The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver | Page 7

Green
Forest tramped Farmer Brown's boy. Ahead of him trotted Bowser the
Hound, sniffing and snuffing for the tracks of Reddy or Granny Fox. Of
course he didn't find them, for Reddy and Granny hadn't been up in the

Old Pasture for a long time. But he did find old Jed Thumper, the big
gray Rabbit who had made things so uncomfortable for Peter Rabbit
once upon a time, and gave him such a fright that old Jed didn't look
where he was going and almost ran headfirst into Farmer Brown's boy.
"Hi, there, you old cottontail!" yelled Farmer Brown's boy, and this
frightened Old Jed still more, so that he actually ran right past his own
castle of bullbriars without seeing it.
Farmer Brown's boy kept on his way, laughing at the fright of old Jed
Thumper. Presently he reached the springs from which came the water
that made the very beginning of the Laughing Brook. He expected to
find them dry, for way down on the Green Meadows the Smiling Pool
was nearly dry, and the Laughing Brook was nearly dry, and he had
supposed that of course the reason was that the springs where the
Laughing Brook started were no longer bubbling.
But they were! The clear cold water came bubbling up out of the
ground just as it always had, and ran off down into the Green Forest in
a little stream that would grow and grow as it ran and become the
Laughing Brook. Farmer Brown's boy took off his ragged old straw hat
and scowled down at the bubbling water just as if he thought it had no
business to be bubbling there.
Of course, he didn't think just that. The fact is, he didn't know just what
he did think. Here were the springs bubbling away just as they always
had. There was the little stream starting off down into the Green Forest
with a gurgle that by and by would become a laugh, just as it always
had. And yet down on the Green Meadows on the other side of the
Green Forest there was no longer a Laughing Brook or a Smiling Pool.
He felt as if he ought to pinch himself to make sure that he was awake
and not dreaming.
"I don't know what it means," said he, talking out loud. "No, Sir, I don't
know what it means at all, but I'm going to find out. There's a cause for
everything in this world, and when a fellow doesn't know a thing, it is
his business to find out all about it. I'm going to find out what has
happened to the Laughing Brook, if it takes me a year!"

With that he started to follow the little stream which ran gurgling down
into the Green Forest. He had followed that little stream more than
once, and now he found it just as he remembered it. The farther it ran,
the larger it grew, until at last it became the Laughing Brook, merrily
tumbling over rocks and making deep pools in which the trout loved to
hide. At last he came to the edge of a little open hollow in the very
heart of the Green Forest. He knew what splendid deep holes there
were in the Laughing Brook here, and how the big trout loved to lie in
them because they were deep and cool. He was thinking of these trout
now and wishing that he had brought along his fishing-rod. He pushed
his way through a thicket of alders and then--Farmer Brown's boy
stopped suddenly and fairly gasped! He had to stop because there right
in front of him was a pond!
He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Then he stooped down and put
his hand in the water to see if it was real. There was no doubt about it.
It was real water,--a real pond where there never had been a pond
before. It was very still there in the heart of the Green Forest. It was
always very still there, but it seemed stiller than usual as he tramped
around the edge of this strange pond. He felt as if it were all a dream.
He wondered if pretty soon he wouldn't wake up and find it all untrue.
But he didn't, and so he kept on tramping until presently he came to a
dam,--a splendid dam of logs and sticks and mud. Over the top of it the
water was running, and down in the Green Forest below he could hear
the Laughing Brook just beginning to laugh once more. Farmer
Brown's boy sat down with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his
hands. He was almost too much surprised to even think.
[Illustration]

VIII
PETER RABBIT GETS A