The Adventures of Poor Mrs Quack | Page 5

to live we must get beyond the reach
of those terrible guns. So we would fly our hardest. It was awful, just
simply awful!"
Mrs. Quack paused and shuddered, and Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat
shuddered in sympathy.
"Sometimes we would have to try three or four feeding-places before
we found one where there were no terrible guns. And when we did find
one, we would be so tired and frightened that we couldn't enjoy our
food, and we didn't dare to sleep without some one on watch all the
time. It was like that every day. The farther we got, the worse it became.
Our flock grew smaller and smaller. Those who escaped the terrible
guns would be so frightened that they would forget to follow their
leader and would fly in different directions and later perhaps join other
flocks. So it was that when at last we reached the place in the sunny
Southland for which we had started, Mr. Quack and I were alone. What
became of our twelve children I don't know. I am afraid the terrible

guns killed some. I hope some joined 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 friends pass
through, Our own seem very small indeed; You'll always 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 her
long, terrible journey from her summer home in the far Northland to
her winter home in the far Southland.
"I did," replied Mrs. Quack, "but all the time I couldn't forget those to
whom terrible things had happened on the way down, and then, too, I
kept dreading the long journey back."
"I don't see why you didn't stay right there. I would have," said Peter,
nodding his head with an air of great wisdom.
"Not if you were I," replied Mrs. Quack. "In the first place it isn't a
proper place in which to bring up young Ducks and make them strong
and healthy. In the second place there are more dangers down there for
young Ducks than up in the far Northland. In the third place there isn't
room for all the Ducks to nest properly. And lastly there is a great
longing for our real home, which Old Mother Nature has put in our
hearts and which just MAKES us go. We couldn't be happy if we
didn't."
"Is the journey back as bad as the journey down?" asked Peter.
"Worse, very much worse," replied Mrs. Quack sadly. "You can see for

yourself just how bad it is, for here I am all alone." Tears filled Mrs.
Quack's eyes. "It is almost too terrible to talk about," she continued
after a minute. "You see, for one thing, food isn't as plentiful as it is in
the fall, and we just have to go wherever it isES us go. We couldn't be
happy if we didn't."
"Is the journey back as bad as the journey down?" asked Peter.
"Worse, very much worse," replied Mrs. Quack sadly. "You can see for
yourself just how bad it is, for here I am all alone." Tears filled Mrs.
Quack's eyes. "It is almost too terrible to talk about," she continued
after a minute. "You see, for one thing, food isn't as plentiful as it is in
the fall, and we just have to go wherever it is to be found. Those
two-legged creatures know where those feeding-grounds are just as
well as we do, and they hide there with their terrible guns just as they
did when we were coming south. But it is much worse now, very much
worse. You see, when we were going the other way, if we found them
at one place we could go on to another, but when we are going north
we cannot always do that. We cannot go any faster than Jack Frost does.
Sometimes we are driven out of a place by the bang, bang of the
terrible guns and go on, only to find that we have caught up with Jack
Frost, and that the ponds and the rivers are still covered with ice. Then
there is nothing to do but to turn back to where those terrible guns are
waiting for us. We just HAVE to do it."
Mrs. Quack stopped and shivered. "It seems to me I have heard nothing
but the noise of those terrible guns ever since we started," said she. "I
haven't had a good square meal for days and days, nor a good rest. That
is what makes me so dreadfully nervous. Sometimes, when we had