is a poor old thing--a washerwoman apparently--who has +fainted in the road! Perhaps she is overcome by the heat, poor +creature; or possibly she has not had any food to-day. Let us +lift her into the car and take her to the nearest village, where +doubtless she has friends.' + +They tenderly lifted Toad into the motor-car and propped him up +with soft cushions, and proceeded on their way. + +When Toad heard them talk in so kind and sympathetic a way, and +knew that he was not recognised, his courage began to revive, and +he cautiously opened first one eye and then the other. + +`Look!' said one of the gentlemen, `she is better already. The +fresh air is doing her good. How do you feel now, ma'am?' + +`Thank you kindly, Sir,' said Toad in a feeble voice, `I'm +feeling a great deal better!' `That's right,' said the +gentleman. `Now keep quite still, and, above all, don't try to +talk.' + +`I won't,' said Toad. `I was only thinking, if I might sit on +the front seat there, beside the driver, where I could get the +fresh air full in my face, I should soon be all right again.' + +`What a very sensible woman!' said the gentleman. `Of course you +shall.' So they carefully helped Toad into the front seat beside +the driver, and on they went again. + +Toad was almost himself again by now. He sat up, looked about +him, and tried to beat down the tremors, the yearnings, the old +cravings that rose up and beset him and took possession of him +entirely. + +`It is fate!' he said to himself. `Why strive? why struggle?' +and he turned to the driver at his side. + +`Please, Sir,' he said, `I wish you would kindly let me try and +drive the car for a little. I've been watching you carefully, +and it looks so easy and so interesting, and I should like to be +able to tell my friends that once I had driven a motor-car!' + +The driver laughed at the proposal, so heartily that the +gentleman inquired what the matter was. When he heard, he +said, to Toad's delight, `Bravo, ma'am! I like your spirit. +Let her have a try, and look after her. She won't do any +harm.' + +Toad eagerly scrambled into the seat vacated by the driver, took +the steering-wheel in his hands, listened with affected humility +to the instructions given him, and set the car in motion, but +very slowly and carefully at first, for he was determined to be +prudent. + +The gentlemen behind clapped their hands and applauded, and Toad +heard them saying, `How well she does it! Fancy a washerwoman +driving a car as well as that, the first time!' + +Toad went a little faster; then faster still, and faster. + +He heard the gentlemen call out warningly, `Be careful, +washerwoman!' And this annoyed him, and he began to lose his +head. + +The driver tried to interfere, but he pinned him down in his seat +with one elbow, and put on full speed. The rush of air in his +face, the hum of the engines, and the light jump of the car +beneath him intoxicated his weak brain. `Washerwoman, indeed!' +he shouted recklessly. `Ho! ho! I am the Toad, the motor-car +snatcher, the prison-breaker, the Toad who always escapes! Sit +still, and you shall know what driving really is, for you +are in the hands of the famous, the skilful, the entirely +fearless Toad!' + +With a cry of horror the whole party rose and flung themselves on +him. `Seize him!' they cried, `seize the Toad, the wicked animal +who stole our motor-car! Bind him, chain him, drag him to the +nearest police-station! Down with the desperate and dangerous +Toad!' + +Alas! they should have thought, they ought to have been more +prudent, they should have remembered to stop the motor-car +somehow before playing any pranks of that sort. With a half-turn +of the wheel the Toad sent the car crashing through the low hedge +that ran along the roadside. One mighty bound, a violent shock, +and the wheels of the car were churning up the thick mud of a +horse-pond. + +Toad found himself flying through the air with the strong upward +rush and delicate curve of a swallow. He liked the motion, and +was just beginning to wonder whether it would go on until he +developed wings and turned into a Toad-bird, when he landed on +his back with a thump, in the soft rich grass of a meadow. +Sitting up, he could just see the motor-car in the pond, +nearly submerged; the gentlemen and the driver, encumbered by +their long coats, were floundering helplessly in the water. + +He picked himself up rapidly, and set off running across country +as hard as he could, scrambling through hedges, jumping ditches, +pounding across fields, till he was breathless and weary, and had +to settle down into an easy walk. When he had recovered his +breath somewhat, and was able to think calmly, he began to +giggle, and from giggling he took to laughing, and he laughed +till he had to sit down under a hedge. `Ho, ho!' he cried, in +ecstasies of self-admiration, `Toad again! Toad, as usual, comes +out on the top! Who was it got them to give him a lift? Who +managed to get on the front seat for the sake of fresh air? Who +persuaded them into letting him see if he could drive? Who +landed them all in a horse-pond? Who escaped, flying gaily and +unscathed through the air, leaving the narrow-minded, grudging, +timid excursionists in the mud where they should rightly be? +Why, Toad, of course; clever Toad, great Toad, GOOD Toad!' + +Then he burst into song again, and chanted with uplifted voice-- + + `The motor-car went Poop-poop-poop, + As it raced along the road. + Who was it steered it into a pond? + Ingenious Mr. Toad! + +O, how clever I am! How clever, how clever, how very clev----' + +A slight noise at a distance behind him made him turn his head +and look. O horror! O misery! O despair! + +About two fields off, a chauffeur in his leather gaiters and two +large rural policemen were visible, running towards him as hard +as they could go! + +Poor Toad sprang to his feet and pelted away again, his heart in +his mouth. O, my!' he gasped, as he panted along, `what an +ASS I am! What a CONCEITED and heedless ass! Swaggering +again! Shouting and singing songs again! Sitting still and +gassing again! O my! O my! O my!' + +He glanced back, and saw to his dismay that they were gaining on +him. On he ran desperately, but kept looking back, and saw that +they still gained steadily. He did his best, but he was a fat +animal, and his legs were short, and still they gained. He could +hear them close behind him now. Ceasing to heed where he +was going, he struggled on blindly and wildly, looking back over +his shoulder at the now triumphant enemy, when suddenly the earth +failed under his feet, he grasped at the air, and, splash! he +found himself head over ears in deep water, rapid water, water +that bore him along with a force he could not contend with; and +he knew that in his blind panic he had run straight into the +river! + +He rose to the surface and tried to grasp the reeds and the +rushes that grew along the water's edge close under the bank, but +the stream was so strong that it tore them out of his hands. `O +my!' gasped poor Toad, `if ever I steal a motor-car again! If +ever I sing another conceited song'--then down he went, and came +up breathless and spluttering. Presently he saw that he was +approaching a big dark hole in the bank, just above his head, and +as the stream bore him past he reached up with a paw and caught +hold of the edge and held on. Then slowly and with difficulty he +drew himself up out of the water, till at last he was able to +rest his elbows on the edge of the hole. There he remained for +some minutes, puffing and panting, for he was quite +exhausted. + +As he sighed and blew and stared before him into the dark hole, +some bright small thing shone and twinkled in its depths, moving +towards him. As it approached, a face grew up gradually around +it, and it was a familiar face! + +Brown and small, with whiskers. + +Grave and round, with neat ears and silky hair. + +It was the Water Rat! + + +XI + +`LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS CAME HIS TEARS' + +The Rat put out a neat little brown paw, gripped Toad firmly by +the scruff of the neck, and gave a great hoist and a pull; and +the water-logged Toad came up slowly but surely over the edge of +the hole, till at last he stood safe and sound in the hall, +streaked with mud and weed to be sure, and with the water +streaming off him, but happy and high-spirited as of old, now +that he found himself once more in the house of a friend, and +dodgings and evasions were over, and he could lay aside a +disguise that was unworthy of his position and wanted such a lot +of living up to. + +`O, Ratty!' he cried. `I've been through such times since I saw +you last, you can't think! Such trials, such sufferings, and all +so nobly borne! Then such escapes, such disguises such +subterfuges, and all so cleverly planned and carried out! Been +in prison--got out of it, of course! Been thrown into a canal-- +swam ashore! Stole a horse--sold him for a large sum of money! +Humbugged everybody--made 'em all do exactly what I wanted! Oh, +I AM a smart Toad, and no mistake! What do you think my last +exploit was? Just hold on till I tell you----' + +`Toad,' said the Water Rat, gravely and firmly, `you go off +upstairs at once, and take off that old cotton rag that looks as +if it might formerly have belonged to some washerwoman, and clean +yourself thoroughly, and put on some of my clothes, and try and +come down looking like a gentleman if you CAN; for a more +shabby, bedraggled, disreputable-looking object than you are I +never set eyes on in my whole life! Now, stop swaggering and +arguing, and be off! I'll have something to say to you later!' + +Toad was at first inclined to stop and do some talking back at +him. He had had enough of being ordered about when he was in +prison, and here was the thing being begun all over again, +apparently; and by a Rat, too! However, he caught sight of +himself in the looking-glass over the hat-stand, with the +rusty black bonnet perched rakishly over one eye, and he changed +his mind and went very quickly and humbly upstairs to the Rat's +dressing-room. There he had a thorough wash and brush-up, +changed his clothes, and stood for a long time before the glass, +contemplating himself with pride and pleasure, and thinking what +utter idiots all the people must have been to have ever mistaken +him for one moment for a washerwoman. + +By the time he came down again luncheon was on the table, and +very glad Toad was to see it, for he had been through some trying +experiences and had taken much hard exercise since the excellent +breakfast provided for him by the gipsy. While they ate Toad +told the Rat all his adventures, dwelling chiefly on his own +cleverness, and presence of mind in emergencies, and cunning in +tight places; and rather making out that he had been having a gay +and highly-coloured experience. But the more he talked and +boasted, the more grave and silent the Rat became. + +When at last Toad had talked himself to a standstill, there was +silence for a while; and then the Rat said, `Now, Toady, I don't +want to give you pain, after all you've been through +already; but, seriously, don't you see what an awful ass you've +been making of yourself? On your own admission you have been +handcuffed, imprisoned, starved, chased, terrified out of your +life, insulted, jeered at, and ignominiously flung into the +water--by a woman, too! Where's the amusement in that? Where +does the fun come in? And all because you must needs go and +steal a motor-car. You know that you've never had anything but +trouble from motor-cars from the moment you first set eyes on +one. But if you WILL be mixed up with them--as you generally +are, five minutes after you've started--why STEAL them? Be a +cripple, if you think it's exciting; be a bankrupt, for a change, +if you've set your mind on it: but why choose to be a convict? +When are you going to be sensible, and think of your friends, and +try and be a credit to them? Do you suppose it's any pleasure to +me, for instance, to hear animals saying, as I go about, that I'm +the chap that keeps company with gaol-birds?' + +Now, it was a very comforting point in Toad's character that he +was a thoroughly good-hearted animal and never minded being +jawed by those who were his real friends. And even when +most set upon a thing, he was always able to see the other side +of the question. So although, while the Rat was talking so +seriously, he kept saying to himself mutinously, `But it WAS +fun, though! Awful fun!' and making strange suppressed noises +inside him, k-i-ck-ck-ck, and poop-p-p, and other sounds +resembling stifled snorts, or the opening of soda-water bottles, +yet when the Rat had quite finished, he heaved a deep sigh and +said, very nicely and humbly, `Quite right, Ratty! How SOUND +you always are! Yes, I've been a conceited old ass, I can quite +see that; but now I'm going to be a good Toad, and not do it any +more. As for motor-cars, I've not been at all so keen about them +since my last ducking in that river of yours. The fact is, while +I was hanging on to the edge of your hole and getting my breath, +I had a sudden idea--a really brilliant idea--connected with +motor-boats--there, there! don't take on so, old chap, and stamp, +and upset things; it was only an idea, and we won't talk any more +about it now. We'll have our coffee, AND a smoke, and a quiet +chat, and then I'm going to stroll quietly down to Toad +Hall, and get into clothes of my own, and set things going again +on the old lines. I've had enough of adventures. I shall lead a +quiet, steady, respectable life, pottering about my property, and +improving it, and doing a little landscape gardening at times. +There will always be a bit of dinner for my friends when they +come to see me; and I shall keep a pony-chaise to jog about the +country in, just as I used to in the good old days, before I got +restless, and wanted to DO things.' + +`Stroll quietly down to Toad Hall?' cried the Rat, greatly +excited. `What are you talking about? Do you mean to say you +haven't HEARD?' + +`Heard what?' said Toad, turning rather pale. `Go on, Ratty! +Quick! Don't spare me! What haven't I heard?' + +`Do you mean to tell me,' shouted the Rat, thumping with his +little fist upon the table, `that you've heard nothing about the +Stoats and Weasels?' + +What, the Wild Wooders?' cried Toad, trembling in every limb. +`No, not a word! What have they been doing?' + +`--And how they've been and taken Toad Hall?' continued the Rat. + +Toad leaned his elbows on the table, and his chin on his paws; +and a large tear welled up in each of his eyes, overflowed and +splashed on the table, plop! plop! + +`Go on, Ratty,' he murmured presently; `tell me all. The worst +is over. I am an animal again. I can bear it.' + +`When you--got--into that--that--trouble of yours,' said the Rat, +slowly and impressively; `I mean, when you--disappeared from +society for a time, over that misunderstanding about a--a +machine, you know--' + +Toad merely nodded. + +`Well, it was a good deal talked about down here, naturally,' +continued the Rat, `not only along the river-side, but even in +the Wild Wood. Animals took sides, as always happens. The +River-bankers stuck up for you, and said you had been infamously +treated, and there was no justice to be had in the land nowadays. +But the Wild Wood animals said hard things, and served you right, +and it was time this sort of thing was stopped. And they got +very cocky, and went about saying you were done for this +time! You would never come back again, never, never!' + +Toad nodded once more, keeping silence. + +`That's the sort of little beasts they are,' the Rat went on. +`But Mole and Badger, they stuck out, through thick and thin, +that you would come back again soon, somehow. They didn't know +exactly how, but somehow!' + +Toad began to sit up in his chair again, and to smirk a little. + +`They argued from history,' continued the Rat. `They said that +no criminal laws had ever been known to prevail against cheek and +plausibility such as yours, combined with the power of a long +purse. So they arranged to move their things in to Toad Hall, +and sleep there, and keep it aired, and have it all ready for you +when you turned up. They didn't guess what was going to happen, +of course; still, they had their suspicions of the Wild Wood +animals. Now I come to the most painful and tragic part of my +story. One dark night--it was a VERY dark night, and blowing +hard, too, and raining simply cats and dogs--a band of weasels, +armed to the teeth, crept silently up the carriage-drive to the +front entrance. Simultaneously, a body of desperate +ferrets, advancing through the kitchen-garden, possessed +themselves of the backyard and offices; while a company of +skirmishing stoats who stuck at nothing occupied the conservatory +and the billiard-room, and held the French windows opening on to +the lawn. + +`The Mole and the Badger were sitting by the fire in the smoking- +room, telling stories and suspecting nothing, for it wasn't a +night for any animals to be out in, when those bloodthirsty +villains broke down the doors and rushed in upon them from every +side. They made the best fight they could, but what was the +good? They were unarmed, and taken by surprise, and what can two +animals do against hundreds? They took and beat them severely +with sticks, those two poor faithful creatures, and turned them +out into the cold and the wet, with many insulting and uncalled- +for remarks!' + +Here the unfeeling Toad broke into a snigger, and then pulled +himself together and tried to look particularly solemn. + +`And the Wild Wooders have been living in Toad Hall ever since,' +continued the Rat; `and going on simply anyhow! Lying in bed +half the day, and breakfast at all hours, and the place in +such a mess (I'm told) it's not fit to be seen! Eating your +grub, and drinking your drink, and making bad jokes about you, +and singing vulgar songs, about--well, about prisons and +magistrates, and policemen; horrid personal songs, with no humour +in them. And they're telling the tradespeople and everybody that +they've come to stay for good.' + +`O, have they!' said Toad getting up and seizing a stick. `I'll +jolly soon see about that!' + +`It's no good, Toad!' called the Rat after him. `You'd better +come back and sit down; you'll only get into trouble.' + +But the Toad was off, and there was no holding him. He marched +rapidly down the road, his stick over his shoulder, fuming and +muttering to himself in his anger, till he got near his front +gate, when suddenly there popped up from behind the palings a +long yellow ferret with a gun. + +`Who comes there?' said the ferret sharply. + +`Stuff and nonsense!' said Toad, very angrily. `What do you mean +by talking like that to me? Come out of that at once, or +I'll----' + +The ferret said never a word, but he brought his gun up to +his shoulder. Toad prudently dropped flat in the road, and +BANG! a bullet whistled over his head. + +The startled Toad scrambled to his feet and scampered off down +the road as hard as he could; and as he ran he heard the ferret +laughing and other horrid thin little laughs taking it up and +carrying on the sound. + +He went back, very crestfallen, and told the Water Rat. + +`What did I tell you?' said the Rat. `It's no good. They've got +sentries posted, and they are all armed. You must just wait.' + +Still, Toad was not inclined to give in all at once. So he got +out the boat, and set off rowing up the river to where the garden +front of Toad Hall came down to the waterside. + +Arriving within sight of his old home, he rested on his oars and +surveyed the land cautiously. All seemed very peaceful and +deserted and quiet. He could see the whole front of Toad Hall, +glowing in the evening sunshine, the pigeons settling by twos and +threes along the straight line of the roof; the garden, a blaze +of flowers; the creek that led up to the boat-house, the little +wooden bridge that crossed it; all tranquil, uninhabited, +apparently waiting for his return. He would try the boat-house +first, he thought. Very warily he paddled up to the mouth of the +creek, and was just passing under the bridge, +when . . . CRASH! + +A great stone, dropped from above, smashed through the bottom of +the boat. It filled and sank, and Toad found himself struggling +in deep water. Looking up, he saw two stoats leaning over the +parapet of the bridge and watching him with great glee. `It will +be your head next time, Toady!' they called out to him. The +indignant Toad swam to shore, while the stoats laughed and +laughed, supporting each other, and laughed again, till they +nearly had two fits--that is, one fit each, of course. + +The Toad retraced his weary way on foot, and related his +disappointing experiences to the Water Rat once more. + +`Well, WHAT did I tell you?' said the Rat very crossly. `And, +now, look here! See what you've been and done! Lost me my boat +that I was so fond of, that's what you've done! And simply +ruined that nice suit of clothes that I lent you! Really, +Toad, of all the trying animals--I wonder you manage to keep any +friends at all!' + +The Toad saw at once how wrongly and foolishly he had acted. He +admitted his errors and wrong-headedness and made a full apology +to Rat for losing his boat and spoiling his clothes. And he +wound up by saying, with that frank self-surrender which always +disarmed his friend's criticism and won them back to his side, +`Ratty! I see that I have been a headstrong and a wilful Toad! +Henceforth, believe me, I will be humble and submissive, and will +take no action without your kind advice and full approval!' + +`If that is really so,' said the good-natured Rat, already +appeased, `then my advice to you is, considering the lateness of +the hour, to sit down and have your supper, which will be on the +table in a minute, and be very patient. For I am convinced that +we can do nothing until we have seen the Mole and the Badger, and +heard their latest news, and held conference and taken their +advice in this difficult matter.' + +`Oh, ah, yes, of course, the Mole and the Badger,' said Toad, +lightly. `What's become of them, the dear fellows? I had +forgotten all about them.' + +`Well may you ask!' said the Rat reproachfully. `While you were +riding about the country in expensive motor-cars, and galloping +proudly on blood-horses, and breakfasting on the fat of the land, +those two poor devoted animals have been camping out in the open, +in every sort of weather, living very rough by day and lying very +hard by night; watching over your house, patrolling your +boundaries, keeping a constant eye on the stoats and the weasels, +scheming and planning and contriving how to get your property +back for you. You don't deserve to have such true and loyal +friends, Toad, you don't, really. Some day, when it's too late, +you'll be sorry you didn't value them more while you had them!' + +`I'm an ungrateful beast, I know,' sobbed Toad, shedding bitter +tears. `Let me go out and find them, out into the cold, dark +night, and share their hardships, and try and prove by----Hold on +a bit! Surely I heard the chink of dishes on a tray! Supper's +here at last, hooray! Come on, Ratty!' + +The Rat remembered that poor Toad had been on prison fare +for a considerable time, and that large allowances had therefore +to be made. He followed him to the table accordingly, and +hospitably encouraged him in his gallant efforts to make up for +past privations. + +They had just finished their meal and resumed their arm-chairs, +when there came a heavy knock at the door. + +Toad was nervous, but the Rat, nodding mysteriously at him, went +straight up to the door and opened it, and in walked Mr. Badger. + +He had all the appearance of one who for some nights had been +kept away from home and all its little comforts and conveniences. +His shoes were covered with mud, and he was looking very rough +and touzled; but then he had never been a very smart man, the +Badger, at the best of times. He came solemnly up to Toad, shook +him by the paw, and said, `Welcome home, Toad! Alas! what am I +saying? Home, indeed! This is a poor home-coming. Unhappy +Toad!' Then he turned his back on him, sat down to the table, +drew his chair up, and helped himself to a large slice of cold +pie. + +Toad was quite alarmed at this very serious and portentous style +of greeting; but the Rat whispered to him, `Never mind; +don't take any notice; and don't say anything to him just yet. +He's always rather low and despondent when he's wanting his +victuals. In half an hour's time he'll be quite a different +animal.' + +So they waited in silence, and presently there came another and a +lighter knock. The Rat, with a nod to Toad, went to the door and +ushered in the Mole, very shabby and unwashed, with bits of hay +and straw sticking in his fur. + +`Hooray! Here's old Toad!' cried the Mole, his face beaming. +`Fancy having you back again!' And he began to dance round him. +`We never dreamt you would turn up so soon! Why, you must have +managed to escape, you clever, ingenious, intelligent Toad!' + +The Rat, alarmed, pulled him by the elbow; but it was too late. +Toad was puffing and swelling already. + +`Clever? O, no!' he said. `I'm not really clever, according to +my friends. I've only broken out of the strongest prison in +England, that's all! And captured a railway train and escaped on +it, that's all! And disguised myself and gone about the country +humbugging everybody, that's all! O, no! I'm a stupid ass, +I am! I'll tell you one or two of my little adventures, Mole, +and you shall judge for yourself!' + +`Well, well,' said the Mole, moving towards the supper-table; +`supposing you talk while I eat. Not a bite since breakfast! O +my! O my!' And he sat down and helped himself liberally to cold +beef and pickles. + +Toad straddled on the hearth-rug, thrust his paw into his +trouser-pocket and pulled out a handful of silver. `Look at +that!' he cried, displaying it. `That's not so bad, is it, for a +few minutes' work? And how do you think I done it, Mole? Horse- +dealing! That's how I done it!' + +`Go on, Toad,' said the Mole, immensely interested. + +`Toad, do be quiet, please!' said the Rat. `And don't you egg +him on, Mole, when you know what he is; but please tell us as +soon as possible what the position is, and what's best to be +done, now that Toad is back at last.' + +`The position's about as bad as it can be,' replied the Mole +grumpily; `and as for what's to be done, why, blest if I know! +The Badger and I have been round and round the place, by +night and by day; always the same thing. Sentries posted +everywhere, guns poked out at us, stones thrown at us; always an +animal on the look-out, and when they see us, my! how they do +laugh! That's what annoys me most!' + +`It's a very difficult situation,' said the Rat, reflecting +deeply. `But I think I see now, in the depths of my mind, what +Toad really ought to do. I will tell you. He ought to----' + +`No, he oughtn't!' shouted the Mole, with his mouth full. +`Nothing of the sort! You don't understand. What he ought to do +is, he ought to----' + +`Well, I shan't do it, anyway!' cried Toad, getting excited. +`I'm not going to be ordered about by you fellows! It's my house +we're talking about, and I know exactly what to do, and I'll tell +you. I'm going to----' + +By this time they were all three talking at once, at the top of +their voices, and the noise was simply deafening, when a thin, +dry voice made itself heard, saying, `Be quiet at once, all of +you!' and instantly every one was silent. + +It was the Badger, who, having finished his pie, had turned round +in his chair and was looking at them severely. When he saw that +he had secured their attention, and that they were evidently +waiting for him to address them, he turned back to the table +again and reached out for the cheese. And so great was the +respect commanded by the solid qualities of that admirable +animal, that not another word was uttered until he had quite +finished his repast and brushed the crumbs from his knees. The +Toad fidgeted a good deal, but the Rat held him firmly down. + +When the Badger had quite done, he got up from his seat and stood +before the fireplace, reflecting deeply. At last he spoke. + +`Toad!' he said severely. `You bad, troublesome little animal! +Aren't you ashamed of youself? What do you think your father, my +old friend, would have said if he had been here to-night, and had +known of all your goings on?' + +Toad, who was on the sofa by this time, with his legs up, rolled +over on his face, shaken by sobs of contrition. + +`There, there!' went on the Badger, more kindly. `Never mind. +Stop crying. We're going to let bygones be bygones, and try and +turn over a new leaf. But what the Mole says is quite true. The +stoats are on guard, at every point, and they make the best +sentinels in the world. It's quite useless to think of attacking +the place. They're too strong for us.' + +`Then it's all over,' sobbed the Toad, crying into the sofa +cushions. `I shall go and enlist for a soldier, and never see my +dear Toad Hall any more!' + +`Come, cheer up, Toady!' said the Badger. `There are more ways +of getting back a place than taking it by storm. I haven't said +my last word yet. Now I'm going to tell you a great secret.' + +Toad sat up slowly and dried his eyes. Secrets had an immense +attraction for him, because he never could keep one, and he +enjoyed the sort of unhallowed thrill he experienced when he went +and told another animal, after having faithfully promised not to. + +`There--is--an--underground--passage,' said the Badger, +impressively, `that leads from the river-bank, quite near here, +right up into the middle of Toad Hall.' + +`O, nonsense! Badger,' said Toad, rather airily. `You've been +listening to some of the yarns they spin in the public-houses +about here. I know every inch of Toad Hall, inside and out. +Nothing of the sort, I do assure you!' + +`My young friend,' said the Badger, with great severity, `your +father, who was a worthy animal--a lot worthier than some others +I know--was a particular friend of mine, and told me a great deal +he wouldn't have dreamt of telling you. He discovered that +passage--he didn't make it, of course; that was done hundreds of +years before he ever came to live there--and he repaired it and +cleaned it out, because he thought it might come in useful some +day, in case of trouble or danger; and he showed it to me. +"Don't let my son know about it," he said. "He's a good boy, but +very light and volatile in character, and simply cannot hold his +tongue. If he's ever in a real fix, and it would be of use to +him, you may tell him about the secret passage; but not before."' + +The other animals looked hard at Toad to see how he would take +it. Toad was inclined to be sulky at first; but he brightened up +immediately, like the good fellow he was. + +`Well, well,' he said; `perhaps I am a bit of a talker. A +popular fellow such as I am--my friends get round me--we chaff, +we sparkle, we tell witty stories--and somehow my tongue +gets wagging. I have the gift of conversation. I've been told I +ought to have a salon, whatever that may be. Never mind. Go +on, Badger. How's this passage of yours going to help us?' + +`I've found out a thing or two lately,' continued the Badger. `I +got Otter to disguise himself as a sweep and call at the back- +door with brushes over his shoulder, asking for a job. There's +going to be a big banquet to-morrow night. It's somebody's +birthday--the Chief Weasel's, I believe--and all the weasels will +be gathered together in the dining-hall, eating and drinking and +laughing and carrying on, suspecting nothing. No guns, no +swords, no sticks, no arms of any sort whatever!' + +`But the sentinels will be posted as usual,' remarked the Rat. + +`Exactly,' said the Badger; `that is my point. The weasels will +trust entirely to their excellent sentinels. And that is where +the passage comes in. That very useful tunnel leads right up +under the butler's pantry, next to the dining-hall!' + +`Aha! that squeaky board in the butler's pantry!' said Toad. +`Now I understand it!' + +`We shall creep out quietly into the butler's pantry--' cried the +Mole. + + +`--with our pistols and swords and sticks--' shouted the Rat. + +`--and rush in upon them,' said the Badger. + +`--and whack 'em, and whack 'em, and whack 'em!' cried the Toad +in ecstasy, running round and round the room, and jumping over +the chairs + +`Very well, then,' said the Badger, resuming his usual dry +manner, `our plan is settled, and there's nothing more for you to +argue and squabble about. So, as it's getting very late, all of +you go right off to bed at once. We will make all the necessary +arrangements in the course of the morning to-morrow.' + +Toad, of course, went off to bed dutifully with the rest--he knew +better than to refuse--though he was feeling much too excited to +sleep. But he had had a long day, with many events crowded into +it; and sheets and blankets were very friendly and comforting +things, after plain straw, and not too much of it, spread on the +stone floor of a draughty cell; and his head had not been many +seconds on his pillow before he was snoring happily. Naturally, +he dreamt a good deal; about roads that ran away from him +just when he wanted them, and canals that chased him and caught +him, and a barge that sailed into the banqueting-hall with his +week's washing, just as he was giving a dinner-party; and he was +alone in the secret passage, pushing onwards, but it twisted and +turned round and shook itself, and sat up on its end; yet +somehow, at the last, he found himself back in Toad Hall, safe +and triumphant, with all his friends gathered round about him, +earnestly assuring him that he really was a clever Toad. + +He slept till a late hour next morning, and by the time he got +down he found that the other animals had finished their breakfast +some time before. The Mole had slipped off somewhere by himself, +without telling any one where he was going to. The Badger sat in +the arm-chair, reading the paper, and not concerning himself in +the slightest about what was going to happen that very evening. +The Rat, on the other hand, was running round the room busily, +with his arms full of weapons of every kind, distributing them in +four little heaps on the floor, and saying excitedly under his +breath, as he ran, `Here's-a-sword-for-the-Rat, here's-a-sword- +for-the Mole, here's-a-sword-for-the-Toad, here's-a-sword- +for-the-Badger! Here's-a-pistol-for-the-Rat, here's-a-pistol- +for-the-Mole, here's-a-pistol-for-the-Toad, here's-a-pistol-for- +the-Badger!' And so on, in a regular, rhythmical way, while the +four little heaps gradually grew and grew. + +`That's all very well, Rat,' said the Badger presently, looking +at the busy little animal over the edge of his newspaper; `I'm +not blaming you. But just let us once get past the stoats, with +those detestable guns of theirs, and I assure you we shan't want +any swords or pistols. We four, with our sticks, once we're +inside the dining-hall, why, we shall clear the floor of all the +lot of them in five minutes. I'd have done the whole thing by +myself, only I didn't want to deprive you fellows of the fun!' + +`It's as well to be on the safe side,' said the Rat reflectively, +polishing a pistol-barrel on his sleeve and looking along it. + +The Toad, having finished his breakfast, picked up a stout stick +and swung it vigorously, belabouring imaginary animals. `I'll +learn 'em to steal my house!' he cried. `I'll learn 'em, I'll +learn 'em!' + +`Don't say "learn 'em," Toad,' said the Rat, greatly shocked. +`It's not good English.' + +`What are you always nagging at Toad for?' inquired the Badger, +rather peevishly. `What's the matter with his English? It's the +same what I use myself, and if it's good enough for me, it ought +to be good enough for you!' + +`I'm very sorry,' said the Rat humbly. `Only I THINK it ought +to be "teach 'em," not "learn 'em."' + +`But we don't WANT to teach 'em,' replied the Badger. `We +want to LEARN 'em--learn 'em, learn 'em! And what's more, +we're going to DO it, too!' + +`Oh, very well, have it your own way,' said the Rat. He was +getting rather muddled about it himself, and presently he retired +into a corner, where he could be heard muttering, `Learn 'em, +teach 'em, teach 'em, learn 'em!' till the Badger told him rather +sharply to leave off. + +Presently the Mole came tumbling into the room, evidently very +pleased with himself. `I've been having such fun!' he began at +once; `I've been getting a rise out of the stoats!' + +`I hope you've been very careful, Mole?' said the Rat anxiously. + +`I should hope so, too,' said the Mole confidently. `I got the +idea when I went into the kitchen, to see about Toad's +breakfast being kept hot for him. I found that old washerwoman- +dress that he came home in yesterday, hanging on a towel-horse +before the fire. So I put it on, and the bonnet as well, and the +shawl, and off I went to Toad Hall, as bold as you please. The +sentries were on the look-out, of course, with their guns and +their "Who comes there?" and all the rest of their nonsense. +"Good morning, gentlemen!" says I, very respectful. "Want any +washing done to-day?" + +`They looked at me very proud and stiff and haughty, and said, +"Go away, washerwoman! We don't do any washing on duty." "Or +any other time?" says I. Ho, ho, ho! Wasn't I FUNNY, Toad?' + +`Poor, frivolous animal!' said Toad, very loftily. The fact is, +he felt exceedingly jealous of Mole for what he had just done. +It was exactly what he would have liked to have done himself, if +only he had thought of it first, and hadn't gone and overslept +himself. + +`Some of the stoats turned quite pink,' continued the Mole, `and +the Sergeant in charge, he said to me, very short, he said, "Now +run away, my good woman, run away! Don't keep my men idling +and talking on their posts." "Run away?" says I; "it won't be me +that'll be running away, in a very short time from now!"' + +`O MOLY, how could you?' said the Rat, dismayed. + +The Badger laid down his paper. + +`I could see them pricking up their ears and looking at each +other,' went on the Mole; `and the Sergeant said to them, "Never +mind HER; she doesn't know what she's talking about."' + +`"O! don't I?"' said I. `"Well, let me tell you this. My +daughter, she washes for Mr. Badger, and that'll show you whether +I know what I'm talking about; and YOU'LL know pretty soon, +too! A hundred bloodthirsty badgers, armed with rifles, are +going to attack Toad Hall this very night, by way of the paddock. +Six boatloads of Rats, with pistols and cutlasses, will come up +the river and effect a landing in the garden; while a picked body +of Toads, known at the Die-hards, or the Death-or-Glory Toads, +will storm the orchard and carry everything before them, yelling +for vengeance. There won't be much left of you to wash, by the +time they've done with you, unless you clear out while you have +the chance!" Then I ran away, and when I was out of sight I +hid; and presently I came creeping back along the ditch and took +a peep at them through the hedge. They were all as nervous and +flustered as could be, running all ways at once, and falling over +each other, and every one giving orders to everybody else and not +listening; and the Sergeant kept sending off parties of stoats to +distant parts of the grounds, and then sending other fellows to +fetch 'em back again; and I heard them saying to each other, +"That's just like the weasels; they're to stop comfortably in the +banqueting-hall, and have feasting and toasts and songs and all +sorts of fun, while we must stay on guard in the cold and the +dark, and in the end be cut to pieces by bloodthirsty Badgers!'" + +`Oh, you silly ass, Mole!' cried Toad, `You've been and spoilt +everything!' + +`Mole,' said the Badger, in his dry, quiet way, `I perceive you +have more sense in your little finger than some other animals +have in the whole of their fat bodies. You have managed +excellently, and I begin to have great hopes of you. Good Mole! +Clever Mole!' + +The Toad was simply wild with jealousy, more especially as +he couldn't make out for the life of him what the Mole had done +that was so particularly clever; but, fortunately for him, before +he could show temper or expose himself to the Badger's sarcasm, +the bell rang for luncheon. + +It was a simple but sustaining meal--bacon and broad beans, and a +macaroni pudding; and when they had quite done, the Badger +settled himself into an arm-chair, and said, `Well, we've got our +work cut out for us to-night, and it will probably be pretty late +before we're quite through with it; so I'm just going to take +forty winks, while I can.' And he drew a handkerchief over his +face and was soon snoring. + +The anxious and laborious Rat at once resumed his preparations, +and started running between his four little heaps, muttering, +`Here's-a-belt-for-the-Rat, here's-a-belt-for-the Mole, here's-a- +belt-for-the-Toad, here's-a-belt-for-the-Badger!' and so on, with +every fresh accoutrement he produced, to which there seemed +really no end; so the Mole drew his arm through Toad's, led him +out into the open air, shoved him into a wicker chair, and made +him tell him all his adventures from beginning to end, which +Toad was only too willing to do. The Mole was a good listener, +and Toad, with no one to check his statements or to criticise in +an unfriendly spirit, rather let himself go. Indeed, much that +he related belonged more properly to the category of what-might- +have-happened-had-I-only-thought-of-it-in-time-instead-of-ten- +minutes-afterwards. Those are always the best and the raciest +adventures; and why should they not be truly ours, as much as the +somewhat inadequate things that really come off? + + + +XII + +THE RETURN OF ULYSSES + +When it began to grow dark, the Rat, with an air of excitement +and mystery, summoned them back into the parlour, stood each of +them up alongside of his little heap, and proceeded to dress them +up for the coming expedition. He was very earnest and +thoroughgoing about it, and the affair took quite a long time. +First, there was a belt to go round each animal, and then a sword +to be stuck into each belt, and then a cutlass on the other side +to balance it. Then a pair of pistols, a policeman's truncheon, +several sets of handcuffs, some bandages and sticking-plaster, +and a flask and a sandwich-case. The Badger laughed good- +humouredly and said, `All right, Ratty! It amuses you and it +doesn't hurt me. I'm going to do all I've got to do with this +here stick.' But the Rat only said, `PLEASE, Badger. +You know I shouldn't like you to blame me afterwards and say +I had forgotten ANYTHING!' + +When all was quite ready, the Badger took a dark lantern in one +paw, grasped his great stick with the other, and said, `Now then, +follow me! Mole first, `cos I'm very pleased with him; Rat next; +Toad last. And look here, Toady! Don't you chatter so much as +usual, or you'll be sent back, as sure as fate!' + +The Toad was so anxious not to be left out that he took up the +inferior position assigned to him without a murmur, and the +animals set off. The Badger led them along by the river for a +little way, and then suddenly swung himself over the edge into a +hole in the river-bank, a little above the water. The Mole and +the Rat followed silently, swinging themselves successfully into +the hole as they had seen the Badger do; but when it came to +Toad's turn, of course he managed to slip and fall into the water +with a loud splash and a squeal of alarm. He was hauled out by +his friends, rubbed down and wrung out hastily, comforted, and +set on his legs; but the Badger was seriously angry, and told him +that the very next time he made a fool of himself he would +most certainly be left behind. + +So at last they were in the secret passage, and the cutting-out +expedition had really begun! + +It was cold, and dark, and damp, and low, and narrow, and poor +Toad began to shiver, partly from dread of what might be before +him, partly because he was wet through. The lantern was far +ahead, and he could not help lagging behind a little in the +darkness. Then he heard the Rat call out warningly, `COME on, +Toad!' and a terror seized him of being left behind, alone in the +darkness, and he `came on' with such a rush that he upset the Rat +into the Mole and the Mole into the Badger, and for a moment all +was confusion. The Badger thought they were being attacked from +behind, and, as there was no room to use a stick or a cutlass, +drew a pistol, and was on the point of putting a bullet into +Toad. When he found out what had really happened he was very +angry indeed, and said, `Now this time that tiresome Toad +SHALL be left behind!' + +But Toad whimpered, and the other two promised that they would be +answerable for his good conduct, and at last the Badger was +pacified, and the procession moved on; only this time the Rat +brought up the rear, with a firm grip on the shoulder of Toad. + +So they groped and shuffled along, with their ears pricked up and +their paws on their pistols, till at last the Badger said, `We +ought by now to be pretty nearly under the Hall.' + +Then suddenly they heard, far away as it might be, and yet +apparently nearly over their heads, a confused murmur of sound, +as if people were shouting and cheering and stamping on the floor +and hammering on tables. The Toad's nervous terrors all +returned, but the Badger only remarked placidly, `They ARE +going it, the Weasels!' + +The passage now began to slope upwards; they groped onward a +little further, and then the noise broke out again, quite +distinct this time, and very close above them. `Ooo-ray-ooray- +oo-ray-ooray!' they heard, and the stamping of little feet on the +floor, and the clinking of glasses as little fists pounded on the +table. `WHAT a time they're having!' said the Badger. `Come +on!' They hurried along the passage till it came to a full stop, +and they found themselves standing under the trap-door that +led up into the butler's pantry. + +Such a tremendous noise was going on in the banqueting-hall that +there was little danger of their being overheard. The Badger +said, `Now, boys, all together!' and the four of them put their +shoulders to the trap-door and heaved it back. Hoisting each +other up, they found themselves standing in the pantry, with only +a door between them and the banqueting-hall, where their +unconscious enemies were carousing. + +The noise, as they emerged from the passage, was simply +deafening. At last, as the cheering and hammering slowly +subsided, a voice could be made out saying, `Well, I do not +propose to detain you much longer'--(great applause)--`but before +I resume my seat'--(renewed cheering)--`I should like to say one +word about our kind host, Mr. Toad. We all know Toad!'--(great +laughter)--`GOOD Toad, MODEST Toad, HONEST Toad!' +(shrieks of merriment). + +`Only just let me get at him!' muttered Toad, grinding his teeth. + +`Hold hard a minute!' said the Badger, restraining him with +difficulty. `Get ready, all of you!' + +`--Let me sing you a little song,' went on the voice, `which I +have composed on the subject of Toad'--(prolonged applause). + +Then the Chief Weasel--for it was he--began in a high, squeaky +voice-- + + `Toad he went a-pleasuring + Gaily down the street--' + + +The Badger drew himself up, took a firm grip of his stick with +both paws, glanced round at his comrades, and cried-- + +`The hour is come! Follow me!' + +And flung the door open wide. + +My! + +What a squealing and a squeaking and a screeching filled the air! + +Well might the terrified weasels dive under the tables and spring +madly up at the windows! Well might the ferrets rush wildly for +the fireplace and get hopelessly jammed in the chimney! Well +might tables and chairs be upset, and glass and china be sent +crashing on the floor, in the panic of that terrible moment when +the four Heroes strode wrathfully into the room! The mighty +Badger, his whiskers bristling, his great cudgel whistling +through the air; Mole, black and grim, brandishing his stick and +shouting his awful war-cry, `A Mole! A Mole!' Rat; desperate +and determined, his belt bulging with weapons of every age and +every variety; Toad, frenzied with excitement and injured pride, +swollen to twice his ordinary size, leaping into the air and +emitting Toad-whoops that chilled them to the marrow! `Toad he +went a-pleasuring!' he yelled. `I'LL pleasure 'em!' and he +went straight for the Chief Weasel. They were but four in all, +but to the panic-stricken weasels the hall seemed full of +monstrous animals, grey, black, brown and yellow, whooping and +flourishing enormous cudgels; and they broke and fled with +squeals of terror and dismay, this way and that, through the +windows, up the chimney, anywhere to get out of reach of those +terrible sticks. + +The affair was soon over. Up and down, the whole length of the +hall, strode the four Friends, whacking with their sticks at +every head that showed itself; and in five minutes the room was +cleared. Through the broken windows the shrieks of terrified +weasels escaping across the lawn were borne faintly to their +ears; on the floor lay prostrate some dozen or so of the enemy, +on whom the Mole was busily engaged in fitting handcuffs. The +Badger, resting from his labours, leant on his stick and wiped +his honest brow. + +`Mole,' he said,' `you're the best of fellows! Just cut along +outside and look after those stoat-sentries of yours, and see +what they're doing. I've an idea that, thanks to you, we shan't +have much trouble from them to-night!' + +The Mole vanished promptly through a window; and the Badger bade +the other two set a table on its legs again, pick up knives and +forks and plates and glasses from the debris on the floor, and +see if they could find materials for a supper. `I want some +grub, I do,' he said, in that rather common way he had of +speaking. `Stir your stumps, Toad, and look lively! We've got +your house back for you, and you don't offer us so much as a +sandwich.' Toad felt rather hurt that the Badger didn't say +pleasant things to him, as he had to the Mole, and tell him what +a fine fellow he was, and how splendidly he had fought; for he +was rather particularly pleased with himself and the way he had +gone for the Chief Weasel and sent him flying across the +table with one blow of his stick. But he bustled about, and so +did the Rat, and soon they found some guava jelly in a glass +dish, and a cold chicken, a tongue that had hardly been touched, +some trifle, and quite a lot of lobster salad; and in the pantry +they came upon a basketful of French rolls and any quantity of +cheese, butter, and celery. They were just about to sit down +when the Mole clambered in through the window, chuckling, with an +armful of rifles. + +`It's all over,' he reported. `From what I can make out, as soon +as the stoats, who were very nervous and jumpy already, heard the +shrieks and the yells and the uproar inside the hall, some of +them threw down their rifles and fled. The others stood fast for +a bit, but when the weasels came rushing out upon them they +thought they were betrayed; and the stoats grappled with the +weasels, and the weasels fought to get away, and they wrestled +and wriggled and punched each other, and rolled over and over, +till most of 'em rolled into the river! They've all disappeared +by now, one way or another; and I've got their rifles. So that's +all right!' + +`Excellent and deserving animal!' said the Badger, his mouth full +of chicken and trifle. `Now, there's just one more thing I want +you to do, Mole, before you sit down to your supper along of us; +and I wouldn't trouble you only I know I can trust you to see a +thing done, and I wish I could say the same of every one I know. +I'd send Rat, if he wasn't a poet. I want you to take those +fellows on the floor there upstairs with you, and have some +bedrooms cleaned out and tidied up and made really comfortable. +See that they sweep UNDER the beds, and put clean sheets and +pillow-cases on, and turn down one corner of the bed-clothes, +just as you know it ought to be done; and have a can of hot +water, and clean towels, and fresh cakes of soap, put in each +room. And then you can give them a licking a-piece, if it's any +satisfaction to you, and put them out by the back-door, and we +shan't see any more of THEM, I fancy. And then come along and +have some of this cold tongue. It's first rate. I'm very +pleased with you, Mole!' + +The goodnatured Mole picked up a stick, formed his prisoners up +in a line on the floor, gave them the order `Quick march!' and +led his squad off to the upper floor. After a time, he +appeared again, smiling, and said that every room was ready, and +as clean as a new pin. `And I didn't have to lick them, either,' +he added. `I thought, on the whole, they had had licking enough +for one night, and the weasels, when I put the point to them, +quite agreed with me, and said they wouldn't think of troubling +me. They were very penitent, and said they were extremely sorry +for what they had done. but it was all the fault of the Chief +Weasel and the stoats, and if ever they could do anything for us +at any time to make up, we had only got to mention it. So I gave +them a roll a-piece, and let them out at the back, and off they +ran, as hard as they could!' + +Then the Mole pulled his chair up to the table, and pitched into +the cold tongue; and Toad, like the gentleman he was, put all his +jealousy from him, and said heartily, `Thank you kindly, dear +Mole, for all your pains and trouble tonight, and especially for +your cleverness this morning!' The Badger was pleased at that, +and said, `There spoke my brave Toad!' So they finished their +supper in great joy and contentment, and presently retired to +rest between clean sheets, safe in Toad's ancestral home, +won back by matchless valour, consummate strategy, and a proper +handling of sticks. + +The following morning, Toad, who had overslept himself as usual, +came down to breakfast disgracefully late, and found on the table +a certain quantity of egg-shells, some fragments of cold and +leathery toast, a coffee-pot three-fourths empty, and really very +little else; which did not tend to improve his temper, +considering that, after all, it was his own house. Through the +French windows of the breakfast-room he could see the Mole and +the Water Rat sitting in wicker-chairs out on the lawn, evidently +telling each other stories; roaring with laughter and kicking +their short legs up in the air. The Badger, who was in an arm- +chair and deep in the morning paper, merely looked up and nodded +when Toad entered the room. But Toad knew his man, so he sat +down and made the best breakfast he could, merely observing to +himself that he would get square with the others sooner or later. +When he had nearly finished, the Badger looked up and remarked +rather shortly: `I'm sorry, Toad, but I'm afraid there's a heavy +morning's work in front of you. You see, we really ought to +have a Banquet at once, to celebrate this affair. It's expected +of you--in fact, it's the rule.' + +`O, all right!' said the Toad, readily. `Anything to oblige. +Though why on earth you should want to have a Banquet in the +morning I cannot understand. But you know I do not live to +please myself, but merely to find out what my friends want, and +then try and arrange it for 'em, you dear old Badger!' + +`Don't pretend to be stupider than you really are,' replied the +Badger, crossly; `and don't chuckle and splutter in your coffee +while you're talking; it's not manners. What I mean is, the +Banquet will be at night, of course, but the invitations will +have to be written and got off at once, and you've got to write +'em. Now, sit down at that table--there's stacks of letter-paper +on it, with "Toad Hall" at the top in blue and gold--and write +invitations to all our friends, and if you stick to it we shall +get them out before luncheon. And I'LL bear a hand, too; and +take my share of the burden. I'LL order the Banquet.' + +`What!' cried Toad, dismayed. `Me stop indoors and write a lot +of rotten letters on a jolly morning like this, when I want +to go around my property, and set everything and everybody to +rights, and swagger about and enjoy myself! Certainly not! I'll +be--I'll see you----Stop a minute, though! Why, of course, dear +Badger! What is my pleasure or convenience compared with that of +others! You wish it done, and it shall be done. Go, Badger, +order the Banquet, order what you like; then join our young +friends outside in their innocent mirth, oblivious of me and my +cares and toils. I sacrifice this fair morning on the altar of +duty and friendship!' + +The Badger looked at him very suspiciously, but Toad's frank, +open countenance made it difficult to suggest any unworthy motive +in this change of attitude. He quitted the room, accordingly, in +the direction of the kitchen, and as soon as the door had closed +behind him, Toad hurried to the writing-table. A fine idea had +occurred to him while he was talking. He WOULD write the +invitations; and he would take care to mention the leading part +he had taken in the fight, and how he had laid the Chief Weasel +flat; and he would hint at his adventures, and what a career of +triumph he had to tell about; and on the fly-leaf he would +set out a sort of a programme of entertainment for the evening-- +something like this, as he sketched it out in his head:-- + +SPEECH . . . . BY TOAD. + +(There will be other speeches by TOAD during the evening.) + +ADDRESS . . . BY TOAD + +SYNOPSIS--Our Prison System--the Waterways of Old England--Horse- +dealing, and how to deal--Property, its rights and its duties-- +Back to the Land--A Typical English Squire. + +SONG . . . . BY TOAD. + (Composed by himself.) +OTHER COMPOSITIONS . BY TOAD + + will be sung in the course of the + evening by the . . . COMPOSER. + + +The idea pleased him mightly, and he worked very hard and got all +the letters finished by noon, at which hour it was reported to +him that there was a small and rather bedraggled weasel at the +door, inquiring timidly whether he could be of any service to the +gentlemen. Toad swaggered out and found it was one of the +prisoners of the previous evening, very respectful and +anxious to please. He patted him on the head, shoved the bundle +of invitations into his paw, and told him to cut along quick and +deliver them as fast as he could, and if he liked to come back +again in the evening, perhaps there might be a shilling for him, +or, again, perhaps there mightn't; and the poor weasel seemed +really quite grateful, and hurried off eagerly to do his mission. + +When the other animals came back to luncheon, very boisterous and +breezy after a morning on the river, the Mole, whose conscience +had been pricking him, looked doubtfully at Toad, expecting to +find him sulky or depressed. Instead, he was so uppish and +inflated that the Mole began to suspect something; while the Rat +and the Badger exchanged significant glances. + +As soon as the meal was over, Toad thrust his paws deep into his +trouser-pockets, remarked casually, `Well, look after yourselves, +you fellows! Ask for anything you want!' and was swaggering off +in the direction of the garden, where he wanted to think out an +idea or two for his coming speeches, when the Rat caught him by +the arm. + +Toad rather suspected what he was after, and did his best to get +away; but when the Badger took him firmly by the other arm he +began to see that the game was up. The two animals conducted him +between them into the small smoking-room that opened out of the +entrance-hall, shut the door, and put him into a chair. Then +they both stood in front of him, while Toad sat silent and +regarded them with much suspicion and ill-humour. + +`Now, look here, Toad,' said the Rat. `It's about this Banquet, +and very sorry I am to have to speak to you like this. But we +want you to understand clearly, once and for all, that there are +going to be no speeches and no songs. Try and grasp the fact +that on this occasion we're not arguing with you; we're just +telling you.' + +Toad saw that he was trapped. They understood him, they saw +through him, they had got ahead of him. His pleasant dream was +shattered. + +`Mayn't I sing them just one LITTLE song?' he pleaded +piteously. + +`No, not ONE little song,' replied the Rat firmly, though his +heart bled as he noticed the trembling lip of the poor +disappointed Toad. `It's no good, Toady; you know well that your +songs are all conceit and boasting and vanity; and your speeches +are all self-praise and--and--well, and gross exaggeration and-- +and----' + +`And gas,' put in the Badger, in his common way. + +`It's for your own good, Toady,' went on the Rat. `You know you +MUST turn over a new leaf sooner or later, and now seems a +splendid time to begin; a sort of turning-point in your career. +Please don't think that saying all this doesn't hurt me more than +it hurts you.' + +Toad remained a long while plunged in thought. At last he raised +his head, and the traces of strong emotion were visible on his +features. `You have conquered, my friends,' he said in broken +accents. `It was, to be sure, but a small thing that I asked-- +merely leave to blossom and expand for yet one more evening, to +let myself go and hear the tumultuous applause that always seems +to me--somehow--to bring out my best qualities. However, you are +right, I know, and I am wrong. Hence forth I will be a very +different Toad. My friends, you shall never have occasion to +blush for me again. But, O dear, O dear, this is a hard +world!' + +And, pressing his handkerchief to his face, he left the room, +with faltering footsteps. + +`Badger,' said the Rat, `_I_ feel like a brute; I wonder what +YOU feel like?' + +`O, I know, I know,' said the Badger gloomily. `But the thing +had to be done. This good fellow has got to live here, and hold +his own, and be respected. Would you have him a common laughing- +stock, mocked and jeered at by stoats and weasels?' + +`Of course not,' said the Rat. `And, talking of weasels, it's +lucky we came upon that little weasel, just as he was setting out +with Toad's invitations. I suspected something from what you +told me, and had a look at one or two; they were simply +disgraceful. I confiscated the lot, and the good Mole is now +sitting in the blue boudoir, filling up plain, simple +invitation cards.' + + * * * * * + +At last the hour for the banquet began to draw near, and Toad, +who on leaving the others had retired to his bedroom, was still +sitting there, melancholy and thoughtful. His brow resting +on his paw, he pondered long and deeply. Gradually his +countenance cleared, and he began to smile long, slow smiles. +Then he took to giggling in a shy, self-conscious manner. At +last he got up, locked the door, drew the curtains across the +windows, collected all the chairs in the room and arranged them +in a semicircle, and took up his position in front of them, +swelling visibly. Then he bowed, coughed twice, and, letting +himself go, with uplifted voice he sang, to the enraptured +audience that his imagination so clearly saw, + +TOAD'S LAST LITTLE SONG! + +The Toad--came--home! +There was panic in the parlours and bowling in the halls, +There was crying in the cow-sheds and shrieking in the stalls, +When the Toad--came--home! + +When the Toad--came--home! +There was smashing in of window and crashing in of door, +There was chivvying of weasels that fainted on the floor, +When the Toad--came--home! + +Bang! go the drums! +The trumpeters are tooting and the soldiers are saluting, +And the cannon they are shooting and the motor-cars are hooting, +As the--Hero--comes! + +Shout--Hoo-ray! +And let each one of the crowd try and shout it very loud, +In honour of an animal of whom you're justly proud, +For it's Toad's--great--day! + + +He sang this very loud, with great unction and expression; and +when he had done, he sang it all over again. + +Then he heaved a deep sigh; a long, long, long sigh. + +Then he dipped his hairbrush in the water-jug, parted his hair in +the middle, and plastered it down very straight and sleek on each +side of his face; and, unlocking the door, went quietly down the +stairs to greet his guests, who he knew must be assembling in the +drawing-room. + +All the animals cheered when he entered, and crowded round to +congratulate him and say nice things about his courage, and his +cleverness, and his fighting qualities; but Toad only smiled +faintly, and murmured, `Not at all!' Or, sometimes, for a +change, `On the contrary!' Otter, who was standing on the +hearthrug, describing to an admiring circle of friends exactly +how he would have managed things had he been there, came +forward with a shout, threw his arm round Toad's neck, and tried +to take him round the room in triumphal progress; but Toad, in a +mild way, was rather snubby to him, remarking gently, as he +disengaged himself, `Badger's was the mastermind; the Mole and +the Water Rat bore the brunt of the fighting; I merely served in +the ranks and did little or nothing.' The animals were evidently +puzzled and taken aback by this unexpected attitude of his; and +Toad felt, as he moved from one guest to the other, making his +modest responses, that he was an object of absorbing interest to +every one. + +The Badger had ordered everything of the best, and the banquet +was a great success. There was much talking and laughter and +chaff among the animals, but through it all Toad, who of course +was in the chair, looked down his nose and murmured pleasant +nothings to the animals on either side of him. At intervals he +stole a glance at the Badger and the Rat, and always when he +looked they were staring at each other with their mouths open; +and this gave him the greatest satisfaction. Some of the younger +and livelier animals, as the evening wore on, got whispering to +each other that things were not so amusing as they used to be in +the good old days; and there were some knockings on the table and +cries of `Toad! Speech! Speech from Toad! Song! Mr. Toad's +song!' But Toad only shook his head gently, raised one paw in +mild protest, and, by pressing delicacies on his guests, by +topical small-talk, and by earnest inquiries after members of +their families not yet old enough to appear at social functions, +managed to convey to them that this dinner was being run on +strictly conventional lines. + +He was indeed an altered Toad! + + * * * * * + +After this climax, the four animals continued to lead their +lives, so rudely broken in upon by civil war, in great joy and +contentment, undisturbed by further risings or invasions. Toad, +after due consultation with his friends, selected a handsome gold +chain and locket set with pearls, which he dispatched to the +gaoler's daughter with a letter that even the Badger admitted to +be modest, grateful, and appreciative; and the engine-driver, in +his turn, was properly thanked and compensated for all his pains +and trouble. Under severe compulsion from the Badger, even the +barge-woman was, with some trouble, sought out and the value of +her horse discreetly made good to her; though Toad kicked +terribly at this, holding himself to be an instrument of Fate, +sent to punish fat women with mottled arms who couldn't tell a +real gentleman when they saw one. The amount involved, it was +true, was not very burdensome, the gipsy's valuation being +admitted by local assessors to be approximately correct. + +Sometimes, in the course of long summer evenings, the friends +would take a stroll together in the Wild Wood, now successfully +tamed so far as they were concerned; and it was pleasing to see +how respectfully they were greeted by the inhabitants, and how +the mother-weasels would bring their young ones to the mouths of +their holes, and say, pointing, `Look, baby! There goes the +great Mr. Toad! And that's the gallant Water Rat, a +terrible fighter, walking along o' him! And yonder comes the +famous Mr. Mole, of whom you so often have heard your father +tell!' But when their infants were fractious and quite beyond +control, they would quiet them by telling how, if they didn't +hush them and not fret them, the terrible grey Badger would up +and get them. This was a base libel on Badger, who, though he +cared little about Society, was rather fond of children; but it +never failed to have its full effect. + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Wind in the Willows + + |