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-Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack, by Thornton W. Burgess
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack
-
-Author: Thornton W. Burgess
-
-
-Release Date: June, 2004  [EBook #5846]
-This file was first posted on September 11, 2002
-Last Updated: April 24, 2013
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the
-Online Distributed Proofreading Team
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-THE ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK
-
-The Bedtime Story-Books
-
-By Thornton W. Burgess
-
-
-Author of "Old Mother West Wind," "The Bedtime Story-Books," etc.
-
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-  I.    Peter Rabbit Becomes Acquainted with Mrs. Quack
-  II.   Mrs. Quack is Distrustful
-  III.  Mrs. Quack Tells About Her Home
-  IV.   Mrs. Quack Continues Her Story
-  V.    Peter Learns More of Mrs. Quack's Troubles
-  VI.   Farmer Brown's Boy Visits the Smiling Pool
-  VII.  Mrs. Quack Returns
-  VIII. Mrs. Quack Has a Good Meal and a Rest
-  IX.   Peter Rabbit Makes an Early Call
-  X.    How Mr. and Mrs. Quack Started North
-  XI.   The Terrible, Terrible Guns
-  XII.  What Did Happen to Mr. Quack
-  XIII. Peter Tells About Mrs. Quack
-  XIV.  Sammy Jay's Plan to Help Mrs. Quack
-  XV.   The Hunt for Mr. Quack
-  XVI.  Sammy Jay Sees Something Green
-  XVII. Mr. Quack Is Found at Last
-  XVIII.Sammy Jay Sends Mrs. Quack to the Swamp
-  XIX.  Jerry Muskrat's Great Idea
-  XX.   Happy Days for Mr. and Mrs. Quack
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-"Marshes must be something like swamps," ventured Peter Rabbit
-Frontispiece
-
-Several times she circled around, high over the Smiling Pool
-
-"Some folks call him Alligator and some just 'Gator'"
-
-"Just tuck that fact away in that empty head of yours and never
-say can't"
-
-"Yes," said he in a low voice, "I am Mr. Quack"
-
-Those were happy days indeed for Mr. and Mrs. Quack in the pond
-of Paddy the Beaver
-
-
-
-
-I
-
-PETER RABBIT BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH MRS. QUACK
-
-
-Make a new acquaintance every time you can;   You'll find it
-interesting and a very helpful plan.
-
-It means more knowledge. You cannot meet any one without learning
-something from him if you keep your ears open and your eyes open.
-Every one is at least a little different from every one else, and
-the more people you know, the more you may learn. Peter Rabbit
-knows this, and that is one reason he always is so eager to find out
-about other people. He had left Jimmy Skunk and Bobby Coon in the
-Green Forest and had headed for the Smiling Pool to see if Grandfather
-Frog was awake yet. He had no idea of meeting a stranger there, and
-so you can imagine just how surprised he was when he got in sight
-of the Smiling Pool to see some one whom he never had seen before
-swimming about there. He knew right away who it was. He knew that
-it was Mrs. Quack the Duck, because he had often heard about her. And
-then, too, it was very clear from her looks that she was a cousin
-of the ducks he had seen in Farmer Brown's dooryard. The difference
-was that while they were big and white and stupid-looking, Mrs.
-Quack was smaller, brown, very trim, and looked anything but stupid.
-
-Peter was so surprised to see her in the Smiling Pool that he almost
-forgot to be polite. I am afraid he stared in a very impolite way
-as he hurried to the edge of the bank. "I suppose," said Peter,
-"that you are Mrs. Quack, but I never expected to see you unless I
-should go over to the Big River, and that is a place I never have
-visited and hardly expect to because it is too far from the dear
-Old Briar-patch. You are Mrs. Quack, aren't you?"
-
-"Yes," replied Mrs. Quack, "and you must be Peter Rabbit. I've heard
-of you very often." All the time Mrs. Quack was swimming back and
-forth and in little circles in the most uneasy way.
-
-"I hope you've heard nothing but good of me," replied Peter.
-
-Mrs. Quack stopped her uneasy swimming for a minute and almost
-smiled as she looked at Peter, "The worst I have heard is that you
-are very curious about other people's affairs," said she.
-
-Peter looked a wee, wee bit foolish, and then he laughed right out.
-"I guess that is true enough," said he. "I like to learn all I can,
-and how can I learn without being curious? I'm curious right now.
-I'm wondering what brings you to the Smiling Pool when you never
-have been here before. It is the last place in the world I ever
-expected to find you."
-
-"That's why I'm here," replied Mrs. Quack. "I hope others feel the
-same way. I came here because I just HAD to find some place where
-people wouldn't expect to find me and so wouldn't come looking for
-me. Little Joe Otter saw me yesterday on the Big River and told me
-of this place, and so, because I just had to go somewhere, I came
-here."
-
-Peter's eyes opened very wide with surprise. "Why," he exclaimed,
-"I should think you would be perfectly safe on the Big River! I
-don't see how any harm can possibly come to you out there."
-
-The words were no sooner out of Peter's mouth than a faint bang
-sounded from way off towards the Big River. Mrs. Quack gave a great
-start and half lifted her wings as if to fly. But she thought better
-of it, and then Peter saw that she was trembling all over.
-
-"Did you hear that?" she asked in a faint voice.
-
-Peter nodded. "That was a gun, a terrible gun, but it was a long
-way from here," said he.
-
-"It was over on the Big River," said Mrs. Quack. "That's why it
-isn't safe for me over there. That's why I just had to find some
-other place. Oh, dear, the very sound of a gun sets me to shaking
-and makes my heart feel as if it would stop beating. Are you sure
-I am perfectly safe here?"
-
-"Perfectly," spoke up Jerry Muskrat, who had been listening from
-the top of the Big Rock, where he was lunching on a clam, "unless
-you are not smart enough to keep out of the clutches of Reddy Fox
-or Old Man Coyote or Hooty the Owl or Redtail the Hawk."
-
-"I'm not afraid of THEM," declared Mrs. Quack. "It's those two-legged
-creatures with terrible guns I'm afraid of," and she began to swim
-about more uneasily than ever.
-
-
-
-
-II
-
-MRS. QUACK IS DISTRUSTFUL
-
-
-Jerry Muskrat thinks there is no place in the world like the Smiling
-Pool. So, for the matter of that, does Grandfather Frog and also
-Spotty the Turtle. You see, they have spent their lives there and
-know little about the rest of the Great World. When Mrs. Quack
-explained that all she feared was that a two-legged creature with
-a terrible gun might find her there, Jerry Muskrat hastened to tell
-her that she had nothing to worry about on that account.
-
-"No one hunts here now that Farmer Brown's boy has put away his
-terrible gun," explained Jerry. "There was a time when he used to
-hunt here and set traps, which are worse than terrible guns, but
-that was long ago, before he knew any better."
-
-"Who is Farmer Brown's boy?" demanded Mrs. Quack, looking more
-anxious than ever. "Is he one of those two-legged creatures?"
-
-"Yes," said Peter Rabbit, who had been listening with all his ears,
-"but he is the best friend we Quaddies have got. He is such a good
-friend that he ought to be a Quaddy himself. Why, this last winter
-he fed some of us when food was scarce, and he saved Mrs. Grouse
-when she was caught in a snare, which you know is a kind of trap.
-He won't let any harm come to you here, Mrs. Quack."
-
-"I wouldn't trust him, not for one single little minute," declared
-Mrs. Quack.  "I wouldn't trust one of those two-legged creatures,
-not ONE. You say he fed some of you last winter, but that doesn't
-mean anything good. Do you know what I've known these two-legged
-creatures to do?"
-
-"What?" demanded Peter and Jerry together.
-
-"I've known them to scatter food where we Ducks would be sure to
-find it and to take the greatest care that nothing should frighten
-us while we were eating. And then, after we had got in the habit
-of feeding in that particular place and had grown to feel perfectly
-safe there, they have hidden close by until a lot of us were feeding
-together and then fired their terrible guns and killed a lot of
-my friends and dreadfully hurt a lot more. I wouldn't trust one of
-them, not ONE!"
-
-"Oh, how dreadful!" cried Peter, looking quite as shocked as he felt.
-Then he added eagerly, "But our Farmer Brown's boy wouldn't do anything
-like that. You haven't the least thing to fear from him."
-
-"Perhaps not," said Mrs. Quack, shaking her head doubtfully, "but
-I wouldn't trust him. I wouldn't trust him as far off as I could
-see him. The Smiling Pool is a very nice place, although it is
-dreadfully small, but if Farmer Brown's boy is likely to come over
-here, I guess I better look for some other place, though goodness
-knows where I will find one where I will feel perfectly safe."
-
-"You are safe right here, if you have sense enough to stay here,"
-declared Jerry Muskrat rather testily. "Don't you suppose Peter
-and I know what we are talking about?"
-
-"I wish I could believe so," returned Mrs. Quack sadly, "but if
-you had been through what I've been through, and suffered what I've
-suffered, you wouldn't believe any place safe, and you certainly
-wouldn't trust one of those two-legged creatures. Why, for weeks
-they haven't given me a chance to get a square meal, and--and--I
-don't know what has become of Mr. Quack, and I'm all alone!" There
-was a little sob in her voice and tears in her eyes.
-
-"Tell us all about it," begged Peter. "Perhaps we can help you."
-
-
-
-
-III
-
-MRS. QUACK TELLS ABOUT HER HOME
-
-
-"It's a long story," said Mrs. Quack, shaking the tears from her
-eyes, "and I hardly know where to begin."
-
-"Begin at the beginning," said Jerry Muskrat. "Your home is somewhere
-way up in the Northland where Honker the Goose lives, isn't it?"
-
-Mrs. Quack nodded. "I wish I were there this very minute," she
-replied, the tears coming again. "But sometimes I doubt if ever
-I'll get there again. You folks who don't have to leave your homes
-every year don't know how well off you are or how much you have to
-be thankful for."
-
-"I never could understand what people want to leave their homes
-for, anyway," declared Peter.
-
-"We don't leave because we want to, but because we HAVE to," replied
-Mrs. Quack, "and we go back just as soon as we can. What would you
-do if you couldn't find a single thing to eat?"
-
-"I guess I'd starve," replied Peter simply.
-
-"I guess you would, and that is just what we would do, if we didn't
-take the long journey south when Jack Frost freezes everything
-tight up there where my home is," returned Mrs. Quack. "He comes
-earlier up there and stays twice as long as he does here, and
-makes ten times as much ice and snow. We get most of our food in
-the water or in the mud under the water, as of course you know,
-and when the water is frozen, there isn't a scrap of anything we
-can get to eat. We just HAVE to come south. It isn't because we
-want to, but because we must! There is nothing else for us to do."
-
-"Then I don't see what you want to make your home in such a place
-for," said practical Peter. "I should think you would make it where
-you can live all the year around."
-
-"I was born up there, and I love it just as you love the dear Old
-Briar-patch," replied Mrs. Quack simply. "It is home, and there
-is no place like home.  Besides, it is a very beautiful and a very
-wonderful place in summer. There is everything that Ducks and Geese
-love. We have all we want of the food we love best. Everywhere is
-shallow water with tall grass growing in it."
-
-"Huh!" interrupted Peter, "I wouldn't think much of a place like
-that."
-
-"That's because you don't know what is good," snapped Jerry
-Muskrat. "It would suit me," he added, with shining eyes.
-
-"There are the dearest little islands just made for safe nesting-places,"
-continued Mrs. Quack, without heeding the interruptions. "And the
-days are long, and it is easy to hide, and there is nothing to
-fear, for two-legged creatures with terrible guns never come there."
-
-"If there is nothing to fear, why do you care about places to hide?"
-demanded Peter.
-
-"Well, of course, we have enemies, just as you do here, but they
-are natural enemies,--Foxes and Minks and Hawks and Owls," explained
-Mrs. Quack. "Of course, we have to watch out for them and have
-places where we can hide from them, but it is our wits against their
-wits, and it is our own fault if we get caught.  That is perfectly
-fair, so we don't mind that. It is only men who are not fair.  They
-don't know what fairness is."
-
-Peter nodded that he understood, and Mrs. Quack went on. "Last
-summer Mr. Quack and I had our nest on the dearest little island,
-and no one found it. First we had twelve eggs, and then twelve of
-the dearest babies you ever saw."
-
-"Maybe," said Peter doubtfully, thinking of his own babies.
-
-"They grew so fast that by the time the cold weather came, they
-were as big as their father and mother," continued Mrs. Quack.
-"And they were smart, too. They had learned how to take care of
-themselves just as well as I could. I certainly was proud of that
-family. But now I don't know where one of them is."
-
-Mrs. Quack suddenly choked up with grief, and Peter Rabbit politely
-turned his head away.
-
-
-
-
-IV
-
-MRS. QUACK CONTINUES HER STORY
-
-
-When Mrs. Quack told of her twelve children and how she didn't know
-where one of them was, Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat knew just
-how badly she was feeling, and they turned their heads away and
-pretended that they didn't see her tears.  In a few minutes she
-bravely went on with her story.
-
-"When Jack Frost came and we knew it was time to begin the long
-journey, Mr.  Quack and myself and our twelve children joined
-with some other Duck families, and with Mr. Quack in the lead, we
-started for our winter home, which really isn't a home but just a
-place to stay. For a while we had nothing much to fear.  We would
-fly by day and at night rest in some quiet lake or pond or on some
-river, with the Great Woods all about us or sometimes great marshes.
-Perhaps you don't know what marshes are. If the Green Meadows here
-had little streams of water running every which way through them,
-and the ground was all soft and muddy and full of water, and the
-grass grew tall, they would be marshes."
-
-Jerry Muskrat's eyes sparkled. "I would like a place like that!"
-he exclaimed.
-
-"You certainly would," replied Mrs. Quack. "We always find lots of
-your relatives in such places."
-
-"Marshes must be something like swamps," ventured Peter Rabbit,
-who had been thinking the matter over.
-
-"Very much the same, only with grass and rushes in place of trees
-and bushes," replied Mrs. Quack. "There is plenty to eat and the
-loveliest hiding-places. In some of these we stayed days at a time.
-In fact, we stayed until Jack Frost came to drive us out. Then as
-we flew, we began to see the homes of these terrible two-legged
-creatures called men, and from that time on we never knew a minute
-of peace, excepting when we were flying high in the air or far out
-over the water.  If we could have just kept flying all the time or
-never had to go near the shore, we would have been all right. But
-we had to eat."
-
-"Of course," said Peter. "Everybody has to eat."
-
-"And we had to rest," said Mrs. Quack.
-
-"Certainly," said Peter. "Everybody has to do that."
-
-"And to eat we had to go in close to shore where the water was
-not at all deep, because it is only in such places that we can get
-food," continued Mrs. Quack.  "It takes a lot of strength to fly
-as we fly, and strength requires plenty of food. Mr. Quack knew all
-the best feeding-places, for he had made the long journey several
-times, so every day he would lead the way to one of these. He always
-chose the wildest and most lonely looking places he could find, as
-far as possible from the homes of men, but even then he was never
-careless. He would lead us around back and forth over the place
-he had chosen, and we would all look with all our might for signs
-of danger. If we saw none, we would drop down a little nearer and
-a little nearer. But with all our watchfulness, we never could be
-sure, absolutely sure, that all was safe. Sometimes those terrible
-two-legged creatures would be hiding in the very middle of the
-wildest, most lonely looking marshes. They would be covered with
-grass so that we couldn't see them.  Then, as we flew over them,
-would come the bang, bang, bang, bang of terrible guns, and always
-some of our flock would drop. We would have to leave them behind,
-for we knew if we wanted to live we must get beyond the reach of
-those terrible guns. So we would fly our hardest. It was awful,
-just simply awful!"
-
-Mrs. Quack paused and shuddered, and Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat
-shuddered in sympathy.
-
-"Sometimes we would have to try three or four feeding-places before
-we found one where there were no terrible guns. And when we did
-find one, we would be so tired and frightened that we couldn't
-enjoy our food, and we didn't dare to sleep without some one on
-watch all the time. It was like that every day. The farther we got,
-the worse it became. Our flock grew smaller and smaller. Those who
-escaped the terrible guns would be so frightened that they would
-forget to follow their leader and would fly in different directions
-and later perhaps join other flocks. So it was that when at last we
-reached the place in the sunny Southland for which we had started,
-Mr. Quack and I were alone. What became of our twelve children I
-don't know. I am afraid the terrible guns killed some. I hope some
-joined other flocks and escaped, but I don't know."
-
-"I hope they did too," said Peter.
-
-
-
-
-V
-
-PETER LEARNS MORE OF MRS. QUACK'S TROUBLES
-
-
-It often happens when we know      The troubles that our friends
-pass through,      Our own seem very small indeed;      You'll
-always find that this is true.
-
-"My, you must have felt glad when you reached your winter home!"
-exclaimed Peter Rabbit when Mrs. Quack finished the account of her
-long, terrible journey from her summer home in the far Northland
-to her winter home in the far Southland.
-
-"I did," replied Mrs. Quack, "but all the time I couldn't forget
-those to whom terrible things had happened on the way down, and
-then, too, I kept dreading the long journey back."
-
-"I don't see why you didn't stay right there. I would have," said
-Peter, nodding his head with an air of great wisdom.
-
-"Not if you were I," replied Mrs. Quack. "In the first place it
-isn't a proper place in which to bring up young Ducks and make them
-strong and healthy. In the second place there are more dangers down
-there for young Ducks than up in the far Northland. In the third
-place there isn't room for all the Ducks to nest properly. And
-lastly there is a great longing for our real home, which Old Mother
-Nature has put in our hearts and which just MAKES us go. We couldn't
-be happy if we didn't."
-
-"Is the journey back as bad as the journey down?" asked Peter.
-
-"Worse, very much worse," replied Mrs. Quack sadly. "You can see
-for yourself just how bad it is, for here I am all alone." Tears
-filled Mrs. Quack's eyes.  "It is almost too terrible to talk about,"
-she continued after a minute. "You see, for one thing, food isn't
-as plentiful as it is in the fall, and we just have to go wherever
-it is to be found. Those two-legged creatures know where those
-feeding-grounds are just as well as we do, and they hide there with
-their terrible guns just as they did when we were coming south.
-But it is much worse now, very much worse. You see, when we were
-going the other way, if we found them at one place we could go on
-to another, but when we are going north we cannot always do that.
-We cannot go any faster than Jack Frost does. Sometimes we are
-driven out of a place by the bang, bang of the terrible guns and go
-on, only to find that we have caught up with Jack Frost, and that
-the ponds and the rivers are still covered with ice. Then there
-is nothing to do but to turn back to where those terrible guns are
-waiting for us. We just HAVE to do it."
-
-Mrs. Quack stopped and shivered. "It seems to me I have heard nothing
-but the noise of those terrible guns ever since we started," said
-she. "I haven't had a good square meal for days and days, nor a
-good rest. That is what makes me so dreadfully nervous. Sometimes,
-when we had been driven from place to place until we had caught up
-with Jack Frost, there would be nothing but ice excepting in small
-places in a river where the water runs too swiftly to freeze. We
-would just have to drop into one of these to rest a little, because
-we had flown so far that our wings ached as if they would drop
-off. Then just as we would think we were safe for a little while,
-there would come the bang of a terrible gun.  Then we would have
-to fly again as long as we could, and finally come back to the same
-place because there was no other place where we could go. Then we
-would have to do it all over again until night came. Sometimes I
-think that those men with terrible guns must hate us and want to
-kill every one of us. If they didn't, they would have a little bit
-of pity. They simply haven't any hearts at all."
-
-"It does seem so," agreed Peter. "But wait until you know Farmer
-Brown's boy!  HE'S got a heart!" he added brightly.
-
-"I don't want to know him," retorted Mrs. Quack. "If he comes near
-here, you'll see me leave in a hurry. I wouldn't trust one of them,
-not one minute. You don't think he will come, do you?"
-
-Peter sat up and looked across the Green Meadows, and his heart
-sank. "He's coming now, but I'm sure he won't hurt you, Mrs. Quack,"
-said he.
-
-But Mrs. Quack wouldn't wait to see. With a hasty promise to come
-back when the way was clear, she jumped into the air and on swift
-wings disappeared towards the Big River.
-
-
-
-
-VI
-
-FARMER BROWN'S BOY VISITS THE SMILING POOL
-
-
-Farmer Brown's boy had heard Welcome Robin singing in the Old
-Orchard quite as soon as Peter Rabbit had, and that song of "Cheer
-up! Cheer up! Cheer up!  Cheer!" had awakened quite as much gladness
-in his heart as it had in Peter's heart. It meant that Mistress
-Spring really had arrived, and that over in the Green Forest and
-down on the Green Meadows there would soon be shy blue, and just
-as shy white violets to look for, and other flowers almost if not
-quite as sweet and lovely. It meant that his feathered friends would
-soon be busy house-hunting and building. It meant that his little
-friends in fur would also be doing something very similar, if
-they had not already done so. It meant that soon there would be a
-million lovely things to see and a million joyous sounds to hear.
-
-So the sound of Welcome Robin's voice made the heart of Farmer Brown's
-boy even more happy than it was before, and as Welcome Robin just
-HAD to sing, so Farmer Brown's boy just HAD to whistle. When his
-work was finished, it seemed to Farmer Brown's boy that something
-was calling him, calling him to get out on the Green Meadows or over
-in the Green Forest and share in the happiness of all the little
-people there. So presently he decided that he would go down to the
-Smiling Pool to find out how Jerry Muskrat was, and if Grandfather
-Frog was awake yet, and if the sweet singers of the Smiling Pool
-had begun their wonderful spring chorus.
-
-Down the Crooked Little Path cross the Green Meadows he tramped,
-and as he drew near the Smiling Pool, he stopped whistling lest
-the sound should frighten some of the little people there. He was
-still some distance from the Smiling Pool when out of it sprang a
-big bird and on swift, whistling wings flew away in the direction
-of the Big River. Farmer Brown's boy stopped and watched until the
-bird had disappeared, and on his face was a look of great surprise.
-
-"As I live, that was a Duck!" he exclaimed. "That is the first time
-I've ever known a wild Duck to be in the Smiling Pool. I wonder
-what under the sun could have brought her over here."
-
-Just then there was a distant bang in the direction of the Big River.
-Farmer Brown's boy scowled, and it made his face very angry-looking.
-"That's it," he muttered. "Hunters are shooting the Ducks on their
-way north and have driven the poor things to look for any little
-mudhole where they can get a little rest.  Probably that Duck has
-been shot at so many times on the Big River that she felt safer
-over here in the Smiling Pool, little as it is."
-
-Farmer Brown's boy had guessed exactly right, as you and I know, and
-as Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat knew. "It's a shame, a downright
-shame that any one should want to shoot birds on their way to their
-nesting-grounds and that the law should let them if they do want
-to. Some people haven't any hearts; they're all stomachs. I hope
-that fellow who shot just now over there on the Big River didn't
-hit anything, and I wish that gun of his might have kicked a little
-sense of what is right and fair into his head, but of course it
-didn't."
-
-He grinned at the idea, and then he continued his way towards the
-Smiling Pool.  He hoped he might find another Duck there, and he
-approached the Smiling Pool very, very carefully.
-
-But when he reached a point where he could see all over the Smiling
-Pool, there was no one to be seen save Jerry Muskrat sitting on
-the Big Rock and Peter Rabbit on the bank on the other side. Farmer
-Brown's boy smiled when he saw them. "Hello, Jerry Muskrat!" said
-he. "I wonder how a bite of carrot would taste to you." He felt
-in his pocket and brought out a couple of carrots. One he put on
-a little tussock in the water where he knew Jerry would find it.
-The other he tossed across the Smiling Pool where he felt sure Peter
-would find it.  Presently he noticed two or three feathers on the
-water close to the edge of the bank. Mrs. Quack had left them there.
-"I believe that was a Mallard Duck," said he, as he studied them.
-"I know what I'll do. I'll go straight back home and get some wheat
-and corn and put it here on the edge of the Smiling Pool. Perhaps
-she will come back and find it."
-
-And this is just what Farmer Brown's boy did.
-
-
-
-
-VII
-
-MRS. QUACK RETURNS
-
-
-Peter Rabbit just couldn't go back to the dear Old Briar-patch.
-He just HAD to know if Mrs. Quack would come back to the Smiling
-Pool. He had seen Farmer Brown's boy come there a second time and
-scatter wheat and corn among the brown stalks of last summer's
-rushes, and he had guessed why Farmer Brown's boy had done this.
-He had guessed that they had been put there especially for Mrs.
-Quack, and if she should come back as she had promised to do, he
-wanted to be on hand when she found those good things to eat and
-hear what she would say.
-
-So Peter stayed over near the Smiling Pool and hoped with all his
-might that Reddy Fox or Old Man Coyote would not take it into his
-head to come hunting over there. As luck would have it, neither of
-them did, and Peter had a very pleasant time gossiping with Jerry
-Muskrat, listening to the sweet voices of unseen singers in the
-Smiling Pool,--the Hylas, which some people call peepers,--and
-eating the carrot which Farmer Brown's boy had left for him.
-
-Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun was just getting ready to go to bed
-behind the Purple Hills when Mrs. Quack returned. The first Peter
-knew of her coming was the whistle of her wings as she passed over
-him. Several times she circled around, high over the Smiling Pool,
-and Peter simply stared in open-mouthed admiration at the speed
-with which she flew. It didn't seem possible that one so big could
-move through the air so fast. Twice she set her wings and seemed
-to just slide down almost to the surface of the Smiling Pool, only
-to start her stout wings in motion once more and circle around again.
-It was very clear that she was terribly nervous and suspicious. The
-third time she landed in the water with a splash and sat perfectly
-still with her head stretched up, looking and listening with all
-her might.
-
-"It's all right. There's nothing to be afraid of," said Jerry
-Muskrat.
-
-"Are you sure?" asked Mrs. Quack anxiously. "I've been fooled too
-often by men with their terrible guns to ever feel absolutely sure
-that one isn't hiding and waiting to shoot me." As she spoke she
-swam about nervously. "Peter Rabbit and I have been here ever since
-you left, and I guess we ought to know," replied Jerry Muskrat
-rather shortly. "There hasn't been anybody near here excepting
-Farmer Brown's boy, and we told you he wouldn't hurt you."
-
-"He brought us each a carrot," Peter Rabbit broke in eagerly.
-
-"Just the same, I wouldn't trust him," replied Mrs. Quack. "Where
-is he now?"
-
-"He left ever so long ago, and he won't be back to-night," declared
-Peter confidently.
-
-"I hope not," said Mrs. Quack, with a sigh. "Did you hear the bang
-of that terrible gun just after I left here?"
-
-"Yes," replied Jerry Muskrat. "Was it fired at you?"
-
-Mrs. Quack nodded and held up one wing. Peter and Jerry could see
-that one of the long feathers was missing. "I thought I was flying
-high enough to be safe," said she, "but when I reached the Big
-River there was a bang from the bushes on the bank, and something
-cut that feather out of my wing, and I felt a sharp pain in my side.
-It made me feel quite ill for a while, and the place is very sore
-now, but I guess I'm lucky that it was no worse. It is very hard
-work to know just how far those terrible guns can throw things at
-you. Next time I will fly higher."
-
-"Where have you been since you left us?" asked Peter.
-
-"Eight in the middle of the Big River," replied Mrs. Quack. "It
-was the only safe place. I didn't dare go near either shore, and
-I'm nearly starved. I haven't had a mouthful to eat to-day."
-
-Peter opened his mouth to tell her of the wheat and corn left by
-Farmer Brown's boy and then closed it again. He would let her find
-it for herself. If he told her about it, she might suspect a trick
-and refuse to go near the place. He never had seen any one so
-suspicious, not even Old Man Coyote. But he couldn't blame her,
-after all she had been through. So he kept still and waited. He
-was learning, was Peter Rabbit. He was learning a great deal about
-Mrs. Quack.
-
-
-
-
-VIII
-
-MRS. QUACK HAS A GOOD MEAL AND A REST
-
-
-There's nothing like a stomach full      To make the heart feel
-light;      To chase away the clouds of care      And make the
-world seem bright.
-
-That's a fact. A full stomach makes the whole world seem different,
-brighter, better, and more worth living in. It is the hardest kind
-of hard work to be cheerful and see only the bright side of things
-when your stomach is empty. But once fill that empty stomach, and
-everything is changed. It was just that way with Mrs. Quack. For
-days at a time she hadn't had a full stomach because of the hunters
-with their terrible guns, and when just before dark that night she
-returned to the Smiling Pool, her stomach was quite empty.
-
-"I don't suppose I'll find much to eat here, but a little in peace
-and safety is better than a feast with worry and danger," said she,
-swimming over to the brown, broken-down bulrushes on one side of
-the Smiling Pool and appearing to stand on her head as she plunged
-it under water and searched in the mud on the bottom for food.
-Peter Rabbit looked over at Jerry Muskrat sitting on the Big Rock,
-and Jerry winked. In a minute up bobbed the head of Mrs. Quack,
-and there was both a pleased and a worried look on her face. She
-had found some of the corn left there by Farmer Brown's boy. At once
-she swam out to the middle of the Smiling Pool, looking suspiciously
-this way and that way.
-
-"There is corn over there," said she. "Do you know how it came
-there?"
-
-"I saw Farmer Brown's boy throwing something over there," replied
-Peter. "Didn't we tell you that he would be good to you?"
-
-"Quack, quack, quack! I've seen that kind of kindness too often to
-be fooled by it," snapped Mrs. Quack. "He probably saw me leave in
-a hurry and put this corn here, hoping that I would come back and
-find it and make up my mind to stay here a while. He thinks that
-if I do, he'll have a chance to hide near enough to shoot me. I
-didn't believe this could be a safe place for me, and now I know
-it.  I'll stay here to-night, but to-morrow I'll try to find some
-other place. Oh, dear, it's dreadful not to have any place at all
-to feel safe in." There were tears in her eyes.
-
-Peter thought of the dear Old Briar-patch and how safe he always felt
-there, and he felt a great pity for poor Mrs. Quack, who couldn't
-feel safe anywhere. And then right away he grew indignant that she
-should be so distrustful of Farmer Brown's boy, though if he had
-stopped to think, he would have remembered that once he was just
-as distrustful.
-
-"I should think," said Peter with a great deal of dignity, "that
-you might at least believe what Jerry Muskrat and I, who live here
-all the time, tell you. We ought to know Farmer Brown's boy if any
-one does, and we tell you that he won't harm a feather of you."
-
-"He won't get the chance!" snapped Mrs. Quack.
-
-Jerry Muskrat sniffed in disgust. "I don't doubt you have suffered
-a lot from men with terrible guns," said he, "but you don't suppose
-Peter and I have lived as long as we have without learning a little,
-do you? I wouldn't trust many of those two-legged creatures myself,
-but Farmer Brown's boy is different. If all of them were like him,
-we wouldn't have a thing to fear from them. He has a heart. Yes,
-indeed, he has a heart. Now you take my advice and eat whatever he
-has put there for you, be thankful, and stop worrying. Peter and
-I will keep watch and warn you if there is any danger."
-
-I don't know as even this would have overcome Mrs. Quack's fears
-if it hadn't been for the taste of that good corn in her mouth, and
-her empty stomach. She couldn't, she just couldn't resist these,
-and presently she was back among the rushes, hunting out the corn
-and wheat as fast as ever she could. When at last she could eat no
-more, she felt so comfortable that somehow the Smiling Pool didn't
-seem such a dangerous place after all, and she quite forgot Farmer
-Brown's boy. She found a snug hiding-place among the rushes too
-far out from the bank for Reddy Fox to surprise her, and then with
-a sleepy "Good night" to Jerry and Peter, she tucked her head under
-her wing and soon was fast asleep.
-
-Peter Rabbit tiptoed away, and then he hurried lipperty-lipperty-lip
-to the dear Old Briar-patch to tell Mrs. Peter all about Mrs. Quack.
-
-
-
-
-IX
-
-PETER RABBIT MAKES AN EARLY CALL
-
-
-Peter Rabbit was so full of interest in Mrs. Quack and her troubles
-that he was back at the Smiling Pool before Mr. Sun had kicked off
-his rosy blankets and begun his daily climb up in the blue, blue
-sky. You see, he felt that he had heard only a part of Mrs. Quack's
-story, and he was dreadfully afraid that she would get away before
-he could hear the rest. With the first bit of daylight, Mrs. Quack
-swam out from her hiding-place among the brown rushes. It looked
-to Peter as if she sat up on the end of her tail as she stretched
-her neck and wings just as far as she could, and he wanted to laugh
-right out. Then she quickly ducked her head under water two or
-three times so that the water rolled down over her back, and again
-Peter wanted to laugh. But he didn't. He kept perfectly still. Mrs.
-Quack shook herself and then began to carefully dress her feathers.
-That is, she carefully put back in place every feather that had
-been rumpled up. She took a great deal of time for this, for Mrs.
-Quack is very neat and tidy and takes the greatest pride in looking
-as fine as she can.
-
-Of course it was very impolite of Peter to watch her make her
-toilet, but he didn't think of that. He didn't mean to be impolite.
-And then it was so interesting. "Huh!" said he to himself, "I don't
-see what any one wants to waste so much time on their clothes for."
-
-You know Peter doesn't waste any time on his clothes. In fact,
-he doesn't seem to care a bit how he looks. He hasn't learned yet
-that it always pays to be as neat and clean as possible and that
-you must think well of yourself if you want others to think well
-of you.
-
-When at last Mrs. Quack had taken a final shower bath and appeared
-satisfied that she was looking her best, Peter opened his mouth to
-ask her the questions he was so full of, but closed it again as he
-remembered people are usually better natured when their stomachs
-are full, and Mrs. Quack had not yet breakfasted. So he waited as
-patiently as he could, which wasn't patiently at all. At last Mrs.
-Quack finished her breakfast, and then she had to make her toilet
-all over again. Finally Peter hopped to the edge of the bank where
-she would see him.
-
-"Good morning, Mrs. Quack," said he very politely. "I hope you had
-a good rest and are feeling very well this morning."
-
-"Thank you," replied Mrs. Quack. "I'm feeling as well as could be
-expected. In fact, I'm feeling better than I have felt for some
-time in spite of the sore place made by that terrible gun yesterday.
-You see, I have had a good rest and two square meals, and these
-are things I haven't had since goodness knows when.  This is a very
-nice place. Let me see, what is it you call it?"
-
-"The Smiling Pool," said Peter.
-
-"That's a good name for it," returned Mrs. Quack. "If only I could
-be sure that none of those hunters would find me here, and if only
-Mr. Quack were here, I would be content to stay a while." At the
-mention of Mr. Quack, the eyes of Mrs.  Quack suddenly filled with
-tears. Peter felt tears of sympathy in his own eyes.
-
-"Where is Mr. Quack?" he asked.
-
-"I don't know," sobbed Mrs. Quack. "I wish I did. I haven't seen
-him since one of those terrible guns was fired at us over on the
-Big River yesterday morning a little while before Little Joe Otter
-told me about the Smiling Pool. Ever since we started for our home
-in the far North, I have been fearing that something of this kind
-might happen. I ought to be on my way there now, but what is the
-use without Mr. Quack? Without him, I would be all alone up there
-and wouldn't have any home."
-
-"Won't you tell me all that has happened since you started on your
-long journey?" asked Peter. "Perhaps some of us can help you."
-
-"I'm afraid you can't," replied Mrs. Quack sadly, "but I'll tell
-you all about it so that you may know just how thankful you ought
-to feel that you do not have to suffer what some of us do."
-
-
-
-
-X
-
-HOW MR. AND MRS. QUACK STARTED NORTH
-
-
-Peter Rabbit was eager to help Mrs. Quack in her trouble, though
-he hadn't the least idea how he could help and neither had she. How
-any one who dislikes water as Peter does could help one who lives
-on the water all the time was more than either one of them could
-see. And yet without knowing it, Peter WAS helping Mrs.  Quack.
-He was giving her his sympathy, and sympathy often helps others
-a great deal more than we even guess. It sometimes is a very good
-plan to tell your troubles to some one who will listen with sympathy.
-It was so with Mrs. Quack.  She had kept her troubles locked in
-her own heart so long that it did her good to pour them all out to
-Peter.
-
-"Mr. Quack and I spent a very comfortable winter way down in
-the sunny Southland," said she with a far-away look. "It was very
-warm and nice down there, and there were a great many other Ducks
-spending the winter with us. The place where we were was far from
-the homes of men, and it was only once in a long while that we had
-to watch out for terrible guns. Of course, we had to have our wits
-with us all the time, because there are Hawks and Owls and Minks
-down there just as there are up here, but any Duck who can't keep
-out of their way deserves to furnish one of them a dinner.
-
-"Then there was another fellow we had to watch out for, a queer
-fellow whom we never see anywhere but down there. It was never safe
-to swim too near an old log floating in the water or lying on the
-bank, because it might suddenly open a great mouth and swallow one
-of us whole."
-
-"What's that?" Peter Rabbit leaned forward and stared at Mrs. Quack
-with his eyes popping right out. "What's that?" he repeated. "How
-can an old log have a mouth?"
-
-Mrs. Quack just had to smile, Peter was so in earnest and looked
-so astonished.
-
-"Of course," said she, "no really truly log has a mouth or is alive,
-but this queer fellow I was speaking of looks so much like an old
-log floating in the water unless you look at him very sharply,
-that many a heedless young Duck has discovered the difference when
-it was too late. Then, too, he will swim under water and come up
-underneath and seize you without any warning. He has the biggest
-mouth I've ever seen, with terrible-looking teeth, and could swallow
-me whole."
-
-[Illustration with caption: "Some folks call him Alligator and some
-just 'Gator."]
-
-By this time Peter's eyes looked as if they would fall out of his
-head. "What is his name?" whispered Peter.
-
-"It's Old Ally the 'Gator," replied Mrs. Quack. "Some folks call
-him Alligator and some just 'Gator, but we call him Old Ally. He's a
-very interesting old fellow. Some time perhaps I'll tell you more
-about him. Mr. Quack and I kept out of his reach, you may be sure.
-We lived quietly and tried to get in as good condition as possible
-for the long journey back to our home in the North. When it was
-time to start, a lot of us got together, just as we did when we came
-down from the North, only this time the young Ducks felt themselves
-quite grown up.  In fact, before we started there was a great deal
-of love-making, and each one chose a mate. That was a very happy
-time, a very happy time indeed, but it was a sad time too for us
-older Ducks, because we knew what dreadful things were likely to
-happen on the long journey. It is hard enough to lose father or
-mother or brother or sister, but it is worse to lose a dear mate."
-
-Mrs. Quack's eyes suddenly filled with tears again. "Oh, dear,"
-she sobbed, "I wish I knew what became of Mr. Quack."
-
-Peter said nothing, but looked the sympathy he felt. Presently Mrs.
-Quack went on with her story. "We had a splendid big flock when we
-started, made up wholly of pairs, each pair dreaming of the home
-they would build when they reached the far North. Mr. Quack was
-the leader as usual, and I flew right behind him. We hadn't gone
-far before we began to hear the terrible guns, and the farther we
-went, the worse they got. Mr. Quack led us to the safest feeding
-and resting grounds he knew of, and for a time our flock escaped
-the terrible guns. But the farther we went, the more guns there
-were." Mrs. Quack paused and Peter waited.
-
-
-
-
-XI
-
-THE TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE GUNS
-
-
-"Bang! Bang! Bang! Not a feather spare!       Kill! Kill! Kill!
-Wound and rip and tear!"
-
-That is what the terrible guns roar from morning to night at Mrs.
-Quack and her friends as they fly on their long journey to their
-home in the far North. I don't wonder that she was terribly uneasy
-and nervous as she sat in the Smiling Pool talking to Peter Rabbit;
-do you?
-
-"Yes," said she, continuing her story of her long journey from the
-sunny Southland where she had spent the winter, "the farther we
-got, the more there were of those terrible guns. It grew so bad
-that as well as Mr. Quack knew the places where we could find food,
-and no Duck that ever flew knew them better, he couldn't find one
-where we could feel perfectly sure that we were safe. The very
-safest-looking places sometimes were the most dangerous. If you saw
-a lot of Rabbits playing together on the Green Meadows, you would
-feel perfectly safe in joining them, wouldn't you?"
-
-Peter nodded. "I certainly would," said he. "If it was safe for
-them it certainly would be safe for me."
-
-"Well, that is just the way we felt when we saw a lot of Ducks
-swimming about on the edge of one of those feeding-places. We were
-tired, for we had flown a long distance, and we were hungry. It
-was still and peaceful there and not a thing to be seen that looked
-the least bit like danger. So we went straight in to join those
-Ducks, and then, just as we set our wings to drop down on the water
-among them, there was a terrible bang, bang, bang, bang! My heart
-almost stopped beating. Then how we did fly! When we were far
-out over the water where we could see that nothing was near us we
-stopped to rest, and there we found only half as many in our flock
-as there had been."
-
-"Where were the others?" asked Peter, although he guessed.
-
-"Killed or hurt by those terrible guns," replied Mrs. Quack sadly.
-"And that wasn't the worst of it. I told you that when we started
-each of us had a mate.  Now we found that of those who had escaped,
-four had lost their mates. They were heartbroken. When it came
-time for us to move on, they wouldn't go. They said that if they
-did reach the nesting-place in the far North, they couldn't have
-nests or eggs or young because they had no mates, so what was the
-use? Besides, they hoped that if they waited around they might find
-their mates. They thought they might not have been killed, but just
-hurt, and might be able to get away from those hunters. So they
-left us and swam back towards that terrible place, calling for their
-lost mates, and it was the saddest sound. I know now just how they
-felt, for I have lost Mr. Quack, and that's why I'm here." Mrs.
-Quack drew a wing across her eyes to wipe away the tears.
-
-"But what happened to those Ducks that were swimming about there
-and made you think it was safe?" asked Peter, with a puzzled look
-on his face.
-
-"Nothing," replied Mrs. Quack. "They had been fastened out there
-in the water by the hunters so as to make us think it safe, and the
-terrible guns were fired at us and not at them. The hunters were
-hidden under grass, and that is why we didn't see them."
-
-Peter blinked his eyes rapidly as if he were having hard work to
-believe what he had been told. "Why," said he at last, "I never
-heard of anything so dreadfully unfair in all my life! Do you mean
-to tell me that those hunters actually made other Ducks lead you
-into danger?"
-
-"That's just what I mean," returned Mrs. Quack. "Those two-legged
-creatures don't know what fairness is. Why, some of them have
-learned our language and actually call us in where they can shoot
-us. Just think of that! They tell us in our own language that there
-is plenty to eat and all is safe, so that we will think that other
-Ducks are hidden and feeding there, and then when we go to join
-them, we are shot at! You ought to be mighty thankful, Peter Rabbit,
-that you are not a Duck."
-
-"I am," replied Peter. He knew that not one of the meadow and forest
-people who were always trying to catch him would do a thing like
-that.
-
-"It's all true," said Mrs. Quack, "and those hunters do other things
-just as unfair. Sometimes awful storms will come up, and we just
-have to find places where we can rest. Those hunters will hide
-near those places and shoot at us when we are so tired that we can
-hardly move a wing. It wouldn't be so bad if a hunter would be
-satisfied to kill just one Duck, just as Reddy Fox is, but he seems
-to want to kill EVERY Duck. Foxes and Hawks and Owls catch a good
-many young Ducks, just as they do young Rabbits, but you know how
-we feel about that.  They only hunt when they are hungry, and they
-hunt fairly. When, they have got enough to make a dinner, they stop.
-They keep our wits sharp. If we do not keep out of their way, it
-is our own fault. It is a kind of game--the game of life. I guess
-it is Old Mother Nature's way of keeping us wide-awake and sharpening
-our wits, and so making us better fitted to live.
-
-"With these two-legged creatures with terrible guns, it is all
-different. We don't have any chance at all. If they hunted us as
-Reddy Fox does, tried to catch us themselves, it would be different.
-But their terrible guns kill when we are a long way off, and there
-isn't any way for us to know of the danger. And then, when one of
-them does kill a Duck, he isn't satisfied, but keeps on killing
-and killing and killing. I'm sure one would make him a dinner, if
-that is what he wants.
-
-"And they often simply break the wings or otherwise terribly hurt
-the ones they shoot at, and then leave them to suffer, unable
-to take care of themselves. Oh, dear, I'm afraid that is what has
-happened to Mr. Quack."
-
-Once more poor Mrs. Quack was quite overcome with her troubles and
-sorrows.  Peter wished with all his heart that he could do something
-to comfort her, but of course he couldn't, so he just sat still and
-waited until she could tell him just what did happen to Mr. Quack.
-
-
-
-
-XII
-
-WHAT DID HAPPEN TO MR. QUACK
-
-
-"When did you last see Mr. Quack?" asked Jerry Muskrat, who had
-been listening while Mrs. Quack told Peter Rabbit about her terrible
-journey.
-
-"Early yesterday morning," replied Mrs. Quack, the tears once more
-filling her eyes. "We had reached the Big River over there, just
-six of us out of the big flock that had started from the sunny
-Southland. How we got as far as that I don't know. But we did, and
-neither Mr. Quack nor I had lost a feather from those terrible guns
-that had banged at us all the way up and that had killed so many
-of our friends.
-
-"We were flying up the Big River, and everything seemed perfectly
-safe. We were in a hurry, and when we came to a bend in the Big
-River, we flew quite close to shore, so as not to have to go way
-out and around. That was where Mr. Quack made a mistake. Even the
-smartest people will make mistakes sometimes, you know."
-
-Peter Rabbit nodded, "I know," said he. "I've made them myself."
-And then he wondered why Jerry Muskrat laughed right out.
-
-"Yes," continued Mrs. Quack, "that is where Mr. Quack made a mistake,
-a great mistake. I suppose that because not a single gun had been
-fired at us that morning he thought perhaps there were no hunters
-on the Big River. So to save time he led us close to shore. And
-then it happened. There was a bang, bang of a terrible gun, and
-down fell Mr. Quack just as we had seen so many fall before.  It was
-awful. There was Mr. Quack flying in front of me on swift, strong
-wings, and there never was a swifter, stronger flier or a handsomer
-Duck than Mr.  Quack, and then all in the wink of an eye he was
-tumbling helplessly down, down to the water below, and I was flying
-on alone, for the other Ducks turned off, and I don't know what
-became of them. I couldn't stop to see what became of Mr.  Quack,
-because if I had, that terrible gun would have killed me. So I kept
-on a little way and then turned and went back, only I kept out in
-the middle of the Big River. I dropped down on the water and swam
-about, calling and calling, but I didn't get any answer, and so I
-don't know what has become of Mr. Quack. I am afraid he was killed,
-and if he was, I wish I had been killed myself."
-
-Here Mrs. Quack choked up so that she couldn't say another word.
-Peter's own eyes were full of tears as he tried to comfort her.
-"Perhaps," said he, "Mr.  Quack wasn't killed and is hiding somewhere
-along the Big River. I don't know why I feel so, but I feel sure
-that he wasn't killed, and that you will find him yet."
-
-"That's why I've waited instead of going on," replied Mrs. Quack
-between sobs, "though it wouldn't have been of any use to go on
-without my dear mate. I'm going back to the Big River now to look
-for him. The trouble is, I don't dare go near the shore, and if he
-is alive, he probably is hiding somewhere among the rushes along the
-banks. I think I'll be going along now, but I'll be back to-night
-if nothing happens to me. You folks who can always stay at home
-have a great deal to be thankful for."
-
-"It's lucky for me that Mrs. Peter wasn't here to hear her say
-that," said Peter, as he and Jerry Muskrat watched Mrs. Quack fly
-swiftly towards the Big River. "Mrs. Peter is forever worrying and
-scolding because I don't stay in the dear Old Briar-patch. If she
-had heard Mrs. Quack say that, I never would have heard the last
-of it. I wish there was something we could do for Mrs. Quack. I'm
-going back to the dear Old Briar-patch to think it over, and I guess
-the sooner I start the better, for that looks to me like Reddy Fox
-over there, and he's headed this way."
-
-So off for home started Peter, lipperty-lipperty-lip, as fast as
-he could go, and all the way there he was turning over in his mind
-what Mrs. Quack had told him and trying to think of some way to
-help her.
-
-
-
-
-XIII
-
-PETER TELLS ABOUT MRS. QUACK
-
-
-To get things done, if you'll but try,      You'll always find there
-is a way.       What you yourself can't do alone      The chances
-are another may.
-
-When Peter Rabbit was once more safely back in the dear Old Briar-patch,
-he told Mrs. Peter all about poor Mrs. Quack and her troubles. Then
-for a long, long time he sat in a brown study. A brown study, you
-know, is sitting perfectly still and thinking very hard. That was
-what Peter did. He sat so still that if you had happened along,
-you probably would have thought him asleep. But he wasn't asleep.
-No, indeed! He was just thinking and thinking. He was trying to
-think of some way to help Mrs. Quack. At last he gave a little sigh
-of disappointment.
-
-[Illustration with caption: "Just tuck that fact away in that empty
-head of yours and never say can't."]
-
-"It can't be done," said he. "There isn't any way."
-
-"What can't be done?" demanded a voice right over his head.
-
-Peter looked up. There sat Sammy Jay. Peter had been thinking so
-hard that he hadn't seen Sammy arrive.
-
-"What can't be done?" repeated Sammy. "There isn't anything that
-can't be done.  There are plenty of things that you can't do, but
-what you can't do some one else can. Just tuck that fact away in
-that empty head of yours and never say can't." You know Sammy dearly
-loves to tease Peter.
-
-Peter made a good-natured face at Sammy. "Which means, I suppose,
-that what I can't do you can. You always did have a pretty good
-opinion of yourself, Sammy," said he.
-
-"Nothing of the kind," retorted Sammy. "I simply mean that nobody
-can do everything, and that very often two heads are better than
-one. It struck me that you had something on your mind, and I thought
-I might be able to help you get rid of it. But of course, if you
-don't want my help, supposing I could and would give it to you,
-that is an end of the matter, and I guess I'll be on my way. The
-Old Briar-patch is rather a dull place anyway."
-
-Peter started to make a sharp retort, but thought better of it.
-Instead he replied mildly: "I was just trying to think of some way
-to help poor Mrs.  Quack."
-
-"Help Mrs. Quack!" exclaimed Sammy in surprise. "Where under the
-sun did you get acquainted with Mrs. Quack? What's the matter with
-her? She always has looked to me quite able to help herself."
-
-"Well, she isn't. That is, she needs others to help her just now,"
-replied Peter, "and I've been most thinking my head off trying to
-find a way to help her." Then he told Sammy how he had met Mrs.
-Quack at the Smiling Pool and how terrible her long journey up from
-the sunny Southland had been, and how Mr.  Quack had been shot by
-a hunter with a terrible gun, and how poor Mrs. Quack was quite
-heartbroken, and how she had gone over to the Big River to look
-for him but didn't dare go near the places where he might be hiding
-if he were still alive and hurt so that he couldn't fly, and how
-cruel and terribly unfair were the men with terrible guns, and all
-the other things he had learned from Mrs.  Quack.
-
-Sammy listened with his head cocked on one side, and for once he
-didn't interrupt Peter or try to tease him or make fun of him. In
-fact, as Peter looked up at him, he could see that Sammy was very
-serious and thoughtful, and that the more he heard of Mrs. Quack's
-story the more thoughtful he looked. When Peter finished, Sammy
-flew down a little nearer to Peter.
-
-"I beg your pardon for saying your head is empty, Peter," said he.
-"Your heart is right, anyway. Of course, there isn't anything you
-can do to help Mrs. Quack, but as I told you in the beginning,
-what you can't do others can. Now I don't say that I can help Mrs.
-Quack, but I can try. I believe I'll do a little thinking myself."
-
-So Sammy Jay in his turn went into a brown study, and Peter watched
-him anxiously and a little hopefully.
-
-
-
-
-XIV
-
-SAMMY JAY'S PLAN TO HELP MRS. QUACK
-
-
-Sammy Jay sat on the lowest branch of a little tree in the dear
-Old Briar-patch just over Peter Rabbit's head, thinking as hard
-as ever he could. Peter watched him and wondered if Sammy would
-be able to think of any plan for helping poor Mrs. Quack. He hoped
-so. He himself had thought and thought until he felt as if his
-brains were all mixed up and he couldn't think any more. So he
-watched Sammy and waited and hoped.
-
-Presently Sammy flirted his wings in a way which Peter knew meant
-that he had made up his mind. "Did I understand you to say that
-Mrs. Quack said that if Mr.  Quack is alive, he probably is hiding
-among the rushes along the banks of the Big River?" he asked.
-
-Peter nodded.
-
-"And that she said that she doesn't dare go near the banks because
-of fear of the terrible guns?"
-
-Again Peter nodded.
-
-"Well, if that's the case, what is the matter with some of us who
-are not afraid of the terrible guns looking for Mr. Quack?" said
-Sammy. "I will, for one, and I'm quite sure that my cousin, Blacky
-the Crow, will, for another. He surely will if he thinks it will
-spoil the plans of any hunters. Blacky would go a long distance to
-do that. He hates terrible guns and the men who use them. And he
-knows all about them. He has very sharp eyes, has Blacky, and he
-knows when a man has got a gun and when he hasn't. More than that,
-he can tell better than any one I know of just how near he can
-safely go to one of those terrible guns.  He is smart, my cousin
-Blacky is, and if he will help me look for Mr. Quack, we'll find
-him if he is alive."
-
-"That will be splendid!" cried Peter, clapping his hands. "But
-aren't you afraid of those terrible guns, Sammy?"
-
-"Not when the hunters are trying for Ducks," replied Sammy. "If
-there is a Duck anywhere in sight, they won't shoot at poor little
-me or even at Blacky, though they would shoot at him any other time.
-You see, they know that shooting at us would frighten the Ducks.
-Blacky knows all about the Big River. In the winter he often gets
-considerable of his food along its banks. I've been over there a
-number of times, but I don't know so much about it as he does. Now
-here is my plan. I'll go find Blacky and tell him all about what
-we want to do for Mrs.  Quack. Then, when Mrs. Quack comes back
-to the Smiling Pool, if she hasn't found Mr. Quack, we'll tell her
-what we are going to do and what she must do. She must swim right
-up the Big River, keeping out in the middle where she will be safe.
-If there are any hunters hiding along the bank, they will see her,
-and then they won't shoot at Blacky or me because they will keep
-hoping that Mrs. Quack will swim in near enough for them to shoot
-her. Blacky will fly along over one bank of the Big River, and I
-will do the same over the other bank, keeping as nearly opposite
-Mrs. Quack as we can. Being up in the air that way and looking
-down, we will be able to see the hunters and also Mr. Quack, if
-he is hiding among the rushes. Are you quite sure that Mrs. Quack
-will come back to the Smiling Pool to-night?"
-
-"She said she would," replied Peter. "Last night she came just a
-little while before dark, and I think she will do the same thing
-to-night, to see if any more corn has been left for her. You know
-Farmer Brown's boy put some there yesterday, and it tasted so good
-to her that I don't believe she will be able to stay away, even if
-she wants to. I think your plan is perfectly splendid, Sammy Jay.
-I do hope Blacky the Crow will help."
-
-"He will. Don't worry about that," replied Sammy. "Hello! There
-goes Farmer Brown's boy over to the Smiling Pool now."
-
-"Then there will be some more corn for Mrs. Quack. I just know
-it!" cried Peter.  "He is going to see if Mrs. Quack is there, and
-I just know he has his pockets full of corn."
-
-"I wouldn't mind a little of it myself," said Sammy. "Well, I must
-go along to hunt up Blacky. Good-by, Peter."
-
-"Good-by and good luck," replied Peter. "I've always said you are not
-half such a bad fellow as you try to make folks think you are, Sammy
-Jay."
-
-"Thanks," said Sammy, and started for the Green Forest to look for
-his cousin, Blacky the Crow.
-
-
-
-
-XV
-
-THE HUNT FOR MR. QUACK
-
-
-In spite of her hopelessness in regard to Mr. Quack, there is no
-doubt that Mrs.  Quack felt better that night after she had eaten
-the corn left among the rushes of the Smiling Pool by Farmer Brown's
-boy. Now she had that very comfortable feeling that goes with a
-full stomach, she could think better. As the Black Shadows crept
-across the Smiling Pool, she turned over in her mind Sammy Jay's
-plan for helping her the next day. The more she thought about it,
-the better it seemed, and she began to feel a little ashamed that
-she had not appeared more grateful to Sammy when he told her. At
-the time she had been tired and hungry and discouraged. Now she
-was beginning to feel rested, and she was no longer hungry. These
-things made all the difference in the world. As she thought over
-Sammy's plan, she began to feel a little hope, and when at last
-she put her head under her wing to go to sleep, she had made up
-her mind that the plan was worth trying, and that she would do her
-part.
-
-Bright and early the next morning, Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow
-were in the Big Hickory-tree near the Smiling Pool ready to start
-for the Big River to hunt for Mr. Quack. Peter Rabbit had been so
-afraid that he would miss something that he had stayed near the
-Smiling Pool all night, so he was on hand to see the start.
-
-It had been agreed that Mrs. Quack was to go to a certain place on
-the Big River and then swim up as far as she thought it would be
-of any use. She was to stay in the middle of the river, where she
-would be quite safe from hunters with terrible guns, and where also
-these same hunters would be sure to see her and so not be tempted
-to shoot at Blacky the Crow if he happened to fly over them. You
-see, they would hope that Mrs. Quack would swim in near enough to
-be shot and so would not risk frightening her by shooting at Blacky.
-
-When Mrs. Quack had finished her breakfast, she started for the
-Big River, and her stout wings moved so swiftly that they made a
-whistling sound. Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow followed her, but
-though they flew as fast as they could, Mrs.  Quack had reached
-the Big River before they had gone half the way. When they did get
-there, they saw Mrs. Quack out in the middle, swimming about and
-watching for them. Blacky flew across the river and pretended to
-be hunting for food along the farther bank, just as every hunter
-knows he often does. Sammy Jay did the same thing on the other
-bank.
-
-Mrs. Quack swam slowly up the Big River, keeping in the middle,
-and Blacky and Sammy followed along up the two banks, all the time
-using their sharp eyes for all they were worth to find Mr. Quack
-hiding among the broken-down rushes or under the bushes in the
-water, for the Big River had overflowed its banks, and in some
-places bushes and trees were in the water.
-
-Now Sammy Jay dearly loves to hunt for things. Whenever he knows
-that one of his neighbors in the Green Forest has hidden something,
-he likes to hunt for it. It isn't so much that he wants what has
-been hidden, as it is that he wants to feel he is smart enough to
-find it. When he does find it, he usually steals it, I'm sorry to
-say. But it is the fun of hunting that Sammy enjoys most. So now
-Sammy thoroughly enjoyed hunting for Mr. Quack. He peered into every
-likely hiding-place and became so interested that he quite forgot
-about the hunters who might be waiting along the bank.
-
-So it happened that he didn't see a boat drawn in among the bushes
-until he was right over it. Sitting in it was a man with a terrible
-gun, very intently watching Mrs. Quack out in the middle of the
-Big River. Sammy was so startled that before he thought he opened
-his mouth and screamed "Thief! thief! thief!" at the top of his
-lungs, and flew away with all his might. Mrs. Quack heard his scream
-and understood just what it meant.
-
-A little later Blacky the Crow discovered another hunter hiding
-behind the bushes on his side. "Caw! caw! caw!" shouted Blacky,
-flying out over the water far enough to be safe from that terrible
-gun he could see.
-
-"Quack! quack!" replied Mrs. Quack, which meant that she understood.
-And so the hunt went on without a sign of poor Mr. Quack.
-
-
-
-
-XVI
-
-SAMMY JAY SEES SOMETHING GREEN
-
-
-For all their peeking and peering among the broken-down rushes and
-under the bushes along the banks of the Big River, and no sharper
-eyes ever peeked and peered, Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow had
-found no sign of the missing Mr.  Quack.
-
-"I guess Mrs. Quack was right and that Mr. Quack was killed when
-he was shot," muttered Sammy to himself. "Probably one of those
-hunters had him for dinner long ago. Hello! There's another hunter
-up where the Laughing Brook joins the Big River! I guess I won't
-take any chances. I'd like to find Mr. Quack, but Sammy Jay is a
-lot more important to me than Mr. Quack, and that fellow just might
-happen to take it into his head to shoot at me."
-
-So Sammy silently flew around back of the hunter and stopped in a
-tree where he could watch all that the man did. For some time Sammy
-sat there watching. The hunter was sitting behind a sort of fence
-of bushes which quite hid him from any one who might happen to be
-out on the Big River. But of course Sammy could see him perfectly,
-because he was behind him. Out in front of that little fence, which
-was on the very edge of the water, were a number of what Sammy
-at first took to be some of Mrs. Quack's relatives. "Why doesn't
-he shoot them?" thought Sammy. He puzzled over this as he watched
-them until suddenly it came into his head that he hadn't seen one
-of them move since he began watching them. The man changed his
-position, and still those Ducks didn't move, although some of them
-were so near that they simply couldn't have helped knowing when the
-hunter moved unless they were more stupid than any one of Sammy's
-acquaintance.
-
-This was very curious, very curious indeed. Sammy flew a little
-nearer and then a little nearer, taking the greatest care not to
-make a sound. Pretty soon he was so near that he could see those
-Ducks very plainly, and he stared with all his might. He couldn't
-see any feathers! No, Sir, he couldn't see any feathers!  Then he
-understood.
-
-"Huh!" said he to himself. "Those are not Ducks at all. They are
-just pieces of wood made to look like Ducks. Now I wonder what they
-are for."
-
-In a few minutes he found out. He saw the hunter crouch down a
-little lower and look down the Big River. Sammy looked too. He saw
-a flock of real Ducks flying swiftly just above the middle of the
-Big River. Suddenly the leader turned straight towards the place
-where the hunter was hiding, and the others followed him. He could
-hear Mrs. Quack calling excitedly out in the middle of the Big
-River, but the strangers did not heed her. They had their eyes on
-those wooden Ducks and were coming straight in to join them.
-
-"They think they are real Ducks and so this place is perfectly
-safe!" thought Sammy. He saw the hunter make ready to shoot with his
-terrible gun and then, without stopping to think what might happen
-to him, he opened his mouth and screamed at the top of his voice.
-He saw the Ducks suddenly swing out towards the middle of the Big
-River and knew that they had heard his warning. He saw the hunter
-suddenly rise and point his gun at the flying Ducks. He heard the
-bang, bang of the terrible gun, but not one of the flock was hit. The
-distance was too great. Sammy chuckled happily. Then he remembered
-that he himself was within easy reach of that terrible gun, and
-probably the hunter was very angry. In great fright Sammy turned
-and flew, dodging behind trees and every second expecting to hear
-again the roar of that terrible gun.
-
-But he didn't, and so when he thought he was safe, he stopped. Now
-in flying away from the hunter he had followed the Laughing Brook
-where it winds through a sort of swamp before it joins the Big
-River. Because there was more water than could be kept between the
-banks of the Big River, it had crept over the banks, and all the
-trees of the swamp were standing in water. Just beyond where Sammy
-was sitting was a pile of brush in the water. A Jolly Little Sunbeam,
-dancing down through the tree tops, touched something under the
-edge of the brush, and Sammy's sharp eyes caught a flash of green.
-Idly he watched it, and presently it moved. Instantly Sammy was
-all curiosity. He flew over where he could see better.
-
-"Now what can that be?" thought Sammy, as he peered down at the
-pile of brush and tried to see under it.
-
-
-
-
-XVII
-
-MR. QUACK IS FOUND AT LAST
-
-
-Sammy Jay's eyes sparkled as he watched that spot of green under the
-pile of brush in the swamp through which the Laughing Brook finds
-its way to join the Big River. All around was water, for you know
-it was spring, and the melting snows on the hills way up where the
-Big River has its beginning were pouring more water into the Big
-River than its banks would hold as it hurried down to the Great
-Ocean. It just couldn't hurry fast enough to take all that water
-down as fast as it ran into the Big River, and so the water had
-crept over the banks in places. It had done this right here in the
-little swamp where Sammy was.
-
-Sammy sat perfectly still, for he learned long ago that only by
-keeping perfectly still may one see all that is to be seen. That
-green spot had moved.  He was sure of that. And if it moved, it
-must be something alive. If it were alive, it must be somebody,
-and Sammy wanted to know who it was. Try as he would he couldn't
-remember any one who wore such glossy green as that. So he sat
-perfectly still, for he knew that if whoever was hiding under that
-brush should even guess that he was being watched, he would not
-come out.
-
-So, his eyes sparkling with excitement, Sammy watched. He was
-impatiently patient. Did you know that it is possible to be impatiently
-patient? Well, it is. Sammy was just boiling with impatience inside,
-but he didn't let that impatience spoil the patience of his waiting.
-He sat there just as still as still, with his eyes fixed on that
-green spot, and you would never have guessed that he was fairly
-bursting with impatience to know who it was he was watching.  That
-is what is called self-control. It means the power to make yourself
-do a certain thing, no matter how much you may want to do something
-else. It is a splendid thing to have, is self-control.
-
-After what seemed to Sammy a very long time, the green spot moved
-again. Little by little something reached out from under the pile
-of brush. It was a head, a very beautiful green head, and it was
-exactly like Mrs. Quack's head, only hers was a sober brown instead
-of green. Sammy choked back a little gasp of surprise as a sudden
-thought popped into his head. Could this be the lost Mr. Quack?
-He had forgotten that probably Mr. Quack dressed differently from
-Mrs. Quack, and so of course he had been looking for some one all
-in brown. There was the bang of a gun somewhere over on the Big
-River, and the green head was hastily withdrawn under the bush, but
-not before Sammy had seen a look of terrible fear in his eyes. "I
-believe it IS Mr. Quack!" thought Sammy. "If it is, I'll have the
-best news ever to tell Mrs. Quack. Just trust Sammy Jay to find
-anything he goes looking for."
-
-This was just plain boasting, and Sammy knew it. But Sammy always
-does have a good opinion of himself. It is one of his faults. He
-quite lost sight of the fact that it was entirely by accident that
-he had come over to this swamp. Now that he had guessed who this
-might be, he was less impatient. He waited as still as you please,
-and at last the green head was slowly stretched out again, and
-Sammy could see that the neck was green, too, and that around the
-neck was a white collar. Sammy could keep still no longer.
-
-[Illustration with caption: "Yes," said he in a low voice, "I am
-Mr. Quack."]
-
-"Are you Mr. Quack?" he asked eagerly.
-
-The beautiful head disappeared like a flash. Sammy waited a minute
-or two, before he repeated his question, adding: "You needn't be
-afraid. There isn't anybody here but me, and I'm your friend. I
-just want to know if you are Mr.  Quack because I've been looking
-for you for Mrs. Quack. Are you?"
-
-Slowly, looking this way and that way with fear and suspicion in
-his eyes, a handsome Duck came out from under the pile of brush.
-"Yes," said he in a low voice, "I am Mr. Quack. Where is Mrs.
-Quack?"
-
-"Safe and sound over on the Big River," replied Sammy joyfully.
-"Oh, I'm so glad I've found you!"
-
-
-
-
-XVIII
-
-SAMMY JAY SENDS MRS. QUACK TO THE SWAMP
-
-
-When Sammy Jay left Mr. Quack in the swamp over by the bank of the
-Big River, he flew straight back to the Smiling Pool. At first he
-thought of flying out over the Big River and screaming the news to
-Mrs. Quack, who, you know, was swimming about out there. But he
-knew that if he did, she would very likely fly right over where Mr.
-Quack was, and that wouldn't do at all. No, indeed, that wouldn't
-do at all. One of the hunters would be sure to see her. So Sammy
-wisely flew back to the Smiling Pool to wait until Mrs. Quack should
-come back there for the night.
-
-Of course he told Peter Rabbit all about Mr. Quack, and Peter was
-so delighted at the thought that Mr. Quack was alive that he capered
-about in quite the craziest way. "Does Mrs. Quack know yet?" asked
-Peter.
-
-Sammy shook his head. "I'm going to tell her when she comes back
-here to-night," he explained. "I was afraid if I told her before
-then she would fly straight to him and perhaps get them both in
-trouble."
-
-"Quite right, Sammy! Quite right!" Peter exclaimed. "I wouldn't
-have thought of that. My, won't she be happy when you do tell her!
-I wonder what she'll say and what she'll do. I'm going to stay right
-here so as to see her when she hears the good news. Here comes your
-cousin, Blacky the Crow. Does he know yet?"
-
-"No," replied Sammy, "but I'm going to tell him as soon as he gets
-here." They watched Blacky draw nearer and nearer, and as soon
-as he was within hearing Sammy shouted the news. "Caw, caw, caw,"
-replied Blacky, hurrying a little faster.
-
-As soon as he reached the Big Hickory-tree, Sammy told the whole
-story over again, and Blacky was quite as glad as the others. While
-they waited for Mrs.  Quack he told how he had hunted and hunted
-along the farther bank of the Big River and how he had seen the
-hunters with their terrible guns hiding and had warned Mrs. Quack
-just where each one was.
-
-Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun was getting ready to go to bed behind
-the Purple Hills and the Black Shadows were beginning to creep out
-over the Green Meadows before Mrs. Quack came. In fact, Sammy Jay
-and Blacky were getting very uneasy. It was almost bed-time for
-them, for neither of them dared stay out after dark. They had almost
-made up their minds to leave Peter to tell the news when they saw
-Mrs. Quack coming swiftly from the direction of the Big River. She
-looked so sad and discouraged that even Blacky the Crow was sorry
-for her, and you know Blacky isn't much given to such feelings.
-
-"What's the news, Mrs. Quack?" asked Peter, his eyes dancing.
-
-"There isn't any," replied Mrs. Quack.
-
-"Oh, yes, there is!" cried Sammy Jay, who couldn't possibly keep
-still any longer.
-
-"What is it?" demanded Mrs. Quack eagerly, and it seemed to Peter
-that there was a wee bit of hope in her voice.
-
-"Did you happen to notice that just before the Laughing Brook joins
-the Big River it flows through a little swamp?" asked Sammy.
-
-Mrs. Quack nodded her head rapidly. "What of it?" she demanded.
-
-"Nothing much, only if I were you I would go down there after dark,"
-replied Sammy.
-
-Mrs. Quack looked up at Sammy sharply. "Why should I go down there?"
-she asked.
-
-"If I tell you, will you wait until I get quite through?" asked
-Sammy in his turn.
-
-Mrs. Quack promised that she would.
-
-"Well, then," replied Sammy, "this afternoon I found a stranger
-hiding in there, a stranger with a beautiful green head and neck
-and a white collar."
-
-"Mr. Quack! Oh, it was Mr. Quack!" cried Mrs. Quack joyfully and
-lifted her wings as if she would start for the swamp at once.
-
-"Stop!" cried Sammy sharply. "You said you would wait until I am
-through. It won't do for you to go there until after dark, because
-there is a hunter hiding very near Mr. Quack's hiding-place.
-Wait until it is dark and he has gone home.  Then take my advice,
-and when you have found Mr. Quack, bring him right up here to the
-Smiling Pool. He can't fly, but he can swim up the Laughing Brook,
-and this is the safest place for both of you. Now good night and
-good luck."
-
-
-
-
-XIX
-
-JERRY MUSKRAT'S GREAT IDEA
-
-
-A friendly friend is a friend indeed      When he proves a friend
-in the time of need.
-
-Mr. and Mrs. Quack had been so much taken up with each other and
-with their troubles that they had quite forgotten they were not
-alone in the Smiling Pool, which they had reached by swimming up
-the Laughing Brook. So it happened that when Mrs. Quack suggested
-that if Mr. Quack's wing got strong they might be able to find
-a lonesome pond not too far away where they could make their home
-for the summer, they were a little startled to hear a voice say:
-"I know where there is one, and you will not have to fly at all to
-get to it." Both jumped a little.  You see their nerves had been
-very much upset for a long time, and the least unexpected thing
-made them jump. Then both laughed.
-
-"Hello, Jerry Muskrat! We'd forgotten all about you," said Mrs.
-Quack. "What was that you said?"
-
-Jerry good-naturedly repeated what he had said. Mrs. Quack's face
-brightened.  "Do you really mean it?" she asked eagerly. "Do you
-really mean that you know of a pond where we could live and not be
-likely to be seen by these two-legged creatures called men?"
-
-"That's what I said," replied Jerry briefly.
-
-"Oh, Jerry, you're not joking, are you? Tell me you're not joking,"
-begged Mrs.  Quack.
-
-"Of course I'm not joking," returned Jerry just a little bit
-indignantly, "I am not the kind of a fellow to joke people who are
-in such trouble as you and Mr.  Quack seem to be in. The idea came
-to me while you were talking. I couldn't help overhearing what you
-were saying, and the minute you mentioned a lonesome pond, the idea
-came to me, and I think it's a perfectly splendid idea. I know of
-just the lonesomest kind of a lonesome pond, and you won't have to
-fly a stroke to get to it. If you are smart enough not to be caught
-by Reddy Fox or Hooty the Owl or Billy Mink or any of those people
-who hunt for a living, there isn't any reason I know of why you
-shouldn't spend the summer there in peace and comfort."
-
-Mrs. Quack's eyes fairly shone with hope and eagerness. "Oh, Jerry,
-tell us where it is, and we'll start for it right away!" she cried.
-
-Jerry's eyes twinkled. "Of course, the owner of that pond might
-not like to have neighbors. I hadn't thought of that," said he.
-"Perhaps he ought to be asked first."
-
-Mrs. Quack's face fell. "Who is the owner?" she asked.
-
-"My cousin, Paddy the Beaver. He made it," replied Jerry proudly.
-
-Mrs. Quack's face lighted up again at once. "I'm sure he won't
-object," said she. "We know a great many of the Beaver family. In
-fact, they are very good neighbors of ours in our home in the far
-Northland. I didn't suppose there was a Beaver pond anywhere around
-here. Tell me where it is, Jerry, and I'll go right up there and
-call on your cousin."
-
-"All you've got to do is to follow the Laughing Brook way back
-into the Green Forest, and you'll come to Paddy's pond," said he.
-"He made that pond himself two years ago. He came down from the Great
-Woods and built a dam across the Laughing Brook way back there in
-the Green Forest and gave us a great scare here in the Smiling Pool
-by cutting off the water for a few days. He has got a very nice
-pond there now. Honker the Goose and his flock spent a night in it
-on their way south last fall."
-
-Mrs. Quack waited to hear no more. She shot up into the air and
-disappeared over the tops of the trees in the Green Forest.
-
-"What do you think of my idea?" asked Jerry, as he and Mr. Quack
-watched her out of sight.
-
-"I think it is great, just simply great," replied Mr. Quack.
-
-
-
-
-XX
-
-HAPPY DAYS FOR MR. AND MRS. QUACK
-
-
-Whose heart is true and brave and strong,      Who ne'er gives up
-to grim despair,      Will find some day that skies are blue      And
-all the world is bright and fair.
-
-If you don't believe it, just ask Mr. and Mrs. Quack. They know.
-Certainly the world never looked darker for any one than it did
-for them when the terrible gun of a hunter broke Mr. Quack's wing
-on the Big River and ended all their dreams of a home in the far
-Northland. Then, through the help of Jerry Muskrat, they found
-the lonely pond of Paddy the Beaver deep in the Green Forest, and
-there, because their secret had been well kept, presently they
-found peace and hope and then happiness. You see, the heart of Mrs.
-Quack was true and brave and strong.  She was the kind to make the
-best of things, and she at once decided that if they couldn't have
-their home where they wanted it, they would have it where they could
-have it. She was determined that they should have a home anyway,
-and Paddy the Beaver's little pond was not such a bad place after
-all.
-
-So she wasted no time. She examined every inch of the shore of that
-little pond.  At last, a little back from the water, she found a
-place to suit her, a place so well hidden by bushes that only the
-sharpest eyes ever would find it. And a little later it would be
-still harder to find, as she well knew, for all about clumps of
-tall ferns were springing up, and when they had fully unfolded, not
-even the keen eyes of Sammy Jay looking down from a near-by tree
-would be able to discover her secret. There she made a nest on the
-ground, a nest of dried grass and leaves, and lined it with the
-softest and most beautiful of linings, down plucked from her own
-breast. In it she laid ten eggs. Then came long weeks of patient
-sitting on them, watching the wonder of growing things about her,
-the bursting into bloom of shy wood flowers, the unfolding of leaves
-on bush and tree, the springing up in a night of queer mushrooms,
-which people call toadstools, and all the time dreaming beautiful
-Duck dreams of the babies which would one day hatch from those
-precious eggs. She never left them save to get a little food and
-just enough exercise to keep her well and strong, and when she did
-leave them, she always carefully pulled soft down over them to keep
-them warm while she was away.
-
-Mr. Quack knew all about that nest, though he had taken no part
-in building it and had no share in the care of those eggs. He was
-very willing that she should do all the work and thought it quite
-sufficient that he should be on guard to give warning if danger
-should appear. So he spent the long beautiful days lazily swimming
-about in the little pond, gossiping with Paddy the Beaver, and
-taking the best of care of himself. The broken wing healed and grew
-strong again, for it had not been so badly broken, after all. If
-he missed the company of others of his kind which he would have
-had during these long days of waiting had they been able to reach
-their usual nesting-place in the far Northland, he never mentioned
-it.
-
-Unknown to them, Farmer Brown's boy discovered where they were.
-Later he came often to the pond and was content to sit quietly
-on the shore and watch Mr.  Quack, so that Mr. Quack grew quite
-used to him and did not fear him at all. In fact, after the first
-few times, he made no attempt to hide. You see he discovered that
-Farmer Brown's boy was a friend. Always after he had left, there
-was something good to eat near where he had been sitting, for Farmer
-Brown's boy brought corn and oats and sometimes a handful of wheat.
-
-He knew, and Mr. Quack knew that he knew, that somewhere near was
-a nest, but he did not try to find it much as he longed to, for he
-knew that would frighten and worry Mrs. Quack. So the dear, precious
-secret of Mr. and Mrs. Quack was kept, for not even Paddy the Beaver
-knew just where that nest was, and in due time, early one morning,
-Mrs. Quack proudly led forth for their first swim ten downy, funny
-ducklings.
-
-[Illustration with caption: Those were happy days indeed for Mr.
-and Mrs. Quack in the pond of Paddy the Beaver.]
-
-Oh, those were happy days indeed for Mr. and Mrs. Quack in the pond
-of Paddy the Beaver, and in their joy they quite forgot for a time
-the terrible journey which had brought them there. But finally the
-Ducklings grew up, and when Jack Frost came in the fall, the whole
-family started on the long journey to the sunny Southland. I hope
-they got there safely, don't you?
-
-Among those whom Mr. and Mrs. Quack came to know very well while
-they lived in the pond of Paddy the Beaver was that funny fellow
-who wears rings on his tail--Bobby Coon. In the next book I will
-tell you of some of Bobby's adventures.
-
-THE END
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack, by
-Thornton W. Burgess
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