"Gomme on--gomme on!"

They were giving little Duckie a warm invitation to play in the water, you
see.

Duckie was right at the edge now and Mother Hen, who was really his
step-mother, made one last appeal, but the ducks one and all called:

"Back, back, back!"

They weren't talking to Duckie. They meant the White Wyandottes. They were
taking his part, you see, though not for one minute did they guess he was
_their_ child, _their very own_.

Duckie appreciated that too. Perhaps Old Father Drake, the head of all the
Duck family, wouldn't let Step-father Wyandotte punish him that night if he
did try the water.

I don't believe Step-father Wyandotte really cared very much. At first he
was a little mad but, after scolding a little, he shouted:

"Through, through, through--I'm through with yooooooouuu."

He wouldn't have anything more to do with little Duckie. I guess he
suspected he was just a step-child after all. So he just grumbled to
himself as he speared a fat tumble-bug with his beak:

"Ur, ur--I don't care!"