find a way to help her." Then he told Sammy how he had met Mrs.
Quack at the Smiling Pool and how terrible her long journey up from
the sunny Southland had been, and how Mr. Quack had been shot by
a hunter with a terrible gun, and how poor Mrs. Quack was quite
heartbroken, and how she had gone over to the Big River to look
for him but didn't dare go near the places where he might be hiding
if he were still alive and hurt so that he couldn't fly, and how
cruel and terribly unfair were the men with terrible guns, and all
the other things he had learned from Mrs. Quack.

Sammy listened with his head cocked on one side, and for once he
didn't interrupt Peter or try to tease him or make fun of him. In
fact, as Peter looked up at him, he could see that Sammy was very
serious and thoughtful, and that the more he heard of Mrs. Quack's
story the more thoughtful he looked. When Peter finished, Sammy
flew down a little nearer to Peter.

"I beg your pardon for saying your head is empty, Peter," said he.
"Your heart is right, anyway. Of course, there isn't anything you
can do to help Mrs. Quack, but as I told you in the beginning,
what you can't do others can. Now I don't say that I can help Mrs.
Quack, but I can try. I believe I'll do a little thinking myself."

So Sammy Jay in his turn went into a brown study, and Peter watched
him anxiously and a little hopefully.




XIV