It was very mysterious. Yes, Sir, it was very mysterious.
Mr. Quack thought so. Mrs. Quack thought so. There, out in the Big
River, in the midst of the Black Shadows, was something which looked
like the branch of a tree. But instead of moving down the river, as
the branch of a tree would if it were floating, this was coming
straight across the river as if it were swimming. But how could the
branch of a tree swim? That was too much for Mr. Quack. It was too
much for Mrs. Quack.
So they sat perfectly still among the brown stalks of the wild
rice along the edge of the Big River, and not for a second did
they take their eyes from that strange thing moving towards
them. They were ready to spring into the air and trust to their
swift wings the instant they should detect danger. But they did
not want to fly unless they had to. Besides, they were
curious. They were very curious indeed. They wanted to find out
what that mysterious thing moving through the water towards them
was.
So Mr. and Mrs. Quack watched that thing that looked like a
swimming branch draw nearer and nearer, and the nearer it drew
the more they were puzzled, and the more curious they felt. If it
had been the pond of Paddy the Beaver instead of the Big River,
they would have thought it was Paddy swimming with a branch for
his winter food pile. But Paddy the Beaver was way back in his
own pond, deep in the Green Forest, and they knew it. So this
thing became more and more of a mystery. The nearer it came, the
more nervous and anxious they grew, and at the same time the
greater became their curiosity.
At last Mr. Quack felt that not even to gratify his curiosity
would it be safe to wait longer. He prepared to spring into the
air, knowing that Mrs. Quack would follow him. It was just then
that a funny little sound reached him. It was half snort, half
cough, as if some one had sniffed some water up his nose. There
was something familiar about that sound. Mr. Quack decided to
wait a few minutes longer.
"I'll wait," thought Mr. Quack, "until that thing, whatever it
is, comes out of those Black Shadows into the moonlight.
Somehow I have a feeling that we are in no danger."
So Mr. and Mrs. Quack waited and watched. In a few minutes the
thing that looked like the branch of a tree came out of the Black
Shadows into the moonlight, and then the mystery was solved.
It was a mystery no longer. They saw that they had mistaken the
antlers of Lightfoot the Deer for the branch of a tree. Lightfoot
was swimming across the Big River on his way back to his home in
the Green Forest. At once Mr. and Mrs. Quack swam out to meet him
and to tell him how glad they were that he was alive and safe.