got, the more there were of those terrible guns. It grew so bad
that as well as Mr. Quack knew the places where we could find food,
and no Duck that ever flew knew them better, he couldn't find one
where we could feel perfectly sure that we were safe. The very
safest-looking places sometimes were the most dangerous. If you saw
a lot of Rabbits playing together on the Green Meadows, you would
feel perfectly safe in joining them, wouldn't you?"

Peter nodded. "I certainly would," said he. "If it was safe for
them it certainly would be safe for me."

"Well, that is just the way we felt when we saw a lot of Ducks
swimming about on the edge of one of those feeding-places. We were
tired, for we had flown a long distance, and we were hungry. It
was still and peaceful there and not a thing to be seen that looked
the least bit like danger. So we went straight in to join those
Ducks, and then, just as we set our wings to drop down on the water
among them, there was a terrible bang, bang, bang, bang! My heart
almost stopped beating. Then how we did fly! When we were far
out over the water where we could see that nothing was near us we
stopped to rest, and there we found only half as many in our flock
as there had been."

"Where were the others?" asked Peter, although he guessed.

"Killed or hurt by those terrible guns," replied Mrs. Quack sadly.
"And that wasn't the worst of it. I told you that when we started
each of us had a mate. Now we found that of those who had escaped,
four had lost their mates. They were heartbroken. When it came
time for us to move on, they wouldn't go. They said that if they