The words were no sooner out of Peter's mouth than a faint bang
sounded from way off towards the Big River. Mrs. Quack gave a great
start and half lifted her wings as if to fly. But she thought better
of it, and then Peter saw that she was trembling all over.

"Did you hear that?" she asked in a faint voice.

Peter nodded. "That was a gun, a terrible gun, but it was a long
way from here," said he.

"It was over on the Big River," said Mrs. Quack. "That's why it
isn't safe for me over there. That's why I just had to find some
other place. Oh, dear, the very sound of a gun sets me to shaking
and makes my heart feel as if it would stop beating. Are you sure
I am perfectly safe here?"

"Perfectly," spoke up Jerry Muskrat, who had been listening from
the top of the Big Rock, where he was lunching on a clam, "unless
you are not smart enough to keep out of the clutches of Reddy Fox
or Old Man Coyote or Hooty the Owl or Redtail the Hawk."

"I'm not afraid of THEM," declared Mrs. Quack. "It's those two-legged
creatures with terrible guns I'm afraid of," and she began to swim
about more uneasily than ever.




II