that is what he wants.

"And they often simply break the wings or otherwise terribly hurt
the ones they shoot at, and then leave them to suffer, unable
to take care of themselves. Oh, dear, I'm afraid that is what has
happened to Mr. Quack."

Once more poor Mrs. Quack was quite overcome with her troubles and
sorrows. Peter wished with all his heart that he could do something
to comfort her, but of course he couldn't, so he just sat still and
waited until she could tell him just what did happen to Mr. Quack.




XII

WHAT DID HAPPEN TO MR. QUACK


"When did you last see Mr. Quack?" asked Jerry Muskrat, who had
been listening while Mrs. Quack told Peter Rabbit about her terrible
journey.

"Early yesterday morning," replied Mrs. Quack, the tears once more
filling her eyes. "We had reached the Big River over there, just
six of us out of the big flock that had started from the sunny
Southland. How we got as far as that I don't know. But we did, and
neither Mr. Quack nor I had lost a feather from those terrible guns
that had banged at us all the way up and that had killed so many