Peter Rabbit was eager to help Mrs. Quack in her trouble, though he
hadn't the least idea how he could help and neither had she. How any
one who dislikes water as Peter does could help one who lives on the
water all the time was more than either one of them could see. And yet
without knowing it, Peter _was_ helping Mrs. Quack. He was giving her
his sympathy, and sympathy often helps others a great deal more than we
even guess. It sometimes is a very good plan to tell your troubles to
some one who will listen with sympathy. It was so with Mrs. Quack. She
had kept her troubles locked in her own heart so long that it did her
good to pour them all out to Peter.
“Mr. Quack and I spent a very comfortable winter way down in the sunny
Southland,” said she with a far-away look. “It was very warm and nice
down there, and there were a great many other Ducks spending the winter
with us. The place where we were was far from the homes of men, and it
was only once in a long while that we had to watch out for terrible
guns. Of course, we had to have our wits with us all the time, because
there are Hawks and Owls and Minks down there just as there are up
here, but any Duck who can't keep out of their way deserves to furnish
one of them a dinner.
“Then there was another fellow we had to watch out for, a queer fellow
whom we never see anywhere but down there. It was never safe to swim
too near an old log floating in the water or lying on the bank, because
it might suddenly open a great mouth and swallow one of us whole.”
“What's that?” Peter Rabbit leaned forward and stared at Mrs. Quack
with his eyes popping right out. “What's that?” he repeated. “How can
an old log have a mouth?”
Mrs. Quack just had to smile, Peter was so in earnest and looked so
astonished.
“Of course,” said she, “no really truly log has a mouth or is alive,
but this queer fellow I was speaking of looks so much like an old log
floating in the water unless you look at him very sharply, that many a
heedless young Duck has discovered the difference when it was too late.
Then, too, he will swim under water and come up underneath and seize
you without any warning. He has the biggest mouth I've ever seen, with
terrible-looking teeth, and could swallow me whole.”
[Illustration: “Some folks call him Alligator and some just 'Gator.”]
By this time Peter's eyes looked as if they would fall out of his head.
“What is his name?” whispered Peter.
“It's Old Ally the 'Gator,” replied Mrs. Quack. “Some folks call him
Alligator and some just 'Gator, but we call him Old Ally. He's a very
interesting old fellow. Some time perhaps I'll tell you more about
him. Mr. Quack and I kept out of his reach, you may be sure. We lived
quietly and tried to get in as good condition as possible for the long
journey back to our home in the North. When it was time to start, a lot
of us got together, just as we did when we came down from the North,
only this time the young Ducks felt themselves quite grown up. In fact,
before we started there was a great deal of love-making, and each one
chose a mate. That was a very happy time, a very happy time indeed, but
it was a sad time too for us older Ducks, because we knew what dreadful
things were likely to happen on the long journey. It is hard enough to
lose father or mother or brother or sister, but it is worse to lose a
dear mate.”
Mrs. Quack's eyes suddenly filled with tears again. “Oh, dear,” she
sobbed, “I wish I knew what became of Mr. Quack.”
Peter said nothing, but looked the sympathy he felt. Presently Mrs.
Quack went on with her story. “We had a splendid big flock when we
started, made up wholly of pairs, each pair dreaming of the home they
would build when they reached the far North. Mr. Quack was the leader
as usual, and I flew right behind him. We hadn't gone far before we
began to hear the terrible guns, and the farther we went, the worse
they got. Mr. Quack led us to the safest feeding and resting grounds he
knew of, and for a time our flock escaped the terrible guns. But the
farther we went, the more guns there were.” Mrs. Quack paused and Peter
waited.