Across the Old Pasture to the foot of the Mountain back of the
Green Forest tramped Farmer Brown's boy. Ahead of him trotted
Bowser the Hound, sniffing and snuffing for the tracks of Reddy
or Granny Fox. Of course he didn't find them, for Reddy and
Granny hadn't been up in the Old Pasture for a long time. But he
did find old Jed Thumper, the big gray Rabbit who had made things
so uncomfortable for Peter Rabbit once upon a time and gave old
Jed such a fright that he didn't look where he was going and
almost ran head-first into Farmer Brown's boy.
"Hi, there, you old cottontail!" yelled Farmer Brown's boy, and
this frightened off Jed still more, so that he actually ran right
past his own castle of bullbriars without seeing it.
Farmer Brown's boy kept on his way, laughing at the fright of old
Jed Thumper. Presently he reached the springs from which came the
water that made the very beginning of the Laughing Brook. He
expected to find them dry, for way down on the Green Meadows the
Smiling Pool was nearly dry, and the Laughing Brook was nearly
dry, and he had supposed that of course the reason was that the
springs where the Laughing Brook started were no longer bubbling.
But they were! The clear cold water came bubbling up out of the
ground just as it always had, and ran off down into the Green
Forest in a little stream that would grow and grow as it ran and
became the Laughing Brook. Farmer Brown's boy took off his ragged
old straw hat and scowled down at the bubbling water just as if
it had no business to be bubbling there.
Of course, he didn't think just that. The fact is, he didn't know
just what he did think. Here were the springs bubbling away just
as they always had. There was the little stream starting off down
into the Green Forest with a gurgle that by and by would become a
laugh, just as it always had. And yet down on the Green Meadows
on the other side of the Green Forest there was no longer a
Laughing Brook or a Smiling Pool. He felt as if he ought to pinch
himself to make sure that he was awake and not dreaming.
"I don't know what it means," said he, talking out loud. "No,
Sir, I don't know what it means at all, but I'm going to find
out. There's a cause for everything in this world, and when a
fellow doesn't know a thing, it is his business to find out all
about it. I'm going to find out what has happened to the Laughing
Brook, if it takes me a year!"
With that he started to follow the little stream which ran
gurgling down into the Green Forest. He had followed that little
stream more than once, and now he found it just as he remembered
it. The farther it ran, the larger it grew, until at last it
became the Laughing Brook, merrily tumbling over rocks and making
deep pools in which the trout loved to hide. At last he came to
the edge of a little open hollow in the very heart of the Green
Forest. He knew what splendid deep holes there were in the
Laughing Brook here, and how the big trout loved to lie in them
because they were deep and cool. He was thinking of these trout
now and wishing that he had brought along his fishing rod. He
pushed his way through a thicket of alders and then--Farmer
Brown's boy stopped suddenly and fairly gasped! He had to stop
because there right in front of him was a pond!
He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Then he stooped down and put
his hand in the water to see if it was real. There was no doubt
about it. It was real water--a real pond where there never had
been a pond before. It was very still there in the heart of the
Green Forest. It was always very still there, but it seemed
stiller than usual as he tramped around the edge of this strange
pond. He felt as if it were all a dream. He wondered if pretty
soon he wouldn't wake up and find it all untrue. But he didn't,
so he kept on tramping until presently he came to a dam--a
splendid dam of logs and sticks and mud. Over the top of it the
water was running, and down in the Green Forest below he could
hear the Laughing Brook just beginning to laugh once more. Farmer
Brown's boy sat down with his elbows on his knees and his chin in
his hands. He was almost too much surprised to even think.