Chapter 4

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. 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