The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack Read online

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  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 RabbitFrontispiece

  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 neversay 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 pondof Paddy the Beaver

  I

  PETER RABBIT BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH MRS. QUACK

  Make a new acquaintance every time you can; You'll find itinteresting and a very helpful plan.

  It means more knowledge. You cannot meet any one without learningsomething from him if you keep your ears open and your eyes open.Every one is at least a little different from every one else, andthe more people you know, the more you may learn. Peter Rabbitknows this, and that is one reason he always is so eager to find outabout other people. He had left Jimmy Skunk and Bobby Coon in theGreen Forest and had headed for the Smiling Pool to see if GrandfatherFrog was awake yet. He had no idea of meeting a stranger there, andso you can imagine just how surprised he was when he got in sightof the Smiling Pool to see some one whom he never had seen beforeswimming about there. He knew right away who it was. He knew thatit was Mrs. Quack the Duck, because he had often heard about her. Andthen, too, it was very clear from her looks that she was a cousinof the ducks he had seen in Farmer Brown's dooryard. The differencewas 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 almostforgot to be polite. I am afraid he stared in a very impolite wayas 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 Ishould go over to the Big River, and that is a place I never havevisited and hardly expect to because it is too far from the dearOld Briar-patch. You are Mrs. Quack, aren't you?"

  "Yes," replied Mrs. Quack, "and you must be Peter Rabbit. I've heardof you very often." All the time Mrs. Quack was swimming back andforth 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 almostsmiled as she looked at Peter, "The worst I have heard is that youare 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 neverhave been here before. It is the last place in the world I everexpected to find you."

  "That's why I'm here," replied Mrs. Quack. "I hope others feel thesame way. I came here because I just HAD to find some place wherepeople wouldn't expect to find me and so wouldn't come looking forme. Little Joe Otter saw me yesterday on the Big River and told meof this place, and so, because I just had to go somewhere, I camehere."

  Peter's eyes opened very wide with surprise. "Why," he exclaimed,"I should think you would be perfectly safe on the Big River! Idon'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 bangsounded from way off towards the Big River. Mrs. Quack gave a greatstart and half lifted her wings as if to fly. But she thought betterof 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 longway from here," said he.

  "It was over on the Big River," said Mrs. Quack. "That's why itisn't safe for me over there. That's why I just had to find someother place. Oh, dear, the very sound of a gun sets me to shakingand makes my heart feel as if it would stop beating. Are you sureI am perfectly safe here?"

  "Perfectly," spoke up Jerry Muskrat, who had been listening fromthe top of the Big Rock, where he was lunching on a clam, "unlessyou are not smart enough to keep out of the clutches of Reddy Foxor Old Man Coyote or Hooty the Owl or Redtail the Hawk."

  "I'm not afraid of THEM," declared Mrs. Quack. "It's those two-leggedcreatures with terrible guns I'm afraid of," and she began to swimabout more uneasily than ever.

  II

  MRS. QUACK IS DISTRUSTFUL

  Jerry Muskrat thinks there is no place in the world like the SmilingPool. So, for the matter of that, does Grandfather Frog and alsoSpotty the Turtle. You see, they have spent their lives there andknow little about the rest of the Great World. When Mrs. Quackexplained that all she feared was that a two-legged creature witha terrible gun might find her there, Jerry Muskrat hastened to tellher that she had nothing to worry about on that account.

  "No one hunts here now that Farmer Brown's boy has put away histerrible gun," explained Jerry. "There was a time when he used tohunt here and set traps, which are worse than terrible guns, butthat was long ago, before he knew any better."

  "Who is Farmer Brown's boy?" demanded Mrs. Quack, looking moreanxious 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 goodfriend that he ought to be a Quaddy himself. Why, this last winterhe fed some of us when food was scarce, and he saved Mrs. Grousewhen 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," declaredMrs. 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'tmean anything good. Do you know what I've known these two-leggedcreatures to do?"

  "What?" demanded Peter and Jerry together.

  "I've known them to scatter food where we Ducks would be sure tofind it and to take the greatest care that nothing should frightenus while we were eating. And then, after we had got in the habitof feeding in that particular place and had grown to feel perfectlysafe there, they have hidden close by until a lot of us were feedingtogether and then fired their terrible guns and killed a lot ofmy friends and dreadfully hurt a lot more. I wouldn't trust one ofthem, 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 anythinglike that. You haven't the least thing to fear from him."

  "Perhaps not," said Mrs. Quack, shaking her head doubtfully, "butI wouldn't trust him. I wouldn't trust him as far off as I couldsee him. The Smiling Pool
is a very nice place, although it isdreadfully small, but if Farmer Brown's boy is likely to come overhere, I guess I better look for some other place, though goodnessknows 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 Peterand I know what we are talking about?"

  "I wish I could believe so," returned Mrs. Quack sadly, "but ifyou had been through what I've been through, and suffered what I'vesuffered, you wouldn't believe any place safe, and you certainlywouldn't trust one of those two-legged creatures. Why, for weeksthey haven't given me a chance to get a square meal, and--and--Idon't know what has become of Mr. Quack, and I'm all alone!" Therewas 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 hereyes, "and I hardly know where to begin."

  "Begin at the beginning," said Jerry Muskrat. "Your home is somewhereway up in the Northland where Honker the Goose lives, isn't it?"

  Mrs. Quack nodded. "I wish I were there this very minute," shereplied, the tears coming again. "But sometimes I doubt if everI'll get there again. You folks who don't have to leave your homesevery year don't know how well off you are or how much you have tobe thankful for."

  "I never could understand what people want to leave their homesfor, anyway," declared Peter.

  "We don't leave because we want to, but because we HAVE to," repliedMrs. Quack, "and we go back just as soon as we can. What would youdo 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'ttake the long journey south when Jack Frost freezes everythingtight up there where my home is," returned Mrs. Quack. "He comesearlier up there and stays twice as long as he does here, andmakes ten times as much ice and snow. We get most of our food inthe 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 wecan get to eat. We just HAVE to come south. It isn't because wewant 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 placefor," said practical Peter. "I should think you would make it whereyou can live all the year around."

  "I was born up there, and I love it just as you love the dear OldBriar-patch," replied Mrs. Quack simply. "It is home, and thereis no place like home. Besides, it is a very beautiful and a verywonderful place in summer. There is everything that Ducks and Geeselove. We have all we want of the food we love best. Everywhere isshallow water with tall grass growing in it."

  "Huh!" interrupted Peter, "I wouldn't think much of a place likethat."

  "That's because you don't know what is good," snapped JerryMuskrat. "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 thedays are long, and it is easy to hide, and there is nothing tofear, 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 theyare natural enemies,--Foxes and Minks and Hawks and Owls," explainedMrs. Quack. "Of course, we have to watch out for them and haveplaces where we can hide from them, but it is our wits against theirwits, and it is our own fault if we get caught. That is perfectlyfair, so we don't mind that. It is only men who are not fair. Theydon't know what fairness is."

  Peter nodded that he understood, and Mrs. Quack went on. "Lastsummer 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 ofthe 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, theywere as big as their father and mother," continued Mrs. Quack."And they were smart, too. They had learned how to take care ofthemselves just as well as I could. I certainly was proud of thatfamily. But now I don't know where one of them is."

  Mrs. Quack suddenly choked up with grief, and Peter Rabbit politelyturned his head away.

  IV

  MRS. QUACK CONTINUES HER STORY

  When Mrs. Quack told of her twelve children and how she didn't knowwhere one of them was, Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat knew justhow badly she was feeling, and they turned their heads away andpretended that they didn't see her tears. In a few minutes shebravely went on with her story.

  "When Jack Frost came and we knew it was time to begin the longjourney, Mr. Quack and myself and our twelve children joinedwith some other Duck families, and with Mr. Quack in the lead, westarted for our winter home, which really isn't a home but just aplace to stay. For a while we had nothing much to fear. We wouldfly by day and at night rest in some quiet lake or pond or on someriver, with the Great Woods all about us or sometimes great marshes.Perhaps you don't know what marshes are. If the Green Meadows herehad little streams of water running every which way through them,and the ground was all soft and muddy and full of water, and thegrass 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 ofyour 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 treesand bushes," replied Mrs. Quack. "There is plenty to eat and theloveliest 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 aswe flew, we began to see the homes of these terrible two-leggedcreatures called men, and from that time on we never knew a minuteof peace, excepting when we were flying high in the air or far outover the water. If we could have just kept flying all the time ornever had to go near the shore, we would have been all right. Butwe 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 wasnot at all deep, because it is only in such places that we can getfood," continued Mrs. Quack. "It takes a lot of strength to flyas we fly, and strength requires plenty of food. Mr. Quack knew allthe best feeding-places, for he had made the long journey severaltimes, so every day he would lead the way to one of these. He alwayschose the wildest and most lonely looking places he could find, asfar as possible from the homes of men, but even then he was nevercareless. He would lead us around back and forth over the placehe had chosen, and we would all look with all our might for signsof danger. If we saw none, we would drop down a little nearer anda little nearer. But with all our watchfulness, we never could besure, absolutely sure, that all was safe. Sometimes those terribletwo-legged creatures would be hiding in the very middle of thewildest, most lonely looking marshes. They would be covered withgrass so that we couldn't see them. Then, as we flew over them,would come the bang, bang, bang, bang of terrible guns, and alwayssome 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 ofthose terrible guns. So we would fly our hardest. It was awful,just simply awful!"

  Mrs. Quack paused and shuddered, and Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskratshuddered in sympathy.

  "Sometimes we would have to try three or four feeding-places beforewe found one where there were no terrible guns. And when we didfind one, we would be so tired and frightened that we couldn'tenjoy our food, and we didn't dare to sleep without some one onwatch all the time. It was like that every day. The farther we got,the
worse it became. Our flock grew smaller and smaller. Those whoescaped the terrible guns would be so frightened that they wouldforget to follow their leader and would fly in different directionsand later perhaps join other flocks. So it was that when at last wereached the place in the sunny Southland for which we had started,Mr. Quack and I were alone. What became of our twelve children Idon't know. I am afraid the terrible guns killed some. I hope somejoined 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 friendspass through, Our own seem very small indeed; You'llalways 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 herlong, terrible journey from her summer home in the far Northlandto her winter home in the far Southland.

  "I did," replied Mrs. Quack, "but all the time I couldn't forgetthose to whom terrible things had happened on the way down, andthen, too, I kept dreading the long journey back."

  "I don't see why you didn't stay right there. I would have," saidPeter, nodding his head with an air of great wisdom.

  "Not if you were I," replied Mrs. Quack. "In the first place itisn't a proper place in which to bring up young Ducks and make themstrong and healthy. In the second place there are more dangers downthere for young Ducks than up in the far Northland. In the thirdplace there isn't room for all the Ducks to nest properly. Andlastly there is a great longing for our real home, which Old MotherNature has put in our hearts and which just MAKES us go. We couldn'tbe happy if we didn't."