The Adventures of Poor Mrs Quack | Page 2

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