turned his head away.




IV

MRS. QUACK CONTINUES HER STORY


When Mrs. Quack told of her twelve children and how she didn't know
where one of them was, Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat knew just
how badly she was feeling, and they turned their heads away and
pretended that they didn't see her tears. In a few minutes she
bravely went on with her story.

"When Jack Frost came and we knew it was time to begin the long
journey, Mr. Quack and myself and our twelve children joined
with some other Duck families, and with Mr. Quack in the lead, we
started for our winter home, which really isn't a home but just a
place to stay. For a while we had nothing much to fear. We would
fly by day and at night rest in some quiet lake or pond or on some
river, with the Great Woods all about us or sometimes great marshes.
Perhaps you don't know what marshes are. If the Green Meadows here
had little streams of water running every which way through them,
and the ground was all soft and muddy and full of water, and the
grass grew tall, they would be marshes."

Jerry Muskrat's eyes sparkled. "I would like a place like that!"
he exclaimed.