“Some folks call him Alligator and some just 'Gator'”
“Just tuck that fact away in that empty head of yours and never say
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 pond of
Paddy the Beaver
I
PETER RABBIT BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH
MRS. QUACK
Make a new acquaintance every time you can;
You'll find it interesting and a very helpful plan.
It means more knowledge. You cannot meet any one without learning
something from him if you keep your ears open and your eyes open.
Every one is at least a little different from every one else, and the
more people you know, the more you may learn. Peter Rabbit knows this,
and that is one reason he always is so eager to find out about other
people. He had left Jimmy Skunk and Bobby Coon in the Green Forest and
had headed for the Smiling Pool to see if Grandfather Frog was awake
yet. He had no idea of meeting a stranger there, and so you can imagine
just how surprised he was when he got in sight of the Smiling Pool to
see some one whom he never had seen before swimming about there. He
knew right away who it was. He knew that it was Mrs. Quack the Duck,
because he had often heard about her. And then, too, it was very clear
from her looks that she was a cousin of the ducks he had seen in Farmer
Brown's dooryard. The difference was 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 almost
forgot to be polite. I am afraid he stared in a very impolite way as
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 I should go over
to the Big River, and that is a place I never have visited and hardly
expect to because it is too far from the dear Old Briar-patch. You are
Mrs. Quack, 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.