The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack
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Thornton W. Burgess >> The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack
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