where he was. "You'll get your feet wet the first thing you know."

She never said anything truer than that. The words were scarcely out of
her bill when the odd member of her family flung himself into the water.
Or to be more exact, he flung himself _upon_ it; for he floated on the
surface as easily as a chip and began to paddle about as if he had swum
all his life.

"Come back! Come back!" Henrietta Hen shrieked. "You'll be drowned--and
you'll get your feet wet!"




IV

A SWIMMER


Henrietta Hen ran as fast as she could down the bank and stood as near
the water as she dared, cackling loudly and flapping her wings.

Her child, who was swimming in the duck-pond, seemed to have no intention
of minding her. Nor did he seem to have any intention of drowning; and as
for getting his feet wet, he acted as if he liked _that_.

"What shall I do? Oh, what shall I do?" Henrietta Hen squawked. She made
so much noise that some of her neighbors came a-running, to see what was
the matter. And as soon as they discovered what had happened they began
to laugh.