Farmer Brown's boy sat with his chin in his hands staring at the
new pond in the Green Forest and at the dam which had made it.
That dam puzzled him. Who could have built it? What did they
build it for? Why hadn't he heard them chopping? He looked
carelessly at the stump of one of the trees, and then a still
more puzzled look made deep furrows between his eyes. It looked--
yes, it looked very much as if teeth, and not an axe, had cut
down that tree. Farmer Brown's boy stared and stared, his mouth
gaping wide open. He looked so funny that Peter Rabbit, who was
hiding under an old pile of brush close by, nearly laughed right
out.
But Peter didn't laugh. No, Sir, Peter didn't laugh, for just
that very minute something happened. Sniff! Sniff! That was right
behind him at the very edge of the old brushpile, and every hair
on Peter stood on end with fright.
"Bow, wow, wow!" It seemed to Peter that the great voice was
right in his very ears. It frightened him so that he just had to
jump. He didn't have time to think. And so he jumped right out
from under the pile of brush and of course right into plain
sight. And the very instant he jumped there came another great
roar behind him. Of course it was from Bowser the Hound. You see,
Bowser had been following the trail of his master, but as he
always stops to sniff at everything he passes, he had been some
distance behind. When he came to the pile of brush under which
Peter was hiding he had sniffed at that, and of course he had
smelled Peter right away.
Now when Peter jumped out so suddenly, he had landed right at one
end of the dam. The second roar of Bowser's great voice
frightened him still more, and he jumped right up on the dam.
There was nothing for him to do now but go across, and it wasn't
the best of going. No, indeed, it wasn't the best of going. You
see, it was mostly a tangle of sticks. Happy Jack Squirrel or
Chatterer the Red Squirrel or Striped Chipmunk would have skipped
across it without the least trouble. But Peter Rabbit has no
sharp little claws with which to cling to logs and sticks, and
right away he was in a peck of trouble. He slipped down between
the sticks, scrambled out, slipped again, and then, trying to
make a long jump, he lost his balance and--tumbled heels over
head into the water.
Poor Peter Rabbit! He gave himself up for lost this time. He
could swim, but at best he is a poor swimmer and doesn't like the
water. He couldn't dive and keep out of sight like Jerry Muskrat
or Billy Mink. All he could do was to paddle as fast as his legs
would go. The water had gone up his nose and down his throat so
that he choked, and all the time he felt sure that Bowser the
Hound would plunge in after him and catch him. And if he
shouldn't why Farmer Brown's boy would simply wait for him to
come ashore and then catch him.
But Farmer Brown's boy didn't do anything of the kind. No, Sir,
he didn't. Instead he shouted to Bowser and called him away.
Bowser didn't want to come, but he long ago learned to obey, and
very slowly he walked over to where his master was sitting.
"You know it wouldn't be fair, old fellow, to try to catch Peter
now. It wouldn't be fair at all, and we never want to do anything
unfair, do we?" said he. Perhaps Bowser didn't agree, but he
wagged his tail as if he did, and sat down beside his master to
watch Peter swim.
It seemed to Peter as if he never, never would reach the shore,
though really it was only a very little distance that he had to
swim. When he did scramble out, he was a sorry-looking Rabbit. He
didn't waste any time, but started for home as fast as he could
go, lipperty-lipperty-lip. And Farmer Brown's boy and Bowser the
Hound just laughed and didn't try to catch him at all.
"Well, I never!" exclaimed Sammy Jay, who had seen it all from
the top of a pine tree. "Well, I never! I guess Farmer Brown's
boy isn't so bad, after all."