THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS By Kenneth Grahame Author Of "The Golden Age, " "Dream Days, " Etc. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE RIVER BANK II. THE OPEN ROAD III. THE WILD WOOD IV. MR. BADGER V. DULCE DOMUM VI. MR. TOAD VII. THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN VIII. TOAD'S ADVENTURES IX. WAYFARERS ALL X. THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF TOAD XI. "LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS CAME HIS TEARS" XII. THE RETURN OF ULYSSES I. THE RIVER BANK The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning hislittle home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders andsteps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dustin his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his blackfur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was moving in the airabove and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his darkand lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on thefloor, said 'Bother!' and 'O blow!' and also 'Hang spring-cleaning!'and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his coat. Something up above was calling him imperiously, and he made forthe steep little tunnel which answered in his case to the gaveledcarriage-drive owned by animals whose residences are nearer to the sunand air. So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged andthen he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped, workingbusily with his little paws and muttering to himself, 'Up we go! Up wego!' till at last, pop! his snout came out into the sunlight, and hefound himself rolling in the warm grass of a great meadow. 'This is fine!' he said to himself. 'This is better than whitewashing!'The sunshine struck hot on his fur, soft breezes caressed his heatedbrow, and after the seclusion of the cellarage he had lived in so longthe carol of happy birds fell on his dulled hearing almost like a shout. Jumping off all his four legs at once, in the joy of living and thedelight of spring without its cleaning, he pursued his way across themeadow till he reached the hedge on the further side. 'Hold up!' said an elderly rabbit at the gap. 'Sixpence for theprivilege of passing by the private road!' He was bowled over in aninstant by the impatient and contemptuous Mole, who trotted along theside of the hedge chaffing the other rabbits as they peeped hurriedlyfrom their holes to see what the row was about. 'Onion-sauce!Onion-sauce!' he remarked jeeringly, and was gone before they couldthink of a thoroughly satisfactory reply. Then they all startedgrumbling at each other. 'How STUPID you are! Why didn't you tellhim----' 'Well, why didn't YOU say----' 'You might have remindedhim----' and so on, in the usual way; but, of course, it was then muchtoo late, as is always the case. It all seemed too good to be true. Hither and thither through themeadows he rambled busily, along the hedgerows, across thecopses, finding everywhere birds building, flowers budding, leavesthrusting--everything happy, and progressive, and occupied. And insteadof having an uneasy conscience pricking him and whispering 'whitewash!'he somehow could only feel how jolly it was to be the only idle dogamong all these busy citizens. After all, the best part of a holidayis perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the otherfellows busy working. He thought his happiness was complete when, as he meandered aimlesslyalong, suddenly he stood by the edge of a full-fed river. Never inhis life had he seen a river before--this sleek, sinuous, full-bodiedanimal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle andleaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shookthemselves free, and were caught and held again. All was a-shake anda-shiver--glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter andbubble. The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side ofthe river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a manwho holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired atlast, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from theheart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea. As he sat on the grass and looked across the river, a dark hole in thebank opposite, just above the water's edge, caught his eye, and dreamilyhe fell to considering what a nice snug dwelling-place it would make foran animal with few wants and fond of a bijou riverside residence, aboveflood level and remote from noise and dust. As he gazed, somethingbright and small seemed to twinkle down in the heart of it, vanished, then twinkled once more like a tiny star. But it could hardly be a starin such an unlikely situation; and it was too glittering and small for aglow-worm. Then, as he looked, it winked at him, and so declared itselfto be an eye; and a small face began gradually to grow up round it, likea frame round a picture. A brown little face, with whiskers. A grave round face, with the same twinkle in its eye that had firstattracted his notice. Small neat ears and thick silky hair. It was the Water Rat! Then the two animals stood and regarded each other cautiously. 'Hullo, Mole!' said the Water Rat. 'Hullo, Rat!' said the Mole. 'Would you like to come over?' enquired the Rat presently. 'Oh, its all very well to TALK, ' said the Mole, rather pettishly, hebeing new to a river and riverside life and its ways. The Rat said nothing, but stooped and unfastened a rope and hauledon it; then lightly stepped into a little boat which the Mole had notobserved. It was painted blue outside and white within, and was just thesize for two animals; and the Mole's whole heart went out to it at once, even though he did not yet fully understand its uses. The Rat sculled smartly across and made fast. Then he held up hisforepaw as the Mole stepped gingerly down. 'Lean on that!' he said. 'Now then, step lively!' and the Mole to his surprise and rapture foundhimself actually seated in the stern of a real boat. 'This has been a wonderful day!' said he, as the Rat shoved off and tookto the sculls again. 'Do you know, I've never been in a boat before inall my life. ' 'What?' cried the Rat, open-mouthed: 'Never been in a--you never--wellI--what have you been doing, then?' 'Is it so nice as all that?' asked the Mole shyly, though he was quiteprepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed thecushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fascinating fittings, andfelt the boat sway lightly under him. 'Nice? It's the ONLY thing, ' said the Water Rat solemnly, as heleant forward for his stroke. 'Believe me, my young friend, there isNOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simplymessing about in boats. Simply messing, ' he went on dreamily:'messing--about--in--boats; messing----' 'Look ahead, Rat!' cried the Mole suddenly. It was too late. The boat struck the bank full tilt. The dreamer, thejoyous oarsman, lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his heels inthe air. '--about in boats--or WITH boats, ' the Rat went on composedly, pickinghimself up with a pleasant laugh. 'In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you getaway, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination orwhether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere atall, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; andwhen you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can doit if you like, but you'd much better not. Look here! If you've reallynothing else on hand this morning, supposing we drop down the rivertogether, and have a long day of it?' The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest witha sigh of full contentment, and leaned back blissfully into the softcushions. 'WHAT a day I'm having!' he said. 'Let us start at once!' 'Hold hard a minute, then!' said the Rat. He looped the painter througha ring in his landing-stage, climbed up into his hole above, and aftera short interval reappeared staggering under a fat, wickerluncheon-basket. 'Shove that under your feet, ' he observed to the Mole, as he passedit down into the boat. Then he untied the painter and took the scullsagain. 'What's inside it?' asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity. 'There's cold chicken inside it, ' replied the Rat briefly;'coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssandwichespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater----' 'O stop, stop, ' cried the Mole in ecstacies: 'This is too much!' 'Do you really think so?' enquired the Rat seriously. 'It's only what Ialways take on these little excursions; and the other animals are alwaystelling me that I'm a mean beast and cut it VERY fine!' The Mole never heard a word he was saying. Absorbed in the new life hewas entering upon, intoxicated with the sparkle, the ripple, the scentsand the sounds and the sunlight, he trailed a paw in the water anddreamed long waking dreams. The Water Rat, like the good little fellowhe was, sculled steadily on and forebore to disturb him. 'I like your clothes awfully, old chap, ' he remarked after some halfan hour or so had passed. 'I'm going to get a black velvet smoking-suitmyself some day, as soon as I can afford it. ' 'I beg your pardon, ' said the Mole, pulling himself together with aneffort. 'You must think me very rude; but all this is so new to me. So--this--is--a--River!' 'THE River, ' corrected the Rat. 'And you really live by the river? What a jolly life!' 'By it and with it and on it and in it, ' said the Rat. 'It's brotherand sister to me, and aunts, and company, and food and drink, and(naturally) washing. It's my world, and I don't want any other. What ithasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worthknowing. Lord! the times we've had together! Whether in winter orsummer, spring or autumn, it's always got its fun and its excitements. When the floods are on in February, and my cellars and basement arebrimming with drink that's no good to me, and the brown water runs by mybest bedroom window; or again when it all drops away and, shows patchesof mud that smells like plum-cake, and the rushes and weed clog thechannels, and I can potter about dry shod over most of the bed of it andfind fresh food to eat, and things careless people have dropped out ofboats!' 'But isn't it a bit dull at times?' the Mole ventured to ask. 'Just youand the river, and no one else to pass a word with?' 'No one else to--well, I mustn't be hard on you, ' said the Rat withforbearance. 'You're new to it, and of course you don't know. The bankis so crowded nowadays that many people are moving away altogether: Ono, it isn't what it used to be, at all. Otters, kingfishers, dabchicks, moorhens, all of them about all day long and always wanting you to DOsomething--as if a fellow had no business of his own to attend to!' 'What lies over THERE' asked the Mole, waving a paw towards a backgroundof woodland that darkly framed the water-meadows on one side of theriver. 'That? O, that's just the Wild Wood, ' said the Rat shortly. 'We don't gothere very much, we river-bankers. ' 'Aren't they--aren't they very NICE people in there?' said the Mole, atrifle nervously. 'W-e-ll, ' replied the Rat, 'let me see. The squirrels are all right. ANDthe rabbits--some of 'em, but rabbits are a mixed lot. And then there'sBadger, of course. He lives right in the heart of it; wouldn't liveanywhere else, either, if you paid him to do it. Dear old Badger! Nobodyinterferes with HIM. They'd better not, ' he added significantly. 'Why, who SHOULD interfere with him?' asked the Mole. 'Well, of course--there--are others, ' explained the Rat in a hesitatingsort of way. 'Weasels--and stoats--and foxes--and so on. They're all right in away--I'm very good friends with them--pass the time of day when we meet, and all that--but they break out sometimes, there's no denying it, andthen--well, you can't really trust them, and that's the fact. ' The Mole knew well that it is quite against animal-etiquette to dwellon possible trouble ahead, or even to allude to it; so he dropped thesubject. 'And beyond the Wild Wood again?' he asked: 'Where it's all blueand dim, and one sees what may be hills or perhaps they mayn't, andsomething like the smoke of towns, or is it only cloud-drift?' 'Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World, ' said the Rat. 'And that'ssomething that doesn't matter, either to you or me. I've never beenthere, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've got any senseat all. Don't ever refer to it again, please. Now then! Here's ourbackwater at last, where we're going to lunch. ' Leaving the main stream, they now passed into what seemed at first sightlike a little land-locked lake. Green turf sloped down to either edge, brown snaky tree-roots gleamed below the surface of the quiet water, while ahead of them the silvery shoulder and foamy tumble of a weir, arm-in-arm with a restless dripping mill-wheel, that held up in itsturn a grey-gabled mill-house, filled the air with a soothing murmurof sound, dull and smothery, yet with little clear voices speaking upcheerfully out of it at intervals. It was so very beautiful that theMole could only hold up both forepaws and gasp, 'O my! O my! O my!' The Rat brought the boat alongside the bank, made her fast, helped thestill awkward Mole safely ashore, and swung out the luncheon-basket. TheMole begged as a favour to be allowed to unpack it all by himself; andthe Rat was very pleased to indulge him, and to sprawl at full length onthe grass and rest, while his excited friend shook out the table-clothand spread it, took out all the mysterious packets one by one andarranged their contents in due order, still gasping, 'O my! O my!' ateach fresh revelation. When all was ready, the Rat said, 'Now, pitchin, old fellow!' and the Mole was indeed very glad to obey, for he hadstarted his spring-cleaning at a very early hour that morning, as peopleWILL do, and had not paused for bite or sup; and he had been through avery great deal since that distant time which now seemed so many daysago. 'What are you looking at?' said the Rat presently, when the edge oftheir hunger was somewhat dulled, and the Mole's eyes were able towander off the table-cloth a little. 'I am looking, ' said the Mole, 'at a streak of bubbles that I seetravelling along the surface of the water. That is a thing that strikesme as funny. ' 'Bubbles? Oho!' said the Rat, and chirruped cheerily in an inviting sortof way. A broad glistening muzzle showed itself above the edge of the bank, andthe Otter hauled himself out and shook the water from his coat. 'Greedy beggars!' he observed, making for the provender. 'Why didn't youinvite me, Ratty?' 'This was an impromptu affair, ' explained the Rat. 'By the way--myfriend Mr. Mole. ' 'Proud, I'm sure, ' said the Otter, and the two animals were friendsforthwith. 'Such a rumpus everywhere!' continued the Otter. 'All the world seemsout on the river to-day. I came up this backwater to try and get amoment's peace, and then stumble upon you fellows!--At least--I begpardon--I don't exactly mean that, you know. ' There was a rustle behind them, proceeding from a hedge wherein lastyear's leaves still clung thick, and a stripy head, with high shouldersbehind it, peered forth on them. 'Come on, old Badger!' shouted the Rat. The Badger trotted forward a pace or two; then grunted, 'H'm! Company, 'and turned his back and disappeared from view. 'That's JUST the sort of fellow he is!' observed the disappointed Rat. 'Simply hates Society! Now we shan't see any more of him to-day. Well, tell us, WHO'S out on the river?' 'Toad's out, for one, ' replied the Otter. 'In his brand-new wager-boat;new togs, new everything!' The two animals looked at each other and laughed. 'Once, it was nothing but sailing, ' said the Rat, 'Then he tired of thatand took to punting. Nothing would please him but to punt all dayand every day, and a nice mess he made of it. Last year it washouse-boating, and we all had to go and stay with him in his house-boat, and pretend we liked it. He was going to spend the rest of his life ina house-boat. It's all the same, whatever he takes up; he gets tired ofit, and starts on something fresh. ' 'Such a good fellow, too, ' remarked the Otter reflectively: 'But nostability--especially in a boat!' From where they sat they could get a glimpse of the main stream acrossthe island that separated them; and just then a wager-boat flashed intoview, the rower--a short, stout figure--splashing badly and rolling agood deal, but working his hardest. The Rat stood up and hailed him, butToad--for it was he--shook his head and settled sternly to his work. 'He'll be out of the boat in a minute if he rolls like that, ' said theRat, sitting down again. 'Of course he will, ' chuckled the Otter. 'Did I ever tell you that goodstory about Toad and the lock-keeper? It happened this way. Toad. .. . ' An errant May-fly swerved unsteadily athwart the current in theintoxicated fashion affected by young bloods of May-flies seeing life. Aswirl of water and a 'cloop!' and the May-fly was visible no more. Neither was the Otter. The Mole looked down. The voice was still in his ears, but the turfwhereon he had sprawled was clearly vacant. Not an Otter to be seen, asfar as the distant horizon. But again there was a streak of bubbles on the surface of the river. The Rat hummed a tune, and the Mole recollected that animal-etiquetteforbade any sort of comment on the sudden disappearance of one's friendsat any moment, for any reason or no reason whatever. 'Well, well, ' said the Rat, 'I suppose we ought to be moving. I wonderwhich of us had better pack the luncheon-basket?' He did not speak as ifhe was frightfully eager for the treat. 'O, please let me, ' said the Mole. So, of course, the Rat let him. Packing the basket was not quite such pleasant work as unpacking' thebasket. It never is. But the Mole was bent on enjoying everything, andalthough just when he had got the basket packed and strapped up tightlyhe saw a plate staring up at him from the grass, and when the job hadbeen done again the Rat pointed out a fork which anybody ought tohave seen, and last of all, behold! the mustard pot, which he had beensitting on without knowing it--still, somehow, the thing got finished atlast, without much loss of temper. The afternoon sun was getting low as the Rat sculled gently homewards ina dreamy mood, murmuring poetry-things over to himself, and not payingmuch attention to Mole. But the Mole was very full of lunch, andself-satisfaction, and pride, and already quite at home in a boat (so hethought) and was getting a bit restless besides: and presently he said, 'Ratty! Please, _I_ want to row, now!' The Rat shook his head with a smile. 'Not yet, my young friend, ' hesaid--'wait till you've had a few lessons. It's not so easy as itlooks. ' The Mole was quiet for a minute or two. But he began to feel more andmore jealous of Rat, sculling so strongly and so easily along, and hispride began to whisper that he could do it every bit as well. He jumpedup and seized the sculls, so suddenly, that the Rat, who was gazing outover the water and saying more poetry-things to himself, was taken bysurprise and fell backwards off his seat with his legs in the air forthe second time, while the triumphant Mole took his place and grabbedthe sculls with entire confidence. 'Stop it, you SILLY ass!' cried the Rat, from the bottom of the boat. 'You can't do it! You'll have us over!' The Mole flung his sculls back with a flourish, and made a great dig atthe water. He missed the surface altogether, his legs flew up abovehis head, and he found himself lying on the top of the prostrate Rat. Greatly alarmed, he made a grab at the side of the boat, and the nextmoment--Sploosh! Over went the boat, and he found himself struggling in the river. O my, how cold the water was, and O, how VERY wet it felt. How it sangin his ears as he went down, down, down! How bright and welcome the sunlooked as he rose to the surface coughing and spluttering! How black washis despair when he felt himself sinking again! Then a firm paw grippedhim by the back of his neck. It was the Rat, and he was evidentlylaughing--the Mole could FEEL him laughing, right down his arm andthrough his paw, and so into his--the Mole's--neck. The Rat got hold of a scull and shoved it under the Mole's arm; then hedid the same by the other side of him and, swimming behind, propelledthe helpless animal to shore, hauled him out, and set him down on thebank, a squashy, pulpy lump of misery. When the Rat had rubbed him down a bit, and wrung some of the wet out ofhim, he said, 'Now, then, old fellow! Trot up and down the towing-pathas hard as you can, till you're warm and dry again, while I dive for theluncheon-basket. ' So the dismal Mole, wet without and ashamed within, trotted about tillhe was fairly dry, while the Rat plunged into the water again, recoveredthe boat, righted her and made her fast, fetched his floatingproperty to shore by degrees, and finally dived successfully for theluncheon-basket and struggled to land with it. When all was ready for a start once more, the Mole, limp and dejected, took his seat in the stern of the boat; and as they set off, he said ina low voice, broken with emotion, 'Ratty, my generous friend! I am verysorry indeed for my foolish and ungrateful conduct. My heart quite failsme when I think how I might have lost that beautiful luncheon-basket. Indeed, I have been a complete ass, and I know it. Will you overlook itthis once and forgive me, and let things go on as before?' 'That's all right, bless you!' responded the Rat cheerily. 'What's alittle wet to a Water Rat? I'm more in the water than out of it mostdays. Don't you think any more about it; and, look here! I really thinkyou had better come and stop with me for a little time. It's very plainand rough, you know--not like Toad's house at all--but you haven't seenthat yet; still, I can make you comfortable. And I'll teach you to row, and to swim, and you'll soon be as handy on the water as any of us. ' The Mole was so touched by his kind manner of speaking that he couldfind no voice to answer him; and he had to brush away a tear or two withthe back of his paw. But the Rat kindly looked in another direction, andpresently the Mole's spirits revived again, and he was even able to givesome straight back-talk to a couple of moorhens who were sniggering toeach other about his bedraggled appearance. When they got home, the Rat made a bright fire in the parlour, andplanted the Mole in an arm-chair in front of it, having fetched downa dressing-gown and slippers for him, and told him river stories tillsupper-time. Very thrilling stories they were, too, to an earth-dwellinganimal like Mole. Stories about weirs, and sudden floods, and leapingpike, and steamers that flung hard bottles--at least bottles werecertainly flung, and FROM steamers, so presumably BY them; and aboutherons, and how particular they were whom they spoke to; and aboutadventures down drains, and night-fishings with Otter, or excursions fara-field with Badger. Supper was a most cheerful meal; but very shortlyafterwards a terribly sleepy Mole had to be escorted upstairs by hisconsiderate host, to the best bedroom, where he soon laid his head onhis pillow in great peace and contentment, knowing that his new-foundfriend the River was lapping the sill of his window. This day was only the first of many similar ones for the emancipatedMole, each of them longer and full of interest as the ripening summermoved onward. He learnt to swim and to row, and entered into the joyof running water; and with his ear to the reed-stems he caught, atintervals, something of what the wind went whispering so constantlyamong them. II. THE OPEN ROAD 'Ratty, ' said the Mole suddenly, one bright summer morning, 'if youplease, I want to ask you a favour. ' The Rat was sitting on the river bank, singing a little song. He hadjust composed it himself, so he was very taken up with it, and would notpay proper attention to Mole or anything else. Since early morning hehad been swimming in the river, in company with his friends the ducks. And when the ducks stood on their heads suddenly, as ducks will, hewould dive down and tickle their necks, just under where their chinswould be if ducks had chins, till they were forced to come to thesurface again in a hurry, spluttering and angry and shaking theirfeathers at him, for it is impossible to say quite ALL you feel whenyour head is under water. At last they implored him to go away andattend to his own affairs and leave them to mind theirs. So the Rat wentaway, and sat on the river bank in the sun, and made up a song aboutthem, which he called 'DUCKS' DITTY. ' All along the backwater, Through the rushes tall, Ducks are a-dabbling, Up tails all! Ducks' tails, drakes' tails, Yellow feet a-quiver, Yellow bills all out of sight Busy in the river! Slushy green undergrowth Where the roach swim-- Here we keep our larder, Cool and full and dim. Everyone for what he likes! _We_ like to be Heads down, tails up, Dabbling free! High in the blue above Swifts whirl and call-- _We_ are down a-dabbling Uptails all! 'I don't know that I think so VERY much of that little song, Rat, 'observed the Mole cautiously. He was no poet himself and didn't care whoknew it; and he had a candid nature. 'Nor don't the ducks neither, ' replied the Rat cheerfully. 'They say, "WHY can't fellows be allowed to do what they like WHEN they like and ASthey like, instead of other fellows sitting on banks and watching themall the time and making remarks and poetry and things about them? WhatNONSENSE it all is!" That's what the ducks say. ' 'So it is, so it is, ' said the Mole, with great heartiness. 'No, it isn't!' cried the Rat indignantly. 'Well then, it isn't, it isn't, ' replied the Mole soothingly. 'But whatI wanted to ask you was, won't you take me to call on Mr. Toad? I'veheard so much about him, and I do so want to make his acquaintance. ' 'Why, certainly, ' said the good-natured Rat, jumping to his feet anddismissing poetry from his mind for the day. 'Get the boat out, andwe'll paddle up there at once. It's never the wrong time to call onToad. Early or late he's always the same fellow. Always good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when you go!' 'He must be a very nice animal, ' observed the Mole, as he got into theboat and took the sculls, while the Rat settled himself comfortably inthe stern. 'He is indeed the best of animals, ' replied Rat. 'So simple, sogood-natured, and so affectionate. Perhaps he's not very clever--wecan't all be geniuses; and it may be that he is both boastful andconceited. But he has got some great qualities, has Toady. ' Rounding a bend in the river, they came in sight of a handsome, dignified old house of mellowed red brick, with well-kept lawns reachingdown to the water's edge. 'There's Toad Hall, ' said the Rat; 'and that creek on the left, wherethe notice-board says, "Private. No landing allowed, " leads to hisboat-house, where we'll leave the boat. The stables are over there tothe right. That's the banqueting-hall you're looking at now--very old, that is. Toad is rather rich, you know, and this is really one of thenicest houses in these parts, though we never admit as much to Toad. ' They glided up the creek, and the Mole slipped his sculls as they passedinto the shadow of a large boat-house. Here they saw many handsomeboats, slung from the cross beams or hauled up on a slip, but none inthe water; and the place had an unused and a deserted air. The Rat looked around him. 'I understand, ' said he. 'Boating is playedout. He's tired of it, and done with it. I wonder what new fad he hastaken up now? Come along and let's look him up. We shall hear all aboutit quite soon enough. ' They disembarked, and strolled across the gay flower-decked lawns insearch of Toad, whom they presently happened upon resting in a wickergarden-chair, with a pre-occupied expression of face, and a large mapspread out on his knees. 'Hooray!' he cried, jumping up on seeing them, 'this is splendid!' Heshook the paws of both of them warmly, never waiting for an introductionto the Mole. 'How KIND of you!' he went on, dancing round them. 'I wasjust going to send a boat down the river for you, Ratty, with strictorders that you were to be fetched up here at once, whatever you weredoing. I want you badly--both of you. Now what will you take? Comeinside and have something! You don't know how lucky it is, your turningup just now!' 'Let's sit quiet a bit, Toady!' said the Rat, throwing himself into aneasy chair, while the Mole took another by the side of him and made somecivil remark about Toad's 'delightful residence. ' 'Finest house on the whole river, ' cried Toad boisterously. 'Or anywhereelse, for that matter, ' he could not help adding. Here the Rat nudged the Mole. Unfortunately the Toad saw him do it, andturned very red. There was a moment's painful silence. Then Toad burstout laughing. 'All right, Ratty, ' he said. 'It's only my way, you know. And it's not such a very bad house, is it? You know you rather like ityourself. Now, look here. Let's be sensible. You are the very animals Iwanted. You've got to help me. It's most important!' 'It's about your rowing, I suppose, ' said the Rat, with an innocent air. 'You're getting on fairly well, though you splash a good bit still. Witha great deal of patience, and any quantity of coaching, you may----' 'O, pooh! boating!' interrupted the Toad, in great disgust. Silly boyishamusement. I've given that up LONG ago. Sheer waste of time, that's whatit is. It makes me downright sorry to see you fellows, who ought toknow better, spending all your energies in that aimless manner. No, I'vediscovered the real thing, the only genuine occupation for a life time. I propose to devote the remainder of mine to it, and can only regret thewasted years that lie behind me, squandered in trivialities. Come withme, dear Ratty, and your amiable friend also, if he will be so verygood, just as far as the stable-yard, and you shall see what you shallsee!' He led the way to the stable-yard accordingly, the Rat following witha most mistrustful expression; and there, drawn out of the coach houseinto the open, they saw a gipsy caravan, shining with newness, painted acanary-yellow picked out with green, and red wheels. 'There you are!' cried the Toad, straddling and expanding himself. 'There's real life for you, embodied in that little cart. The open road, the dusty highway, the heath, the common, the hedgerows, the rollingdowns! Camps, villages, towns, cities! Here to-day, up and off tosomewhere else to-morrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! Thewhole world before you, and a horizon that's always changing! And mind!this is the very finest cart of its sort that was ever built, withoutany exception. Come inside and look at the arrangements. Planned 'em allmyself, I did!' The Mole was tremendously interested and excited, and followed himeagerly up the steps and into the interior of the caravan. The Rat onlysnorted and thrust his hands deep into his pockets, remaining where hewas. It was indeed very compact and comfortable. Little sleeping bunks--alittle table that folded up against the wall--a cooking-stove, lockers, bookshelves, a bird-cage with a bird in it; and pots, pans, jugs andkettles of every size and variety. 'All complete!' said the Toad triumphantly, pulling open a locker. 'Yousee--biscuits, potted lobster, sardines--everything you can possiblywant. Soda-water here--baccy there--letter-paper, bacon, jam, cards anddominoes--you'll find, ' he continued, as they descended the steps again, 'you'll find that nothing what ever has been forgotten, when we make ourstart this afternoon. ' 'I beg your pardon, ' said the Rat slowly, as he chewed a straw, 'butdid I overhear you say something about "WE, " and "START, " and "THISAFTERNOON?"' 'Now, you dear good old Ratty, ' said Toad, imploringly, 'don't begintalking in that stiff and sniffy sort of way, because you know you'veGOT to come. I can't possibly manage without you, so please consider itsettled, and don't argue--it's the one thing I can't stand. You surelydon't mean to stick to your dull fusty old river all your life, and justlive in a hole in a bank, and BOAT? I want to show you the world! I'mgoing to make an ANIMAL of you, my boy!' 'I don't care, ' said the Rat, doggedly. 'I'm not coming, and that'sflat. And I AM going to stick to my old river, AND live in a hole, ANDboat, as I've always done. And what's more, Mole's going to stick me anddo as I do, aren't you, Mole?' 'Of course I am, ' said the Mole, loyally. 'I'll always stick to you, Rat, and what you say is to be--has got to be. All the same, it soundsas if it might have been--well, rather fun, you know!' he added, wistfully. Poor Mole! The Life Adventurous was so new a thing to him, and so thrilling; and this fresh aspect of it was so tempting; and hehad fallen in love at first sight with the canary-coloured cart and allits little fitments. The Rat saw what was passing in his mind, and wavered. He hateddisappointing people, and he was fond of the Mole, and would do almostanything to oblige him. Toad was watching both of them closely. 'Come along in, and have some lunch, ' he said, diplomatically, 'andwe'll talk it over. We needn't decide anything in a hurry. Of course, _I_ don't really care. I only want to give pleasure to you fellows. "Live for others!" That's my motto in life. ' During luncheon--which was excellent, of course, as everything at ToadHall always was--the Toad simply let himself go. Disregarding the Rat, he proceeded to play upon the inexperienced Mole as on a harp. Naturallya voluble animal, and always mastered by his imagination, he painted theprospects of the trip and the joys of the open life and the roadsidein such glowing colours that the Mole could hardly sit in his chair forexcitement. Somehow, it soon seemed taken for granted by all threeof them that the trip was a settled thing; and the Rat, though stillunconvinced in his mind, allowed his good-nature to over-ride hispersonal objections. He could not bear to disappoint his two friends, who were already deep in schemes and anticipations, planning out eachday's separate occupation for several weeks ahead. When they were quite ready, the now triumphant Toad led his companionsto the paddock and set them to capture the old grey horse, who, withouthaving been consulted, and to his own extreme annoyance, had been toldoff by Toad for the dustiest job in this dusty expedition. He franklypreferred the paddock, and took a deal of catching. Meantime Toad packedthe lockers still tighter with necessaries, and hung nosebags, nets ofonions, bundles of hay, and baskets from the bottom of the cart. At lastthe horse was caught and harnessed, and they set off, all talking atonce, each animal either trudging by the side of the cart or sitting onthe shaft, as the humour took him. It was a golden afternoon. Thesmell of the dust they kicked up was rich and satisfying; out of thickorchards on either side the road, birds called and whistled to themcheerily; good-natured wayfarers, passing them, gave them 'Good-day, 'or stopped to say nice things about their beautiful cart; and rabbits, sitting at their front doors in the hedgerows, held up their fore-paws, and said, 'O my! O my! O my!' Late in the evening, tired and happy and miles from home, they drewup on a remote common far from habitations, turned the horse loose tograze, and ate their simple supper sitting on the grass by the side ofthe cart. Toad talked big about all he was going to do in the days tocome, while stars grew fuller and larger all around them, and a yellowmoon, appearing suddenly and silently from nowhere in particular, cameto keep them company and listen to their talk. At last they turned in totheir little bunks in the cart; and Toad, kicking out his legs, sleepilysaid, 'Well, good night, you fellows! This is the real life for agentleman! Talk about your old river!' 'I DON'T talk about my river, ' replied the patient Rat. 'You KNOW Idon't, Toad. But I THINK about it, ' he added pathetically, in a lowertone: 'I think about it--all the time!' The Mole reached out from under his blanket, felt for the Rat's paw inthe darkness, and gave it a squeeze. 'I'll do whatever you like, Ratty, 'he whispered. 'Shall we run away to-morrow morning, quite early--VERYearly--and go back to our dear old hole on the river?' 'No, no, we'll see it out, ' whispered back the Rat. 'Thanks awfully, butI ought to stick by Toad till this trip is ended. It wouldn't be safefor him to be left to himself. It won't take very long. His fads neverdo. Good night!' The end was indeed nearer than even the Rat suspected. After so much open air and excitement the Toad slept very soundly, andno amount of shaking could rouse him out of bed next morning. So theMole and Rat turned to, quietly and manfully, and while the Rat saw tothe horse, and lit a fire, and cleaned last night's cups and platters, and got things ready for breakfast, the Mole trudged off to the nearestvillage, a long way off, for milk and eggs and various necessaries theToad had, of course, forgotten to provide. The hard work had all beendone, and the two animals were resting, thoroughly exhausted, bythe time Toad appeared on the scene, fresh and gay, remarking what apleasant easy life it was they were all leading now, after the cares andworries and fatigues of housekeeping at home. They had a pleasant ramble that day over grassy downs and along narrowby-lanes, and camped as before, on a common, only this time thetwo guests took care that Toad should do his fair share of work. Inconsequence, when the time came for starting next morning, Toad was byno means so rapturous about the simplicity of the primitive life, andindeed attempted to resume his place in his bunk, whence he was hauledby force. Their way lay, as before, across country by narrow lanes, andit was not till the afternoon that they came out on the high-road, theirfirst high-road; and there disaster, fleet and unforeseen, sprang outon them--disaster momentous indeed to their expedition, but simplyoverwhelming in its effect on the after-career of Toad. They were strolling along the high-road easily, the Mole by the horse'shead, talking to him, since the horse had complained that he was beingfrightfully left out of it, and nobody considered him in the least;the Toad and the Water Rat walking behind the cart talking together--atleast Toad was talking, and Rat was saying at intervals, 'Yes, precisely; and what did YOU say to HIM?'--and thinking all the timeof something very different, when far behind them they heard a faintwarning hum; like the drone of a distant bee. Glancing back, they saw asmall cloud of dust, with a dark centre of energy, advancing on them atincredible speed, while from out the dust a faint 'Poop-poop!' wailedlike an uneasy animal in pain. Hardly regarding it, they turned toresume their conversation, when in an instant (as it seemed) thepeaceful scene was changed, and with a blast of wind and a whirl ofsound that made them jump for the nearest ditch, It was on them! The'Poop-poop' rang with a brazen shout in their ears, they had a moment'sglimpse of an interior of glittering plate-glass and rich morocco, andthe magnificent motor-car, immense, breath-snatching, passionate, withits pilot tense and hugging his wheel, possessed all earth and air forthe fraction of a second, flung an enveloping cloud of dust that blindedand enwrapped them utterly, and then dwindled to a speck in the fardistance, changed back into a droning bee once more. The old grey horse, dreaming, as he plodded along, of his quiet paddock, in a new raw situation such as this simply abandoned himself to hisnatural emotions. Rearing, plunging, backing steadily, in spite ofall the Mole's efforts at his head, and all the Mole's lively languagedirected at his better feelings, he drove the cart backwards towards thedeep ditch at the side of the road. It wavered an instant--then therewas a heartrending crash--and the canary-coloured cart, their pride andtheir joy, lay on its side in the ditch, an irredeemable wreck. The Rat danced up and down in the road, simply transported with passion. 'You villains!' he shouted, shaking both fists, 'You scoundrels, youhighwaymen, you--you--roadhogs!--I'll have the law of you! I'll reportyou! I'll take you through all the Courts!' His home-sickness had quiteslipped away from him, and for the moment he was the skipper of thecanary-coloured vessel driven on a shoal by the reckless jockeying ofrival mariners, and he was trying to recollect all the fine and bitingthings he used to say to masters of steam-launches when their wash, asthey drove too near the bank, used to flood his parlour-carpet at home. Toad sat straight down in the middle of the dusty road, his legsstretched out before him, and stared fixedly in the direction of thedisappearing motor-car. He breathed short, his face wore a placidsatisfied expression, and at intervals he faintly murmured 'Poop-poop!' The Mole was busy trying to quiet the horse, which he succeeded indoing after a time. Then he went to look at the cart, on its side in theditch. It was indeed a sorry sight. Panels and windows smashed, axleshopelessly bent, one wheel off, sardine-tins scattered over the wideworld, and the bird in the bird-cage sobbing pitifully and calling to belet out. The Rat came to help him, but their united efforts were not sufficientto right the cart. 'Hi! Toad!' they cried. 'Come and bear a hand, can'tyou!' The Toad never answered a word, or budged from his seat in the road; sothey went to see what was the matter with him. They found him in a sortof a trance, a happy smile on his face, his eyes still fixed on thedusty wake of their destroyer. At intervals he was still heard to murmur'Poop-poop!' The Rat shook him by the shoulder. 'Are you coming to help us, Toad?' hedemanded sternly. 'Glorious, stirring sight!' murmured Toad, never offering to move. 'Thepoetry of motion! The REAL way to travel! The ONLY way to travel! Hereto-day--in next week to-morrow! Villages skipped, towns and citiesjumped--always somebody else's horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! Omy!' 'O STOP being an ass, Toad!' cried the Mole despairingly. 'And to think I never KNEW!' went on the Toad in a dreamy monotone. 'Allthose wasted years that lie behind me, I never knew, never even DREAMT!But NOW--but now that I know, now that I fully realise! O what a flowerytrack lies spread before me, henceforth! What dust-clouds shall springup behind me as I speed on my reckless way! What carts I shall flingcarelessly into the ditch in the wake of my magnificent onset! Horridlittle carts--common carts--canary-coloured carts!' 'What are we to do with him?' asked the Mole of the Water Rat. 'Nothing at all, ' replied the Rat firmly. 'Because there is reallynothing to be done. You see, I know him from of old. He is nowpossessed. He has got a new craze, and it always takes him that way, inits first stage. He'll continue like that for days now, like an animalwalking in a happy dream, quite useless for all practical purposes. Never mind him. Let's go and see what there is to be done about thecart. ' A careful inspection showed them that, even if they succeeded inrighting it by themselves, the cart would travel no longer. The axleswere in a hopeless state, and the missing wheel was shattered intopieces. The Rat knotted the horse's reins over his back and took him by thehead, carrying the bird cage and its hysterical occupant in the otherhand. 'Come on!' he said grimly to the Mole. 'It's five or six miles tothe nearest town, and we shall just have to walk it. The sooner we makea start the better. ' 'But what about Toad?' asked the Mole anxiously, as they set offtogether. 'We can't leave him here, sitting in the middle of the roadby himself, in the distracted state he's in! It's not safe. Supposinganother Thing were to come along?' 'O, BOTHER Toad, ' said the Rat savagely; 'I've done with him!' They had not proceeded very far on their way, however, when there was apattering of feet behind them, and Toad caught them up and thrust a pawinside the elbow of each of them; still breathing short and staring intovacancy. 'Now, look here, Toad!' said the Rat sharply: 'as soon as we get to thetown, you'll have to go straight to the police-station, and see if theyknow anything about that motor-car and who it belongs to, and lodge acomplaint against it. And then you'll have to go to a blacksmith's or awheelwright's and arrange for the cart to be fetched and mended andput to rights. It'll take time, but it's not quite a hopeless smash. Meanwhile, the Mole and I will go to an inn and find comfortable roomswhere we can stay till the cart's ready, and till your nerves haverecovered their shock. ' 'Police-station! Complaint!'murmured Toad dreamily. 'Me COMPLAIN of thatbeautiful, that heavenly vision that has been vouchsafed me! MEND THECART! I've done with carts for ever. I never want to see the cart, or tohear of it, again. O, Ratty! You can't think how obliged I am to you forconsenting to come on this trip! I wouldn't have gone without you, and then I might never have seen that--that swan, that sunbeam, thatthunderbolt! I might never have heard that entrancing sound, or smeltthat bewitching smell! I owe it all to you, my best of friends!' The Rat turned from him in despair. 'You see what it is?' he said to theMole, addressing him across Toad's head: 'He's quite hopeless. I giveit up--when we get to the town we'll go to the railway station, andwith luck we may pick up a train there that'll get us back to riverbankto-night. And if ever you catch me going a-pleasuring with thisprovoking animal again!' He snorted, and during the rest of that weary trudge addressed hisremarks exclusively to Mole. On reaching the town they went straight to the station and depositedToad in the second-class waiting-room, giving a porter twopence to keepa strict eye on him. They then left the horse at an inn stable, and gavewhat directions they could about the cart and its contents. Eventually, a slow train having landed them at a station not very far from ToadHall, they escorted the spell-bound, sleep-walking Toad to his door, puthim inside it, and instructed his housekeeper to feed him, undress him, and put him to bed. Then they got out their boat from the boat-house, sculled down the river home, and at a very late hour sat down tosupper in their own cosy riverside parlour, to the Rat's great joy andcontentment. The following evening the Mole, who had risen late and taken things veryeasy all day, was sitting on the bank fishing, when the Rat, who hadbeen looking up his friends and gossiping, came strolling along tofind him. 'Heard the news?' he said. 'There's nothing else being talkedabout, all along the river bank. Toad went up to Town by an early trainthis morning. And he has ordered a large and very expensive motor-car. ' III. THE WILD WOOD The Mole had long wanted to make the acquaintance of the Badger. Heseemed, by all accounts, to be such an important personage and, thoughrarely visible, to make his unseen influence felt by everybody aboutthe place. But whenever the Mole mentioned his wish to the Water Rathe always found himself put off. 'It's all right, ' the Rat would say. 'Badger'll turn up some day or other--he's always turning up--and thenI'll introduce you. The best of fellows! But you must not only take himAS you find him, but WHEN you find him. ' 'Couldn't you ask him here dinner or something?' said the Mole. 'He wouldn't come, ' replied the Rat simply. 'Badger hates Society, andinvitations, and dinner, and all that sort of thing. ' 'Well, then, supposing we go and call on HIM?' suggested the Mole. 'O, I'm sure he wouldn't like that at ALL, ' said the Rat, quite alarmed. 'He's so very shy, he'd be sure to be offended. I've never even venturedto call on him at his own home myself, though I know him so well. Besides, we can't. It's quite out of the question, because he lives inthe very middle of the Wild Wood. ' 'Well, supposing he does, ' said the Mole. 'You told me the Wild Wood wasall right, you know. ' 'O, I know, I know, so it is, ' replied the Rat evasively. 'But I thinkwe won't go there just now. Not JUST yet. It's a long way, and hewouldn't be at home at this time of year anyhow, and he'll be comingalong some day, if you'll wait quietly. ' The Mole had to be content with this. But the Badger never came along, and every day brought its amusements, and it was not till summer waslong over, and cold and frost and miry ways kept them much indoors, andthe swollen river raced past outside their windows with a speed thatmocked at boating of any sort or kind, that he found his thoughtsdwelling again with much persistence on the solitary grey Badger, wholived his own life by himself, in his hole in the middle of the WildWood. In the winter time the Rat slept a great deal, retiring early and risinglate. During his short day he sometimes scribbled poetry or did othersmall domestic jobs about the house; and, of course, there were alwaysanimals dropping in for a chat, and consequently there was a good dealof story-telling and comparing notes on the past summer and all itsdoings. Such a rich chapter it had been, when one came to look back on it all!With illustrations so numerous and so very highly coloured! The pageantof the river bank had marched steadily along, unfolding itself inscene-pictures that succeeded each other in stately procession. Purpleloosestrife arrived early, shaking luxuriant tangled locks along theedge of the mirror whence its own face laughed back at it. Willow-herb, tender and wistful, like a pink sunset cloud, was not slow to follow. Comfrey, the purple hand-in-hand with the white, crept forth to take itsplace in the line; and at last one morning the diffident and delayingdog-rose stepped delicately on the stage, and one knew, as ifstring-music had announced it in stately chords that strayed into agavotte, that June at last was here. One member of the company was stillawaited; the shepherd-boy for the nymphs to woo, the knight for whom theladies waited at the window, the prince that was to kiss the sleepingsummer back to life and love. But when meadow-sweet, debonair andodorous in amber jerkin, moved graciously to his place in the group, then the play was ready to begin. And what a play it had been! Drowsy animals, snug in their holeswhile wind and rain were battering at their doors, recalled stillkeen mornings, an hour before sunrise, when the white mist, as yetundispersed, clung closely along the surface of the water; then theshock of the early plunge, the scamper along the bank, and the radianttransformation of earth, air, and water, when suddenly the sun was withthem again, and grey was gold and colour was born and sprang out of theearth once more. They recalled the languorous siesta of hot mid-day, deep in green undergrowth, the sun striking through in tiny goldenshafts and spots; the boating and bathing of the afternoon, the ramblesalong dusty lanes and through yellow cornfields; and the long, coolevening at last, when so many threads were gathered up, so manyfriendships rounded, and so many adventures planned for the morrow. There was plenty to talk about on those short winter days when theanimals found themselves round the fire; still, the Mole had a good dealof spare time on his hands, and so one afternoon, when the Rat in hisarm-chair before the blaze was alternately dozing and trying over rhymesthat wouldn't fit, he formed the resolution to go out by himself andexplore the Wild Wood, and perhaps strike up an acquaintance with Mr. Badger. It was a cold still afternoon with a hard steely sky overhead, when heslipped out of the warm parlour into the open air. The country lay bareand entirely leafless around him, and he thought that he had never seenso far and so intimately into the insides of things as on that winterday when Nature was deep in her annual slumber and seemed to have kickedthe clothes off. Copses, dells, quarries and all hidden places, whichhad been mysterious mines for exploration in leafy summer, now exposedthemselves and their secrets pathetically, and seemed to ask him tooverlook their shabby poverty for a while, till they could riot in richmasquerade as before, and trick and entice him with the old deceptions. It was pitiful in a way, and yet cheering--even exhilarating. He wasglad that he liked the country undecorated, hard, and stripped of itsfinery. He had got down to the bare bones of it, and they were fineand strong and simple. He did not want the warm clover and the play ofseeding grasses; the screens of quickset, the billowy drapery of beechand elm seemed best away; and with great cheerfulness of spirithe pushed on towards the Wild Wood, which lay before him low andthreatening, like a black reef in some still southern sea. There was nothing to alarm him at first entry. Twigs crackled under hisfeet, logs tripped him, funguses on stumps resembled caricatures, andstartled him for the moment by their likeness to something familiarand far away; but that was all fun, and exciting. It led him on, and hepenetrated to where the light was less, and trees crouched nearer andnearer, and holes made ugly mouths at him on either side. Everything was very still now. The dusk advanced on him steadily, rapidly, gathering in behind and before; and the light seemed to bedraining away like flood-water. Then the faces began. It was over his shoulder, and indistinctly, that he first thought he sawa face; a little evil wedge-shaped face, looking out at him from a hole. When he turned and confronted it, the thing had vanished. He quickened his pace, telling himself cheerfully not to begin imaginingthings, or there would be simply no end to it. He passed another hole, and another, and another; and then--yes!--no!--yes! certainly a littlenarrow face, with hard eyes, had flashed up for an instant from a hole, and was gone. He hesitated--braced himself up for an effort and strodeon. Then suddenly, and as if it had been so all the time, every hole, far and near, and there were hundreds of them, seemed to possess itsface, coming and going rapidly, all fixing on him glances of malice andhatred: all hard-eyed and evil and sharp. If he could only get away from the holes in the banks, he thought, there would be no more faces. He swung off the path and plunged into theuntrodden places of the wood. Then the whistling began. Very faint and shrill it was, and far behind him, when first he heardit; but somehow it made him hurry forward. Then, still very faint andshrill, it sounded far ahead of him, and made him hesitate and want togo back. As he halted in indecision it broke out on either side, andseemed to be caught up and passed on throughout the whole length of thewood to its farthest limit. They were up and alert and ready, evidently, whoever they were! And he--he was alone, and unarmed, and far from anyhelp; and the night was closing in. Then the pattering began. He thought it was only falling leaves at first, so slight and delicatewas the sound of it. Then as it grew it took a regular rhythm, and heknew it for nothing else but the pat-pat-pat of little feet still a verylong way off. Was it in front or behind? It seemed to be first one, andthen the other, then both. It grew and it multiplied, till from everyquarter as he listened anxiously, leaning this way and that, it seemedto be closing in on him. As he stood still to hearken, a rabbit camerunning hard towards him through the trees. He waited, expecting it toslacken pace, or to swerve from him into a different course. Instead, the animal almost brushed him as it dashed past, his face set and hard, his eyes staring. 'Get out of this, you fool, get out!' the Mole heardhim mutter as he swung round a stump and disappeared down a friendlyburrow. The pattering increased till it sounded like sudden hail on the dryleaf-carpet spread around him. The whole wood seemed running now, running hard, hunting, chasing, closing in round something or--somebody?In panic, he began to run too, aimlessly, he knew not whither. He ranup against things, he fell over things and into things, he darted underthings and dodged round things. At last he took refuge in the deep darkhollow of an old beech tree, which offered shelter, concealment--perhapseven safety, but who could tell? Anyhow, he was too tired to run anyfurther, and could only snuggle down into the dry leaves which haddrifted into the hollow and hope he was safe for a time. And as he laythere panting and trembling, and listened to the whistlings and thepatterings outside, he knew it at last, in all its fullness, that dreadthing which other little dwellers in field and hedgerow had encounteredhere, and known as their darkest moment--that thing which the Rat hadvainly tried to shield him from--the Terror of the Wild Wood! Meantime the Rat, warm and comfortable, dozed by his fireside. His paperof half-finished verses slipped from his knee, his head fell back, hismouth opened, and he wandered by the verdant banks of dream-rivers. Thena coal slipped, the fire crackled and sent up a spurt of flame, and hewoke with a start. Remembering what he had been engaged upon, he reacheddown to the floor for his verses, pored over them for a minute, andthen looked round for the Mole to ask him if he knew a good rhyme forsomething or other. But the Mole was not there. He listened for a time. The house seemed very quiet. Then he called 'Moly!' several times, and, receiving no answer, got upand went out into the hall. The Mole's cap was missing from its accustomed peg. His goloshes, whichalways lay by the umbrella-stand, were also gone. The Rat left the house, and carefully examined the muddy surface of theground outside, hoping to find the Mole's tracks. There they were, sure enough. The goloshes were new, just bought for the winter, and thepimples on their soles were fresh and sharp. He could see the imprintsof them in the mud, running along straight and purposeful, leadingdirect to the Wild Wood. The Rat looked very grave, and stood in deep thought for a minute ortwo. Then he re-entered the house, strapped a belt round his waist, shoved a brace of pistols into it, took up a stout cudgel that stood ina corner of the hall, and set off for the Wild Wood at a smart pace. It was already getting towards dusk when he reached the first fringe oftrees and plunged without hesitation into the wood, looking anxiouslyon either side for any sign of his friend. Here and there wicked littlefaces popped out of holes, but vanished immediately at sight of thevalorous animal, his pistols, and the great ugly cudgel in his grasp;and the whistling and pattering, which he had heard quite plainly on hisfirst entry, died away and ceased, and all was very still. He made hisway manfully through the length of the wood, to its furthest edge; then, forsaking all paths, he set himself to traverse it, laboriously workingover the whole ground, and all the time calling out cheerfully, 'Moly, Moly, Moly! Where are you? It's me--it's old Rat!' He had patiently hunted through the wood for an hour or more, when atlast to his joy he heard a little answering cry. Guiding himself by thesound, he made his way through the gathering darkness to the foot ofan old beech tree, with a hole in it, and from out of the hole came afeeble voice, saying 'Ratty! Is that really you?' The Rat crept into the hollow, and there he found the Mole, exhaustedand still trembling. 'O Rat!' he cried, 'I've been so frightened, youcan't think!' 'O, I quite understand, ' said the Rat soothingly. 'You shouldn't reallyhave gone and done it, Mole. I did my best to keep you from it. Weriver-bankers, we hardly ever come here by ourselves. If we have tocome, we come in couples, at least; then we're generally all right. Besides, there are a hundred things one has to know, which we understandall about and you don't, as yet. I mean passwords, and signs, andsayings which have power and effect, and plants you carry in yourpocket, and verses you repeat, and dodges and tricks you practise; allsimple enough when you know them, but they've got to be known if you'resmall, or you'll find yourself in trouble. Of course if you were Badgeror Otter, it would be quite another matter. ' 'Surely the brave Mr. Toad wouldn't mind coming here by himself, wouldhe?' inquired the Mole. 'Old Toad?' said the Rat, laughing heartily. 'He wouldn't show his facehere alone, not for a whole hatful of golden guineas, Toad wouldn't. ' The Mole was greatly cheered by the sound of the Rat's carelesslaughter, as well as by the sight of his stick and his gleaming pistols, and he stopped shivering and began to feel bolder and more himselfagain. 'Now then, ' said the Rat presently, 'we really must pull ourselvestogether and make a start for home while there's still a little lightleft. It will never do to spend the night here, you understand. Toocold, for one thing. ' 'Dear Ratty, ' said the poor Mole, 'I'm dreadfully sorry, but I'm simplydead beat and that's a solid fact. You MUST let me rest here a whilelonger, and get my strength back, if I'm to get home at all. ' 'O, all right, ' said the good-natured Rat, 'rest away. It's prettynearly pitch dark now, anyhow; and there ought to be a bit of a moonlater. ' So the Mole got well into the dry leaves and stretched himself out, andpresently dropped off into sleep, though of a broken and troubled sort;while the Rat covered himself up, too, as best he might, for warmth, andlay patiently waiting, with a pistol in his paw. When at last the Mole woke up, much refreshed and in his usual spirits, the Rat said, 'Now then! I'll just take a look outside and see ifeverything's quiet, and then we really must be off. ' He went to the entrance of their retreat and put his head out. Thenthe Mole heard him saying quietly to himself, 'Hullo! hullo!here--is--a--go!' 'What's up, Ratty?' asked the Mole. 'SNOW is up, ' replied the Rat briefly; 'or rather, DOWN. It's snowinghard. ' The Mole came and crouched beside him, and, looking out, saw the woodthat had been so dreadful to him in quite a changed aspect. Holes, hollows, pools, pitfalls, and other black menaces to the wayfarerwere vanishing fast, and a gleaming carpet of faery was springing upeverywhere, that looked too delicate to be trodden upon by rough feet. A fine powder filled the air and caressed the cheek with a tingle in itstouch, and the black boles of the trees showed up in a light that seemedto come from below. 'Well, well, it can't be helped, ' said the Rat, after pondering. 'Wemust make a start, and take our chance, I suppose. The worst of it is, Idon't exactly know where we are. And now this snow makes everything lookso very different. ' It did indeed. The Mole would not have known that it was the samewood. However, they set out bravely, and took the line that seemedmost promising, holding on to each other and pretending with invinciblecheerfulness that they recognized an old friend in every fresh tree thatgrimly and silently greeted them, or saw openings, gaps, or paths witha familiar turn in them, in the monotony of white space and blacktree-trunks that refused to vary. An hour or two later--they had lost all count of time--they pulledup, dispirited, weary, and hopelessly at sea, and sat down on a fallentree-trunk to recover their breath and consider what was to be done. They were aching with fatigue and bruised with tumbles; they had falleninto several holes and got wet through; the snow was getting so deepthat they could hardly drag their little legs through it, and the treeswere thicker and more like each other than ever. There seemed to be noend to this wood, and no beginning, and no difference in it, and, worstof all, no way out. 'We can't sit here very long, ' said the Rat. 'We shall have to makeanother push for it, and do something or other. The cold is tooawful for anything, and the snow will soon be too deep for us to wadethrough. ' He peered about him and considered. 'Look here, ' he went on, 'this is what occurs to me. There's a sort of dell down here in front ofus, where the ground seems all hilly and humpy and hummocky. We'll makeour way down into that, and try and find some sort of shelter, a caveor hole with a dry floor to it, out of the snow and the wind, and therewe'll have a good rest before we try again, for we're both of us prettydead beat. Besides, the snow may leave off, or something may turn up. ' So once more they got on their feet, and struggled down into the dell, where they hunted about for a cave or some corner that was dry anda protection from the keen wind and the whirling snow. They wereinvestigating one of the hummocky bits the Rat had spoken of, whensuddenly the Mole tripped up and fell forward on his face with a squeal. 'O my leg!' he cried. 'O my poor shin!' and he sat up on the snow andnursed his leg in both his front paws. 'Poor old Mole!' said the Rat kindly. 'You don't seem to be having much luck to-day, do you? Let's have a lookat the leg. Yes, ' he went on, going down on his knees to look, 'you'vecut your shin, sure enough. Wait till I get at my handkerchief, and I'lltie it up for you. ' 'I must have tripped over a hidden branch or a stump, ' said the Molemiserably. 'O, my! O, my!' 'It's a very clean cut, ' said the Rat, examining it again attentively. 'That was never done by a branch or a stump. Looks as if it was madeby a sharp edge of something in metal. Funny!' He pondered awhile, andexamined the humps and slopes that surrounded them. 'Well, never mind what done it, ' said the Mole, forgetting his grammarin his pain. 'It hurts just the same, whatever done it. ' But the Rat, after carefully tying up the leg with his handkerchief, hadleft him and was busy scraping in the snow. He scratched and shovelledand explored, all four legs working busily, while the Mole waitedimpatiently, remarking at intervals, 'O, COME on, Rat!' Suddenly the Rat cried 'Hooray!' and then 'Hooray-oo-ray-oo-ray-oo-ray!'and fell to executing a feeble jig in the snow. 'What HAVE you found, Ratty?' asked the Mole, still nursing his leg. 'Come and see!' said the delighted Rat, as he jigged on. The Mole hobbled up to the spot and had a good look. 'Well, ' he said at last, slowly, 'I SEE it right enough. Seen the samesort of thing before, lots of times. Familiar object, I call it. Adoor-scraper! Well, what of it? Why dance jigs around a door-scraper?' 'But don't you see what it MEANS, you--you dull-witted animal?' criedthe Rat impatiently. 'Of course I see what it means, ' replied the Mole. 'It simply means thatsome VERY careless and forgetful person has left his door-scraper lyingabout in the middle of the Wild Wood, JUST where it's SURE to tripEVERYBODY up. Very thoughtless of him, I call it. When I get homeI shall go and complain about it to--to somebody or other, see if Idon't!' 'O, dear! O, dear!' cried the Rat, in despair at his obtuseness. 'Here, stop arguing and come and scrape!' And he set to work again and made thesnow fly in all directions around him. After some further toil his efforts were rewarded, and a very shabbydoor-mat lay exposed to view. 'There, what did I tell you?' exclaimed the Rat in great triumph. 'Absolutely nothing whatever, ' replied the Mole, with perfecttruthfulness. 'Well now, ' he went on, 'you seem to have found anotherpiece of domestic litter, done for and thrown away, and I suppose you'reperfectly happy. Better go ahead and dance your jig round that if you'vegot to, and get it over, and then perhaps we can go on and not wasteany more time over rubbish-heaps. Can we EAT a doormat? or sleep under adoor-mat? Or sit on a door-mat and sledge home over the snow on it, youexasperating rodent?' 'Do--you--mean--to--say, ' cried the excited Rat, 'that this door-matdoesn't TELL you anything?' 'Really, Rat, ' said the Mole, quite pettishly, 'I think we'd had enoughof this folly. Who ever heard of a door-mat TELLING anyone anything?They simply don't do it. They are not that sort at all. Door-mats knowtheir place. ' 'Now look here, you--you thick-headed beast, ' replied the Rat, reallyangry, 'this must stop. Not another word, but scrape--scrape and scratchand dig and hunt round, especially on the sides of the hummocks, if youwant to sleep dry and warm to-night, for it's our last chance!' The Rat attacked a snow-bank beside them with ardour, probing withhis cudgel everywhere and then digging with fury; and the Mole scrapedbusily too, more to oblige the Rat than for any other reason, for hisopinion was that his friend was getting light-headed. Some ten minutes' hard work, and the point of the Rat's cudgel strucksomething that sounded hollow. He worked till he could get a paw throughand feel; then called the Mole to come and help him. Hard at it went thetwo animals, till at last the result of their labours stood full in viewof the astonished and hitherto incredulous Mole. In the side of what had seemed to be a snow-bank stood a solid-lookinglittle door, painted a dark green. An iron bell-pull hung by the side, and below it, on a small brass plate, neatly engraved in square capitalletters, they could read by the aid of moonlight MR. BADGER. The Mole fell backwards on the snow from sheer surprise and delight. 'Rat!' he cried in penitence, 'you're a wonder! A real wonder, that'swhat you are. I see it all now! You argued it out, step by step, in thatwise head of yours, from the very moment that I fell and cut my shin, and you looked at the cut, and at once your majestic mind said toitself, "Door-scraper!" And then you turned to and found the verydoor-scraper that done it! Did you stop there? No. Some people wouldhave been quite satisfied; but not you. Your intellect went on working. "Let me only just find a door-mat, " says you to yourself, "and my theoryis proved!" And of course you found your door-mat. You're so clever, Ibelieve you could find anything you liked. "Now, " says you, "that doorexists, as plain as if I saw it. There's nothing else remains to be donebut to find it!" Well, I've read about that sort of thing in books, butI've never come across it before in real life. You ought to go whereyou'll be properly appreciated. You're simply wasted here, among usfellows. If I only had your head, Ratty----' 'But as you haven't, ' interrupted the Rat, rather unkindly, 'I supposeyou're going to sit on the snow all night and TALK Get up at once andhang on to that bell-pull you see there, and ring hard, as hard as youcan, while I hammer!' While the Rat attacked the door with his stick, the Mole sprang upat the bell-pull, clutched it and swung there, both feet well offthe ground, and from quite a long way off they could faintly hear adeep-toned bell respond. IV. MR. BADGER THEY waited patiently for what seemed a very long time, stamping inthe snow to keep their feet warm. At last they heard the sound of slowshuffling footsteps approaching the door from the inside. It seemed, asthe Mole remarked to the Rat, like some one walking in carpet slippersthat were too large for him and down at heel; which was intelligent ofMole, because that was exactly what it was. There was the noise of a bolt shot back, and the door opened a fewinches, enough to show a long snout and a pair of sleepy blinking eyes. 'Now, the VERY next time this happens, ' said a gruff and suspiciousvoice, 'I shall be exceedingly angry. Who is it THIS time, disturbingpeople on such a night? Speak up!' 'Oh, Badger, ' cried the Rat, 'let us in, please. It's me, Rat, and myfriend Mole, and we've lost our way in the snow. ' 'What, Ratty, my dear little man!' exclaimed the Badger, in quite adifferent voice. 'Come along in, both of you, at once. Why, you must beperished. Well I never! Lost in the snow! And in the Wild Wood, too, andat this time of night! But come in with you. ' The two animals tumbled over each other in their eagerness to getinside, and heard the door shut behind them with great joy and relief. The Badger, who wore a long dressing-gown, and whose slippers wereindeed very down at heel, carried a flat candlestick in his paw and hadprobably been on his way to bed when their summons sounded. He lookedkindly down on them and patted both their heads. 'This is not the sortof night for small animals to be out, ' he said paternally. 'I'm afraidyou've been up to some of your pranks again, Ratty. But come along;come into the kitchen. There's a first-rate fire there, and supper andeverything. ' He shuffled on in front of them, carrying the light, and they followedhim, nudging each other in an anticipating sort of way, down a long, gloomy, and, to tell the truth, decidedly shabby passage, into a sort ofa central hall; out of which they could dimly see other long tunnel-likepassages branching, passages mysterious and without apparent end. Butthere were doors in the hall as well--stout oaken comfortable-lookingdoors. One of these the Badger flung open, and at once they foundthemselves in all the glow and warmth of a large fire-lit kitchen. The floor was well-worn red brick, and on the wide hearth burnt a fireof logs, between two attractive chimney-corners tucked away in the wall, well out of any suspicion of draught. A couple of high-backed settles, facing each other on either side of the fire, gave further sittingaccommodations for the sociably disposed. In the middle of the roomstood a long table of plain boards placed on trestles, with benches downeach side. At one end of it, where an arm-chair stood pushed back, were spread the remains of the Badger's plain but ample supper. Rows ofspotless plates winked from the shelves of the dresser at the far endof the room, and from the rafters overhead hung hams, bundles of driedherbs, nets of onions, and baskets of eggs. It seemed a place whereheroes could fitly feast after victory, where weary harvesters couldline up in scores along the table and keep their Harvest Home with mirthand song, or where two or three friends of simple tastes could sit aboutas they pleased and eat and smoke and talk in comfort and contentment. The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles, shiny with long wear, exchanged cheerful glances with each other; plateson the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelightflickered and played over everything without distinction. The kindly Badger thrust them down on a settle to toast themselvesat the fire, and bade them remove their wet coats and boots. Then hefetched them dressing-gowns and slippers, and himself bathed the Mole'sshin with warm water and mended the cut with sticking-plaster till thewhole thing was just as good as new, if not better. In the embracinglight and warmth, warm and dry at last, with weary legs propped up infront of them, and a suggestive clink of plates being arranged onthe table behind, it seemed to the storm-driven animals, now in safeanchorage, that the cold and trackless Wild Wood just left outsidewas miles and miles away, and all that they had suffered in it ahalf-forgotten dream. When at last they were thoroughly toasted, the Badger summoned them tothe table, where he had been busy laying a repast. They had felt prettyhungry before, but when they actually saw at last the supper that wasspread for them, really it seemed only a question of what they shouldattack first where all was so attractive, and whether the otherthings would obligingly wait for them till they had time to give themattention. Conversation was impossible for a long time; and when itwas slowly resumed, it was that regrettable sort of conversation thatresults from talking with your mouth full. The Badger did not mind thatsort of thing at all, nor did he take any notice of elbows on the table, or everybody speaking at once. As he did not go into Society himself, he had got an idea that these things belonged to the things that didn'treally matter. (We know of course that he was wrong, and took too narrowa view; because they do matter very much, though it would take too longto explain why. ) He sat in his arm-chair at the head of the table, andnodded gravely at intervals as the animals told their story; and he didnot seem surprised or shocked at anything, and he never said, 'I toldyou so, ' or, 'Just what I always said, ' or remarked that they ought tohave done so-and-so, or ought not to have done something else. The Molebegan to feel very friendly towards him. When supper was really finished at last, and each animal felt that hisskin was now as tight as was decently safe, and that by this time hedidn't care a hang for anybody or anything, they gathered round theglowing embers of the great wood fire, and thought how jolly it was tobe sitting up SO late, and SO independent, and SO full; and afterthey had chatted for a time about things in general, the Badger saidheartily, 'Now then! tell us the news from your part of the world. How'sold Toad going on?' 'Oh, from bad to worse, ' said the Rat gravely, while the Mole, cockedup on a settle and basking in the firelight, his heels higher than hishead, tried to look properly mournful. 'Another smash-up only last week, and a bad one. You see, he will insist on driving himself, and he'shopelessly incapable. If he'd only employ a decent, steady, well-trainedanimal, pay him good wages, and leave everything to him, he'd get on allright. But no; he's convinced he's a heaven-born driver, and nobody canteach him anything; and all the rest follows. ' 'How many has he had?' inquired the Badger gloomily. 'Smashes, or machines?' asked the Rat. 'Oh, well, after all, it's thesame thing--with Toad. This is the seventh. As for the others--you knowthat coach-house of his? Well, it's piled up--literally piled up to theroof--with fragments of motor-cars, none of them bigger than your hat!That accounts for the other six--so far as they can be accounted for. ' 'He's been in hospital three times, ' put in the Mole; 'and as for thefines he's had to pay, it's simply awful to think of. ' 'Yes, and that's part of the trouble, ' continued the Rat. 'Toad's rich, we all know; but he's not a millionaire. And he's a hopelessly baddriver, and quite regardless of law and order. Killed or ruined--it'sgot to be one of the two things, sooner or later. Badger! we're hisfriends--oughtn't we to do something?' The Badger went through a bit of hard thinking. 'Now look here!' he saidat last, rather severely; 'of course you know I can't do anything NOW?' His two friends assented, quite understanding his point. No animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever expected to doanything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during theoff-season of winter. All are sleepy--some actually asleep. All areweather-bound, more or less; and all are resting from arduous days andnights, during which every muscle in them has been severely tested, andevery energy kept at full stretch. 'Very well then!' continued the Badger. 'BUT, when once the year hasreally turned, and the nights are shorter, and halfway through them onerouses and feels fidgety and wanting to be up and doing by sunrise, ifnot before--YOU know!----' Both animals nodded gravely. THEY knew! 'Well, THEN, ' went on the Badger, 'we--that is, you and me and ourfriend the Mole here--we'll take Toad seriously in hand. We'll stand nononsense whatever. We'll bring him back to reason, by force if need be. We'll MAKE him be a sensible Toad. We'll--you're asleep, Rat!' 'Not me!' said the Rat, waking up with a jerk. 'He's been asleep two or three times since supper, ' said the Mole, laughing. He himself was feeling quite wakeful and even lively, thoughhe didn't know why. The reason was, of course, that he being naturallyan underground animal by birth and breeding, the situation of Badger'shouse exactly suited him and made him feel at home; while the Rat, whoslept every night in a bedroom the windows of which opened on a breezyriver, naturally felt the atmosphere still and oppressive. 'Well, it's time we were all in bed, ' said the Badger, getting up andfetching flat candlesticks. 'Come along, you two, and I'll show you yourquarters. And take your time tomorrow morning--breakfast at any hour youplease!' He conducted the two animals to a long room that seemed half bedchamberand half loft. The Badger's winter stores, which indeed were visibleeverywhere, took up half the room--piles of apples, turnips, andpotatoes, baskets full of nuts, and jars of honey; but the two littlewhite beds on the remainder of the floor looked soft and inviting, andthe linen on them, though coarse, was clean and smelt beautifully oflavender; and the Mole and the Water Rat, shaking off their garmentsin some thirty seconds, tumbled in between the sheets in great joy andcontentment. In accordance with the kindly Badger's injunctions, the two tiredanimals came down to breakfast very late next morning, and found abright fire burning in the kitchen, and two young hedgehogs sitting ona bench at the table, eating oatmeal porridge out of wooden bowls. Thehedgehogs dropped their spoons, rose to their feet, and ducked theirheads respectfully as the two entered. 'There, sit down, sit down, ' said the Rat pleasantly, 'and go on withyour porridge. Where have you youngsters come from? Lost your way in thesnow, I suppose?' 'Yes, please, sir, ' said the elder of the two hedgehogs respectfully. 'Me and little Billy here, we was trying to find our way toschool--mother WOULD have us go, was the weather ever so--and of coursewe lost ourselves, sir, and Billy he got frightened and took and cried, being young and faint-hearted. And at last we happened up against Mr. Badger's back door, and made so bold as to knock, sir, for Mr. Badgerhe's a kind-hearted gentleman, as everyone knows----' 'I understand, ' said the Rat, cutting himself some rashers from a sideof bacon, while the Mole dropped some eggs into a saucepan. 'And what'sthe weather like outside? You needn't "sir" me quite so much?' he added. 'O, terrible bad, sir, terrible deep the snow is, ' said the hedgehog. 'No getting out for the likes of you gentlemen to-day. ' 'Where's Mr. Badger?' inquired the Mole, as he warmed the coffee-potbefore the fire. 'The master's gone into his study, sir, ' replied the hedgehog, 'and hesaid as how he was going to be particular busy this morning, and on noaccount was he to be disturbed. ' This explanation, of course, was thoroughly understood by every onepresent. The fact is, as already set forth, when you live a life ofintense activity for six months in the year, and of comparative oractual somnolence for the other six, during the latter period you cannotbe continually pleading sleepiness when there are people about or thingsto be done. The excuse gets monotonous. The animals well knew thatBadger, having eaten a hearty breakfast, had retired to his study andsettled himself in an arm-chair with his legs up on another and a redcotton handkerchief over his face, and was being 'busy' in the usual wayat this time of the year. The front-door bell clanged loudly, and the Rat, who was very greasywith buttered toast, sent Billy, the smaller hedgehog, to see who itmight be. There was a sound of much stamping in the hall, and presentlyBilly returned in front of the Otter, who threw himself on the Rat withan embrace and a shout of affectionate greeting. 'Get off!' spluttered the Rat, with his mouth full. 'Thought I should find you here all right, ' said the Otter cheerfully. 'They were all in a great state of alarm along River Bank when I arrivedthis morning. Rat never been home all night--nor Mole either--somethingdreadful must have happened, they said; and the snow had covered up allyour tracks, of course. But I knew that when people were in any fix theymostly went to Badger, or else Badger got to know of it somehow, so Icame straight off here, through the Wild Wood and the snow! My! it wasfine, coming through the snow as the red sun was rising and showingagainst the black tree-trunks! As you went along in the stillness, everynow and then masses of snow slid off the branches suddenly with a flop!making you jump and run for cover. Snow-castles and snow-caverns hadsprung up out of nowhere in the night--and snow bridges, terraces, ramparts--I could have stayed and played with them for hours. Here andthere great branches had been torn away by the sheer weight of the snow, and robins perched and hopped on them in their perky conceited way, justas if they had done it themselves. A ragged string of wild geese passedoverhead, high on the grey sky, and a few rooks whirled over the trees, inspected, and flapped off homewards with a disgusted expression; but Imet no sensible being to ask the news of. About halfway across I came ona rabbit sitting on a stump, cleaning his silly face with his paws. Hewas a pretty scared animal when I crept up behind him and placed a heavyforepaw on his shoulder. I had to cuff his head once or twice to get anysense out of it at all. At last I managed to extract from him that Molehad been seen in the Wild Wood last night by one of them. It was thetalk of the burrows, he said, how Mole, Mr. Rat's particular friend, was in a bad fix; how he had lost his way, and "They" were up and outhunting, and were chivvying him round and round. "Then why didn't any ofyou DO something?" I asked. "You mayn't be blest with brains, but thereare hundreds and hundreds of you, big, stout fellows, as fat as butter, and your burrows running in all directions, and you could have takenhim in and made him safe and comfortable, or tried to, at all events. ""What, US?" he merely said: "DO something? us rabbits?" So I cuffed himagain and left him. There was nothing else to be done. At any rate, Ihad learnt something; and if I had had the luck to meet any of "Them"I'd have learnt something more--or THEY would. ' 'Weren't you at all--er--nervous?' asked the Mole, some of yesterday'sterror coming back to him at the mention of the Wild Wood. 'Nervous?' The Otter showed a gleaming set of strong white teeth as helaughed. 'I'd give 'em nerves if any of them tried anything on with me. Here, Mole, fry me some slices of ham, like the good little chap youare. I'm frightfully hungry, and I've got any amount to say to Rattyhere. Haven't seen him for an age. ' So the good-natured Mole, having cut some slices of ham, set thehedgehogs to fry it, and returned to his own breakfast, while the Otterand the Rat, their heads together, eagerly talked river-shop, which islong shop and talk that is endless, running on like the babbling riveritself. A plate of fried ham had just been cleared and sent back for more, whenthe Badger entered, yawning and rubbing his eyes, and greeted them allin his quiet, simple way, with kind enquiries for every one. 'It mustbe getting on for luncheon time, ' he remarked to the Otter. 'Better stopand have it with us. You must be hungry, this cold morning. ' 'Rather!' replied the Otter, winking at the Mole. 'The sight of thesegreedy young hedgehogs stuffing themselves with fried ham makes me feelpositively famished. ' The hedgehogs, who were just beginning to feel hungry again after theirporridge, and after working so hard at their frying, looked timidly upat Mr. Badger, but were too shy to say anything. 'Here, you two youngsters be off home to your mother, ' said the Badgerkindly. 'I'll send some one with you to show you the way. You won't wantany dinner to-day, I'll be bound. ' He gave them sixpence apiece and a pat on the head, and they went offwith much respectful swinging of caps and touching of forelocks. Presently they all sat down to luncheon together. The Mole found himselfplaced next to Mr. Badger, and, as the other two were still deepin river-gossip from which nothing could divert them, he took theopportunity to tell Badger how comfortable and home-like it all felt tohim. 'Once well underground, ' he said, 'you know exactly where you are. Nothing can happen to you, and nothing can get at you. You're entirelyyour own master, and you don't have to consult anybody or mind whatthey say. Things go on all the same overhead, and you let 'em, and don'tbother about 'em. When you want to, up you go, and there the things are, waiting for you. ' The Badger simply beamed on him. 'That's exactly what I say, ' hereplied. 'There's no security, or peace and tranquillity, exceptunderground. And then, if your ideas get larger and you want toexpand--why, a dig and a scrape, and there you are! If you feel yourhouse is a bit too big, you stop up a hole or two, and there you areagain! No builders, no tradesmen, no remarks passed on you by fellowslooking over your wall, and, above all, no WEATHER. Look at Rat, now. Acouple of feet of flood water, and he's got to move into hired lodgings;uncomfortable, inconveniently situated, and horribly expensive. TakeToad. I say nothing against Toad Hall; quite the best house in theseparts, AS a house. But supposing a fire breaks out--where's Toad?Supposing tiles are blown off, or walls sink or crack, or windows getbroken--where's Toad? Supposing the rooms are draughty--I HATE a draughtmyself--where's Toad? No, up and out of doors is good enough to roamabout and get one's living in; but underground to come back to atlast--that's my idea of HOME. ' The Mole assented heartily; and the Badger in consequence got veryfriendly with him. 'When lunch is over, ' he said, 'I'll take you allround this little place of mine. I can see you'll appreciate it. Youunderstand what domestic architecture ought to be, you do. ' After luncheon, accordingly, when the other two had settled themselvesinto the chimney-corner and had started a heated argument on the subjectof EELS, the Badger lighted a lantern and bade the Mole follow him. Crossing the hall, they passed down one of the principal tunnels, andthe wavering light of the lantern gave glimpses on either side of roomsboth large and small, some mere cupboards, others nearly as broad andimposing as Toad's dining-hall. A narrow passage at right angles ledthem into another corridor, and here the same thing was repeated. TheMole was staggered at the size, the extent, the ramifications of it all;at the length of the dim passages, the solid vaultings of the crammedstore-chambers, the masonry everywhere, the pillars, the arches, thepavements. 'How on earth, Badger, ' he said at last, 'did you ever findtime and strength to do all this? It's astonishing!' 'It WOULD be astonishing indeed, ' said the Badger simply, 'if I HADdone it. But as a matter of fact I did none of it--only cleaned out thepassages and chambers, as far as I had need of them. There's lots moreof it, all round about. I see you don't understand, and I must explainit to you. Well, very long ago, on the spot where the Wild Wood wavesnow, before ever it had planted itself and grown up to what it nowis, there was a city--a city of people, you know. Here, where we arestanding, they lived, and walked, and talked, and slept, and carried ontheir business. Here they stabled their horses and feasted, from herethey rode out to fight or drove out to trade. They were a powerfulpeople, and rich, and great builders. They built to last, for theythought their city would last for ever. ' 'But what has become of them all?' asked the Mole. 'Who can tell?' said the Badger. 'People come--they stay for a while, they flourish, they build--and they go. It is their way. But we remain. There were badgers here, I've been told, long before that same city evercame to be. And now there are badgers here again. We are an enduringlot, and we may move out for a time, but we wait, and are patient, andback we come. And so it will ever be. ' 'Well, and when they went at last, those people?' said the Mole. 'When they went, ' continued the Badger, 'the strong winds and persistentrains took the matter in hand, patiently, ceaselessly, year after year. Perhaps we badgers too, in our small way, helped a little--who knows?It was all down, down, down, gradually--ruin and levelling anddisappearance. Then it was all up, up, up, gradually, as seeds grewto saplings, and saplings to forest trees, and bramble and fern camecreeping in to help. Leaf-mould rose and obliterated, streams in theirwinter freshets brought sand and soil to clog and to cover, and incourse of time our home was ready for us again, and we moved in. Upabove us, on the surface, the same thing happened. Animals arrived, liked the look of the place, took up their quarters, settled down, spread, and flourished. They didn't bother themselves about thepast--they never do; they're too busy. The place was a bit humpyand hillocky, naturally, and full of holes; but that was rather anadvantage. And they don't bother about the future, either--the futurewhen perhaps the people will move in again--for a time--as may very wellbe. The Wild Wood is pretty well populated by now; with all the usuallot, good, bad, and indifferent--I name no names. It takes all sorts tomake a world. But I fancy you know something about them yourself by thistime. ' 'I do indeed, ' said the Mole, with a slight shiver. 'Well, well, ' said the Badger, patting him on the shoulder, 'it was yourfirst experience of them, you see. They're not so bad really; and wemust all live and let live. But I'll pass the word around to-morrow, andI think you'll have no further trouble. Any friend of MINE walks wherehe likes in this country, or I'll know the reason why!' When they got back to the kitchen again, they found the Rat walking upand down, very restless. The underground atmosphere was oppressing himand getting on his nerves, and he seemed really to be afraid that theriver would run away if he wasn't there to look after it. So he had hisovercoat on, and his pistols thrust into his belt again. 'Come along, Mole, ' he said anxiously, as soon as he caught sight of them. 'We mustget off while it's daylight. Don't want to spend another night in theWild Wood again. ' 'It'll be all right, my fine fellow, ' said the Otter. 'I'm coming alongwith you, and I know every path blindfold; and if there's a head thatneeds to be punched, you can confidently rely upon me to punch it. ' 'You really needn't fret, Ratty, ' added the Badger placidly. 'Mypassages run further than you think, and I've bolt-holes to the edgeof the wood in several directions, though I don't care for everybody toknow about them. When you really have to go, you shall leave by one ofmy short cuts. Meantime, make yourself easy, and sit down again. ' The Rat was nevertheless still anxious to be off and attend to hisriver, so the Badger, taking up his lantern again, led the way along adamp and airless tunnel that wound and dipped, part vaulted, part hewnthrough solid rock, for a weary distance that seemed to be miles. Atlast daylight began to show itself confusedly through tangled growthoverhanging the mouth of the passage; and the Badger, bidding thema hasty good-bye, pushed them hurriedly through the opening, madeeverything look as natural as possible again, with creepers, brushwood, and dead leaves, and retreated. They found themselves standing on the very edge of the Wild Wood. Rocksand brambles and tree-roots behind them, confusedly heaped and tangled;in front, a great space of quiet fields, hemmed by lines of hedges blackon the snow, and, far ahead, a glint of the familiar old river, whilethe wintry sun hung red and low on the horizon. The Otter, as knowingall the paths, took charge of the party, and they trailed out on abee-line for a distant stile. Pausing there a moment and looking back, they saw the whole mass of the Wild Wood, dense, menacing, compact, grimly set in vast white surroundings; simultaneously they turned andmade swiftly for home, for firelight and the familiar things it playedon, for the voice, sounding cheerily outside their window, of the riverthat they knew and trusted in all its moods, that never made them afraidwith any amazement. As he hurried along, eagerly anticipating the moment when he would be athome again among the things he knew and liked, the Mole saw clearly thathe was an animal of tilled field and hedge-row, linked to the ploughedfurrow, the frequented pasture, the lane of evening lingerings, the cultivated garden-plot. For others the asperities, the stubbornendurance, or the clash of actual conflict, that went with Nature in therough; he must be wise, must keep to the pleasant places in which hislines were laid and which held adventure enough, in their way, to lastfor a lifetime. V. DULCE DOMUM The sheep ran huddling together against the hurdles, blowing out thinnostrils and stamping with delicate fore-feet, their heads thrown backand a light steam rising from the crowded sheep-pen into the frosty air, as the two animals hastened by in high spirits, with much chatter andlaughter. They were returning across country after a long day's outingwith Otter, hunting and exploring on the wide uplands where certainstreams tributary to their own River had their first small beginnings;and the shades of the short winter day were closing in on them, and theyhad still some distance to go. Plodding at random across the plough, they had heard the sheep and had made for them; and now, leading fromthe sheep-pen, they found a beaten track that made walking a lighterbusiness, and responded, moreover, to that small inquiring somethingwhich all animals carry inside them, saying unmistakably, 'Yes, quiteright; THIS leads home!' 'It looks as if we were coming to a village, ' said the Mole somewhatdubiously, slackening his pace, as the track, that had in time becomea path and then had developed into a lane, now handed them over to thecharge of a well-metalled road. The animals did not hold with villages, and their own highways, thickly frequented as they were, took anindependent course, regardless of church, post office, or public-house. 'Oh, never mind!' said the Rat. 'At this season of the year they'reall safe indoors by this time, sitting round the fire; men, women, and children, dogs and cats and all. We shall slip through all right, without any bother or unpleasantness, and we can have a look at themthrough their windows if you like, and see what they're doing. ' The rapid nightfall of mid-December had quite beset the little villageas they approached it on soft feet over a first thin fall of powderysnow. Little was visible but squares of a dusky orange-red on eitherside of the street, where the firelight or lamplight of each cottageoverflowed through the casements into the dark world without. Most ofthe low latticed windows were innocent of blinds, and to the lookers-infrom outside, the inmates, gathered round the tea-table, absorbed inhandiwork, or talking with laughter and gesture, had each that happygrace which is the last thing the skilled actor shall capture--thenatural grace which goes with perfect unconsciousness of observation. Moving at will from one theatre to another, the two spectators, so farfrom home themselves, had something of wistfulness in their eyes as theywatched a cat being stroked, a sleepy child picked up and huddled offto bed, or a tired man stretch and knock out his pipe on the end of asmouldering log. But it was from one little window, with its blind drawn down, a mereblank transparency on the night, that the sense of home and the littlecurtained world within walls--the larger stressful world of outsideNature shut out and forgotten--most pulsated. Close against the whiteblind hung a bird-cage, clearly silhouetted, every wire, perch, andappurtenance distinct and recognisable, even to yesterday's dull-edgedlump of sugar. On the middle perch the fluffy occupant, head tucked wellinto feathers, seemed so near to them as to be easily stroked, hadthey tried; even the delicate tips of his plumped-out plumage pencilledplainly on the illuminated screen. As they looked, the sleepy littlefellow stirred uneasily, woke, shook himself, and raised his head. Theycould see the gape of his tiny beak as he yawned in a bored sort of way, looked round, and then settled his head into his back again, while theruffled feathers gradually subsided into perfect stillness. Then agust of bitter wind took them in the back of the neck, a small sting offrozen sleet on the skin woke them as from a dream, and they knew theirtoes to be cold and their legs tired, and their own home distant a wearyway. Once beyond the village, where the cottages ceased abruptly, on eitherside of the road they could smell through the darkness the friendlyfields again; and they braced themselves for the last long stretch, thehome stretch, the stretch that we know is bound to end, some time, inthe rattle of the door-latch, the sudden firelight, and the sight offamiliar things greeting us as long-absent travellers from far over-sea. They plodded along steadily and silently, each of them thinking his ownthoughts. The Mole's ran a good deal on supper, as it was pitch-dark, and it was all a strange country for him as far as he knew, and hewas following obediently in the wake of the Rat, leaving the guidanceentirely to him. As for the Rat, he was walking a little way ahead, ashis habit was, his shoulders humped, his eyes fixed on the straight greyroad in front of him; so he did not notice poor Mole when suddenly thesummons reached him, and took him like an electric shock. We others, who have long lost the more subtle of the physical senses, have not even proper terms to express an animal's inter-communicationswith his surroundings, living or otherwise, and have only the word'smell, ' for instance, to include the whole range of delicate thrillswhich murmur in the nose of the animal night and day, summoning, warning? inciting, repelling. It was one of these mysterious fairy callsfrom out the void that suddenly reached Mole in the darkness, making himtingle through and through with its very familiar appeal, even whileyet he could not clearly remember what it was. He stopped dead inhis tracks, his nose searching hither and thither in its efforts torecapture the fine filament, the telegraphic current, that had sostrongly moved him. A moment, and he had caught it again; and with itthis time came recollection in fullest flood. Home! That was what they meant, those caressing appeals, those softtouches wafted through the air, those invisible little hands pulling andtugging, all one way! Why, it must be quite close by him at that moment, his old home that he had hurriedly forsaken and never sought again, thatday when he first found the river! And now it was sending out its scoutsand its messengers to capture him and bring him in. Since his escape onthat bright morning he had hardly given it a thought, so absorbed had hebeen in his new life, in all its pleasures, its surprises, its fresh andcaptivating experiences. Now, with a rush of old memories, how clearlyit stood up before him, in the darkness! Shabby indeed, and small andpoorly furnished, and yet his, the home he had made for himself, thehome he had been so happy to get back to after his day's work. And thehome had been happy with him, too, evidently, and was missing him, andwanted him back, and was telling him so, through his nose, sorrowfully, reproachfully, but with no bitterness or anger; only with plaintivereminder that it was there, and wanted him. The call was clear, the summons was plain. He must obey it instantly, and go. 'Ratty!' he called, full of joyful excitement, 'hold on! Comeback! I want you, quick!' 'Oh, COME along, Mole, do!' replied the Rat cheerfully, still ploddingalong. 'PLEASE stop, Ratty!' pleaded the poor Mole, in anguish of heart. 'Youdon't understand! It's my home, my old home! I've just come across thesmell of it, and it's close by here, really quite close. And I MUST goto it, I must, I must! Oh, come back, Ratty! Please, please come back!' The Rat was by this time very far ahead, too far to hear clearly whatthe Mole was calling, too far to catch the sharp note of painful appealin his voice. And he was much taken up with the weather, for he toocould smell something--something suspiciously like approaching snow. 'Mole, we mustn't stop now, really!' he called back. 'We'll come forit to-morrow, whatever it is you've found. But I daren't stop now--it'slate, and the snow's coming on again, and I'm not sure of the way! And Iwant your nose, Mole, so come on quick, there's a good fellow!' And theRat pressed forward on his way without waiting for an answer. Poor Mole stood alone in the road, his heart torn asunder, and a big sobgathering, gathering, somewhere low down inside him, to leap up to thesurface presently, he knew, in passionate escape. But even under sucha test as this his loyalty to his friend stood firm. Never for a momentdid he dream of abandoning him. Meanwhile, the wafts from his old homepleaded, whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously. Hedared not tarry longer within their magic circle. With a wrench thattore his very heartstrings he set his face down the road and followedsubmissively in the track of the Rat, while faint, thin little smells, still dogging his retreating nose, reproached him for his new friendshipand his callous forgetfulness. With an effort he caught up to the unsuspecting Rat, who beganchattering cheerfully about what they would do when they got back, andhow jolly a fire of logs in the parlour would be, and what a supper hemeant to eat; never noticing his companion's silence and distressfulstate of mind. At last, however, when they had gone some considerableway further, and were passing some tree-stumps at the edge of a copsethat bordered the road, he stopped and said kindly, 'Look here, Mole oldchap, you seem dead tired. No talk left in you, and your feet dragginglike lead. We'll sit down here for a minute and rest. The snow has heldoff so far, and the best part of our journey is over. ' The Mole subsided forlornly on a tree-stump and tried to controlhimself, for he felt it surely coming. The sob he had fought with solong refused to be beaten. Up and up, it forced its way to the air, andthen another, and another, and others thick and fast; till poor Mole atlast gave up the struggle, and cried freely and helplessly and openly, now that he knew it was all over and he had lost what he could hardly besaid to have found. The Rat, astonished and dismayed at the violence of Mole's paroxysm ofgrief, did not dare to speak for a while. At last he said, very quietlyand sympathetically, 'What is it, old fellow? Whatever can be thematter? Tell us your trouble, and let me see what I can do. ' Poor Mole found it difficult to get any words out between the upheavalsof his chest that followed one upon another so quickly and held backspeech and choked it as it came. 'I know it's a--shabby, dingy littleplace, ' he sobbed forth at last, brokenly: 'not like--your cosyquarters--or Toad's beautiful hall--or Badger's great house--but it wasmy own little home--and I was fond of it--and I went away and forgot allabout it--and then I smelt it suddenly--on the road, when I calledand you wouldn't listen, Rat--and everything came back to me with arush--and I WANTED it!--O dear, O dear!--and when you WOULDN'T turnback, Ratty--and I had to leave it, though I was smelling it all thetime--I thought my heart would break. --We might have just gone and hadone look at it, Ratty--only one look--it was close by--but you wouldn'tturn back, Ratty, you wouldn't turn back! O dear, O dear!' Recollection brought fresh waves of sorrow, and sobs again took fullcharge of him, preventing further speech. The Rat stared straight in front of him, saying nothing, only pattingMole gently on the shoulder. After a time he muttered gloomily, 'I seeit all now! What a PIG I have been! A pig--that's me! Just a pig--aplain pig!' He waited till Mole's sobs became gradually less stormy and morerhythmical; he waited till at last sniffs were frequent and sobs onlyintermittent. Then he rose from his seat, and, remarking carelessly, 'Well, now we'd really better be getting on, old chap!' set off up theroad again, over the toilsome way they had come. 'Wherever are you (hic) going to (hic), Ratty?' cried the tearful Mole, looking up in alarm. 'We're going to find that home of yours, old fellow, ' replied theRat pleasantly; 'so you had better come along, for it will take somefinding, and we shall want your nose. ' 'Oh, come back, Ratty, do!' cried the Mole, getting up and hurryingafter him. 'It's no good, I tell you! It's too late, and too dark, andthe place is too far off, and the snow's coming! And--and I never meantto let you know I was feeling that way about it--it was all an accidentand a mistake! And think of River Bank, and your supper!' 'Hang River Bank, and supper too!' said the Rat heartily. 'I tell you, I'm going to find this place now, if I stay out all night. So cheer up, old chap, and take my arm, and we'll very soon be back there again. ' Still snuffling, pleading, and reluctant, Mole suffered himself to bedragged back along the road by his imperious companion, who by a flow ofcheerful talk and anecdote endeavoured to beguile his spirits back andmake the weary way seem shorter. When at last it seemed to the Rat thatthey must be nearing that part of the road where the Mole had been 'heldup, ' he said, 'Now, no more talking. Business! Use your nose, and giveyour mind to it. ' They moved on in silence for some little way, when suddenly the Rat wasconscious, through his arm that was linked in Mole's, of a faint sort ofelectric thrill that was passing down that animal's body. Instantly hedisengaged himself, fell back a pace, and waited, all attention. The signals were coming through! Mole stood a moment rigid, while his uplifted nose, quivering slightly, felt the air. Then a short, quick run forward--a fault--a check--a try back; and thena slow, steady, confident advance. The Rat, much excited, kept close to his heels as the Mole, withsomething of the air of a sleep-walker, crossed a dry ditch, scrambledthrough a hedge, and nosed his way over a field open and trackless andbare in the faint starlight. Suddenly, without giving warning, he dived; but the Rat was on thealert, and promptly followed him down the tunnel to which his unerringnose had faithfully led him. It was close and airless, and the earthy smell was strong, and it seemeda long time to Rat ere the passage ended and he could stand erect andstretch and shake himself. The Mole struck a match, and by its lightthe Rat saw that they were standing in an open space, neatly swept andsanded underfoot, and directly facing them was Mole's little front door, with 'Mole End' painted, in Gothic lettering, over the bell-pull at theside. Mole reached down a lantern from a nail on the wail and lit it, and theRat, looking round him, saw that they were in a sort of fore-court. Agarden-seat stood on one side of the door, and on the other a roller;for the Mole, who was a tidy animal when at home, could not stand havinghis ground kicked up by other animals into little runs that endedin earth-heaps. On the walls hung wire baskets with ferns in them, alternating with brackets carrying plaster statuary--Garibaldi, and theinfant Samuel, and Queen Victoria, and other heroes of modern Italy. Down on one side of the forecourt ran a skittle-alley, with benchesalong it and little wooden tables marked with rings that hinted atbeer-mugs. In the middle was a small round pond containing gold-fish andsurrounded by a cockle-shell border. Out of the centre of the pond rosea fanciful erection clothed in more cockle-shells and topped by a largesilvered glass ball that reflected everything all wrong and had a verypleasing effect. Mole's face-beamed at the sight of all these objects so dear to him, andhe hurried Rat through the door, lit a lamp in the hall, and took oneglance round his old home. He saw the dust lying thick on everything, saw the cheerless, deserted look of the long-neglected house, and itsnarrow, meagre dimensions, its worn and shabby contents--and collapsedagain on a hall-chair, his nose to his paws. 'O Ratty!' he crieddismally, 'why ever did I do it? Why did I bring you to this poor, coldlittle place, on a night like this, when you might have been at RiverBank by this time, toasting your toes before a blazing fire, with allyour own nice things about you!' The Rat paid no heed to his doleful self-reproaches. He was running hereand there, opening doors, inspecting rooms and cupboards, and lightinglamps and candles and sticking them, up everywhere. 'What a capitallittle house this is!' he called out cheerily. 'So compact! So wellplanned! Everything here and everything in its place! We'll make a jollynight of it. The first thing we want is a good fire; I'll see to that--Ialways know where to find things. So this is the parlour? Splendid! Yourown idea, those little sleeping-bunks in the wall? Capital! Now, I'llfetch the wood and the coals, and you get a duster, Mole--you'll findone in the drawer of the kitchen table--and try and smarten things up abit. Bustle about, old chap!' Encouraged by his inspiriting companion, the Mole roused himself anddusted and polished with energy and heartiness, while the Rat, runningto and fro with armfuls of fuel, soon had a cheerful blaze roaringup the chimney. He hailed the Mole to come and warm himself; but Molepromptly had another fit of the blues, dropping down on a couch in darkdespair and burying his face in his duster. 'Rat, ' he moaned, 'how aboutyour supper, you poor, cold, hungry, weary animal? I've nothing to giveyou--nothing--not a crumb!' 'What a fellow you are for giving in!' said the Rat reproachfully. 'Why, only just now I saw a sardine-opener on the kitchen dresser, quitedistinctly; and everybody knows that means there are sardines aboutsomewhere in the neighbourhood. Rouse yourself! pull yourself together, and come with me and forage. ' They went and foraged accordingly, hunting through every cupboard andturning out every drawer. The result was not so very depressing afterall, though of course it might have been better; a tin of sardines--abox of captain's biscuits, nearly full--and a German sausage encased insilver paper. 'There's a banquet for you!' observed the Rat, as he arranged the table. 'I know some animals who would give their ears to be sitting down tosupper with us to-night!' 'No bread!' groaned the Mole dolorously; 'no butter, no----' 'No pate de foie gras, no champagne!' continued the Rat, grinning. 'Andthat reminds me--what's that little door at the end of the passage? Yourcellar, of course! Every luxury in this house! Just you wait a minute. ' He made for the cellar-door, and presently reappeared, somewhatdusty, with a bottle of beer in each paw and another under each arm, 'Self-indulgent beggar you seem to be, Mole, ' he observed. 'Denyyourself nothing. This is really the jolliest little place I ever wasin. Now, wherever did you pick up those prints? Make the place look sohome-like, they do. No wonder you're so fond of it, Mole. Tell us allabout it, and how you came to make it what it is. ' Then, while the Rat busied himself fetching plates, and knives andforks, and mustard which he mixed in an egg-cup, the Mole, his bosomstill heaving with the stress of his recent emotion, related--somewhatshyly at first, but with more freedom as he warmed to his subject--howthis was planned, and how that was thought out, and how this was gotthrough a windfall from an aunt, and that was a wonderful find and abargain, and this other thing was bought out of laborious savings and acertain amount of 'going without. ' His spirits finally quite restored, he must needs go and caress his possessions, and take a lamp and showoff their points to his visitor and expatiate on them, quite forgetfulof the supper they both so much needed; Rat, who was desperately hungrybut strove to conceal it, nodding seriously, examining with a puckeredbrow, and saying, 'wonderful, ' and 'most remarkable, ' at intervals, whenthe chance for an observation was given him. At last the Rat succeeded in decoying him to the table, and had just gotseriously to work with the sardine-opener when sounds were heard fromthe fore-court without--sounds like the scuffling of small feet in thegravel and a confused murmur of tiny voices, while broken sentencesreached them--'Now, all in a line--hold the lantern up a bit, Tommy--clear your throats first--no coughing after I say one, two, three. --Where's young Bill?--Here, come on, do, we're all a-waiting----' 'What's up?' inquired the Rat, pausing in his labours. 'I think it must be the field-mice, ' replied the Mole, with a touch ofpride in his manner. 'They go round carol-singing regularly at this timeof the year. They're quite an institution in these parts. And they neverpass me over--they come to Mole End last of all; and I used to give themhot drinks, and supper too sometimes, when I could afford it. It will belike old times to hear them again. ' 'Let's have a look at them!' cried the Rat, jumping up and running tothe door. It was a pretty sight, and a seasonable one, that met their eyes whenthey flung the door open. In the fore-court, lit by the dim rays of ahorn lantern, some eight or ten little fieldmice stood in a semicircle, red worsted comforters round their throats, their fore-paws thrust deepinto their pockets, their feet jigging for warmth. With bright beadyeyes they glanced shyly at each other, sniggering a little, sniffing andapplying coat-sleeves a good deal. As the door opened, one of the elderones that carried the lantern was just saying, 'Now then, one, two, three!' and forthwith their shrill little voices uprose on the air, singing one of the old-time carols that their forefathers composed infields that were fallow and held by frost, or when snow-bound in chimneycorners, and handed down to be sung in the miry street to lamp-litwindows at Yule-time. CAROL Villagers all, this frosty tide, Let your doors swing open wide, Though wind may follow, and snow beside, Yet draw us in by your fire to bide; Joy shall be yours in the morning! Here we stand in the cold and the sleet, Blowing fingers and stamping feet, Come from far away you to greet-- You by the fire and we in the street-- Bidding you joy in the morning! For ere one half of the night was gone, Sudden a star has led us on, Raining bliss and benison-- Bliss to-morrow and more anon, Joy for every morning! Goodman Joseph toiled through the snow-- Saw the star o'er a stable low; Mary she might not further go-- Welcome thatch, and litter below! Joy was hers in the morning! And then they heard the angels tell 'Who were the first to cry NOWELL? Animals all, as it befell, In the stable where they did dwell! Joy shall be theirs in the morning!' The voices ceased, the singers, bashful but smiling, exchanged sidelongglances, and silence succeeded--but for a moment only. Then, from upabove and far away, down the tunnel they had so lately travelled wasborne to their ears in a faint musical hum the sound of distant bellsringing a joyful and clangorous peal. 'Very well sung, boys!' cried the Rat heartily. 'And now come along in, all of you, and warm yourselves by the fire, and have something hot!' 'Yes, come along, field-mice, ' cried the Mole eagerly. 'This is quitelike old times! Shut the door after you. Pull up that settle to thefire. Now, you just wait a minute, while we--O, Ratty!' he cried indespair, plumping down on a seat, with tears impending. 'Whatever are wedoing? We've nothing to give them!' 'You leave all that to me, ' said the masterful Rat. 'Here, you with thelantern! Come over this way. I want to talk to you. Now, tell me, arethere any shops open at this hour of the night?' 'Why, certainly, sir, ' replied the field-mouse respectfully. 'At thistime of the year our shops keep open to all sorts of hours. ' 'Then look here!' said the Rat. 'You go off at once, you and yourlantern, and you get me----' Here much muttered conversation ensued, and the Mole only heard bitsof it, such as--'Fresh, mind!--no, a pound of that will do--see you getBuggins's, for I won't have any other--no, only the best--if you can'tget it there, try somewhere else--yes, of course, home-made, no tinnedstuff--well then, do the best you can!' Finally, there was a chink ofcoin passing from paw to paw, the field-mouse was provided with an amplebasket for his purchases, and off he hurried, he and his lantern. The rest of the field-mice, perched in a row on the settle, their smalllegs swinging, gave themselves up to enjoyment of the fire, and toastedtheir chilblains till they tingled; while the Mole, failing to draw theminto easy conversation, plunged into family history and made each ofthem recite the names of his numerous brothers, who were too young, it appeared, to be allowed to go out a-carolling this year, but lookedforward very shortly to winning the parental consent. The Rat, meanwhile, was busy examining the label on one of thebeer-bottles. 'I perceive this to be Old Burton, ' he remarkedapprovingly. 'SENSIBLE Mole! The very thing! Now we shall be able tomull some ale! Get the things ready, Mole, while I draw the corks. ' It did not take long to prepare the brew and thrust the tin heater wellinto the red heart of the fire; and soon every field-mouse was sippingand coughing and choking (for a little mulled ale goes a long way) andwiping his eyes and laughing and forgetting he had ever been cold in allhis life. 'They act plays too, these fellows, ' the Mole explained to the Rat. 'Make them up all by themselves, and act them afterwards. And verywell they do it, too! They gave us a capital one last year, about afield-mouse who was captured at sea by a Barbary corsair, and made torow in a galley; and when he escaped and got home again, his lady-lovehad gone into a convent. Here, YOU! You were in it, I remember. Get upand recite a bit. ' The field-mouse addressed got up on his legs, giggled shyly, lookedround the room, and remained absolutely tongue-tied. His comradescheered him on, Mole coaxed and encouraged him, and the Rat went sofar as to take him by the shoulders and shake him; but nothing couldovercome his stage-fright. They were all busily engaged on him likewatermen applying the Royal Humane Society's regulations to a caseof long submersion, when the latch clicked, the door opened, and thefield-mouse with the lantern reappeared, staggering under the weight ofhis basket. There was no more talk of play-acting once the very real and solidcontents of the basket had been tumbled out on the table. Under thegeneralship of Rat, everybody was set to do something or to fetchsomething. In a very few minutes supper was ready, and Mole, as he tookthe head of the table in a sort of a dream, saw a lately barren boardset thick with savoury comforts; saw his little friends' faces brightenand beam as they fell to without delay; and then let himself loose--forhe was famished indeed--on the provender so magically provided, thinkingwhat a happy home-coming this had turned out, after all. As they ate, they talked of old times, and the field-mice gave him the local gossipup to date, and answered as well as they could the hundred questions hehad to ask them. The Rat said little or nothing, only taking care thateach guest had what he wanted, and plenty of it, and that Mole had notrouble or anxiety about anything. They clattered off at last, very grateful and showering wishes of theseason, with their jacket pockets stuffed with remembrances for thesmall brothers and sisters at home. When the door had closed on the lastof them and the chink of the lanterns had died away, Mole and Rat kickedthe fire up, drew their chairs in, brewed themselves a last nightcap ofmulled ale, and discussed the events of the long day. At last the Rat, with a tremendous yawn, said, 'Mole, old chap, I'm ready to drop. Sleepyis simply not the word. That your own bunk over on that side? Very well, then, I'll take this. What a ripping little house this is! Everything sohandy!' He clambered into his bunk and rolled himself well up in the blankets, and slumber gathered him forthwith, as a swathe of barley is folded intothe arms of the reaping machine. The weary Mole also was glad to turn in without delay, and soon had hishead on his pillow, in great joy and contentment. But ere he closed hiseyes he let them wander round his old room, mellow in the glow of thefirelight that played or rested on familiar and friendly things whichhad long been unconsciously a part of him, and now smilingly receivedhim back, without rancour. He was now in just the frame of mind that thetactful Rat had quietly worked to bring about in him. He saw clearly howplain and simple--how narrow, even--it all was; but clearly, too, howmuch it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchoragein one's existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new lifeand its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all theyoffered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all toostrong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he mustreturn to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to comeback to; this place which was all his own, these things which were soglad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the samesimple welcome. VI. MR. TOAD It was a bright morning in the early part of summer; the river hadresumed its wonted banks and its accustomed pace, and a hot sun seemedto be pulling everything green and bushy and spiky up out of the earthtowards him, as if by strings. The Mole and the Water Rat had been upsince dawn, very busy on matters connected with boats and the opening ofthe boating season; painting and varnishing, mending paddles, repairingcushions, hunting for missing boat-hooks, and so on; and were finishingbreakfast in their little parlour and eagerly discussing their plans forthe day, when a heavy knock sounded at the door. 'Bother!' said the Rat, all over egg. 'See who it is, Mole, like a goodchap, since you've finished. ' The Mole went to attend the summons, and the Rat heard him utter a cryof surprise. Then he flung the parlour door open, and announced withmuch importance, 'Mr. Badger!' This was a wonderful thing, indeed, that the Badger should pay a formalcall on them, or indeed on anybody. He generally had to be caught, ifyou wanted him badly, as he slipped quietly along a hedgerow of an earlymorning or a late evening, or else hunted up in his own house in themiddle of the Wood, which was a serious undertaking. The Badger strode heavily into the room, and stood looking at thetwo animals with an expression full of seriousness. The Rat let hisegg-spoon fall on the table-cloth, and sat open-mouthed. 'The hour has come!' said the Badger at last with great solemnity. 'What hour?' asked the Rat uneasily, glancing at the clock on themantelpiece. 'WHOSE hour, you should rather say, ' replied the Badger. 'Why, Toad'shour! The hour of Toad! I said I would take him in hand as soon as thewinter was well over, and I'm going to take him in hand to-day!' 'Toad's hour, of course!' cried the Mole delightedly. 'Hooray! Iremember now! WE'LL teach him to be a sensible Toad!' 'This very morning, ' continued the Badger, taking an arm-chair, 'asI learnt last night from a trustworthy source, another new andexceptionally powerful motor-car will arrive at Toad Hall on approval orreturn. At this very moment, perhaps, Toad is busy arraying himself inthose singularly hideous habiliments so dear to him, which transform himfrom a (comparatively) good-looking Toad into an Object which throws anydecent-minded animal that comes across it into a violent fit. We mustbe up and doing, ere it is too late. You two animals will accompany meinstantly to Toad Hall, and the work of rescue shall be accomplished. ' 'Right you are!' cried the Rat, starting up. 'We'll rescue the poorunhappy animal! We'll convert him! He'll be the most converted Toad thatever was before we've done with him!' They set off up the road on their mission of mercy, Badger leading theway. Animals when in company walk in a proper and sensible manner, insingle file, instead of sprawling all across the road and being of nouse or support to each other in case of sudden trouble or danger. They reached the carriage-drive of Toad Hall to find, as the Badger hadanticipated, a shiny new motor-car, of great size, painted a brightred (Toad's favourite colour), standing in front of the house. As theyneared the door it was flung open, and Mr. Toad, arrayed in goggles, cap, gaiters, and enormous overcoat, came swaggering down the steps, drawing on his gauntleted gloves. 'Hullo! come on, you fellows!' he cried cheerfully on catching sight ofthem. 'You're just in time to come with me for a jolly--to come for ajolly--for a--er--jolly----' His hearty accents faltered and fell away as he noticed the sternunbending look on the countenances of his silent friends, and hisinvitation remained unfinished. The Badger strode up the steps. 'Take him inside, ' he said sternly tohis companions. Then, as Toad was hustled through the door, strugglingand protesting, he turned to the chauffeur in charge of the newmotor-car. 'I'm afraid you won't be wanted to-day, ' he said. 'Mr. Toad has changedhis mind. He will not require the car. Please understand that this isfinal. You needn't wait. ' Then he followed the others inside and shutthe door. 'Now then!' he said to the Toad, when the four of them stood together inthe Hall, 'first of all, take those ridiculous things off!' 'Shan't!' replied Toad, with great spirit. 'What is the meaning of thisgross outrage? I demand an instant explanation. ' 'Take them off him, then, you two, ' ordered the Badger briefly. They had to lay Toad out on the floor, kicking and calling all sorts ofnames, before they could get to work properly. Then the Rat sat on him, and the Mole got his motor-clothes off him bit by bit, and they stoodhim up on his legs again. A good deal of his blustering spirit seemedto have evaporated with the removal of his fine panoply. Now that he wasmerely Toad, and no longer the Terror of the Highway, he giggledfeebly and looked from one to the other appealingly, seeming quite tounderstand the situation. 'You knew it must come to this, sooner or later, Toad, ' the Badgerexplained severely. You've disregarded all the warnings we've given you, you've gone onsquandering the money your father left you, and you're getting usanimals a bad name in the district by your furious driving and yoursmashes and your rows with the police. Independence is all very well, but we animals never allow our friends to make fools of themselvesbeyond a certain limit; and that limit you've reached. Now, you're agood fellow in many respects, and I don't want to be too hard on you. I'll make one more effort to bring you to reason. You will come withme into the smoking-room, and there you will hear some facts aboutyourself; and we'll see whether you come out of that room the same Toadthat you went in. ' He took Toad firmly by the arm, led him into the smoking-room, andclosed the door behind them. 'THAT'S no good!' said the Rat contemptuously. 'TALKING to Toad'll nevercure him. He'll SAY anything. ' They made themselves comfortable in armchairs and waited patiently. Through the closed door they could just hear the long continuous droneof the Badger's voice, rising and falling in waves of oratory; andpresently they noticed that the sermon began to be punctuated atintervals by long-drawn sobs, evidently proceeding from the bosomof Toad, who was a soft-hearted and affectionate fellow, very easilyconverted--for the time being--to any point of view. After some three-quarters of an hour the door opened, and the Badgerreappeared, solemnly leading by the paw a very limp and dejected Toad. His skin hung baggily about him, his legs wobbled, and his cheeks werefurrowed by the tears so plentifully called forth by the Badger's movingdiscourse. 'Sit down there, Toad, ' said the Badger kindly, pointing to a chair. 'Myfriends, ' he went on, 'I am pleased to inform you that Toad has at lastseen the error of his ways. He is truly sorry for his misguided conductin the past, and he has undertaken to give up motor-cars entirely andfor ever. I have his solemn promise to that effect. ' 'That is very good news, ' said the Mole gravely. 'Very good news indeed, ' observed the Rat dubiously, 'if only--IFonly----' He was looking very hard at Toad as he said this, and could not helpthinking he perceived something vaguely resembling a twinkle in thatanimal's still sorrowful eye. 'There's only one thing more to be done, ' continued the gratifiedBadger. 'Toad, I want you solemnly to repeat, before your friends here, what you fully admitted to me in the smoking-room just now. First, youare sorry for what you've done, and you see the folly of it all?' There was a long, long pause. Toad looked desperately this way and that, while the other animals waited in grave silence. At last he spoke. 'No!' he said, a little sullenly, but stoutly; 'I'm NOT sorry. And itwasn't folly at all! It was simply glorious!' 'What?' cried the Badger, greatly scandalised. 'You backsliding animal, didn't you tell me just now, in there----' 'Oh, yes, yes, in THERE, ' said Toad impatiently. 'I'd have said anythingin THERE. You're so eloquent, dear Badger, and so moving, and soconvincing, and put all your points so frightfully well--you can do whatyou like with me in THERE, and you know it. But I've been searching mymind since, and going over things in it, and I find that I'm not a bitsorry or repentant really, so it's no earthly good saying I am; now, isit?' 'Then you don't promise, ' said the Badger, 'never to touch a motor-caragain?' 'Certainly not!' replied Toad emphatically. 'On the contrary, Ifaithfully promise that the very first motor-car I see, poop-poop! off Igo in it!' 'Told you so, didn't I?' observed the Rat to the Mole. 'Very well, then, ' said the Badger firmly, rising to his feet. 'Sinceyou won't yield to persuasion, we'll try what force can do. I feared itwould come to this all along. You've often asked us three to come andstay with you, Toad, in this handsome house of yours; well, now we'regoing to. When we've converted you to a proper point of view we mayquit, but not before. Take him upstairs, you two, and lock him up in hisbedroom, while we arrange matters between ourselves. ' 'It's for your own good, Toady, you know, ' said the Rat kindly, as Toad, kicking and struggling, was hauled up the stairs by his two faithfulfriends. 'Think what fun we shall all have together, just as we used to, when you've quite got over this--this painful attack of yours!' 'We'll take great care of everything for you till you're well, Toad, 'said the Mole; 'and we'll see your money isn't wasted, as it has been. ' 'No more of those regrettable incidents with the police, Toad, ' said theRat, as they thrust him into his bedroom. 'And no more weeks in hospital, being ordered about by female nurses, Toad, ' added the Mole, turning the key on him. They descended the stair, Toad shouting abuse at them through thekeyhole; and the three friends then met in conference on the situation. 'It's going to be a tedious business, ' said the Badger, sighing. 'I'venever seen Toad so determined. However, we will see it out. He mustnever be left an instant unguarded. We shall have to take it in turns tobe with him, till the poison has worked itself out of his system. ' They arranged watches accordingly. Each animal took it in turns to sleepin Toad's room at night, and they divided the day up between them. Atfirst Toad was undoubtedly very trying to his careful guardians. Whenhis violent paroxysms possessed him he would arrange bedroom chairsin rude resemblance of a motor-car and would crouch on the foremost ofthem, bent forward and staring fixedly ahead, making uncouth andghastly noises, till the climax was reached, when, turning a completesomersault, he would lie prostrate amidst the ruins of the chairs, apparently completely satisfied for the moment. As time passed, however, these painful seizures grew gradually less frequent, and his friendsstrove to divert his mind into fresh channels. But his interest inother matters did not seem to revive, and he grew apparently languid anddepressed. One fine morning the Rat, whose turn it was to go on duty, went upstairsto relieve Badger, whom he found fidgeting to be off and stretch hislegs in a long ramble round his wood and down his earths and burrows. 'Toad's still in bed, ' he told the Rat, outside the door. 'Can't getmuch out of him, except, "O leave him alone, he wants nothing, perhapshe'll be better presently, it may pass off in time, don't be undulyanxious, " and so on. Now, you look out, Rat! When Toad's quiet andsubmissive and playing at being the hero of a Sunday-school prize, thenhe's at his artfullest. There's sure to be something up. I know him. Well, now, I must be off. ' 'How are you to-day, old chap?' inquired the Rat cheerfully, as heapproached Toad's bedside. He had to wait some minutes for an answer. At last a feeble voicereplied, 'Thank you so much, dear Ratty! So good of you to inquire! Butfirst tell me how you are yourself, and the excellent Mole?' 'O, WE'RE all right, ' replied the Rat. 'Mole, ' he added incautiously, 'is going out for a run round with Badger. They'll be out till luncheontime, so you and I will spend a pleasant morning together, and I'll domy best to amuse you. Now jump up, there's a good fellow, and don't liemoping there on a fine morning like this!' 'Dear, kind Rat, ' murmured Toad, 'how little you realise my condition, and how very far I am from "jumping up" now--if ever! But do not troubleabout me. I hate being a burden to my friends, and I do not expect to beone much longer. Indeed, I almost hope not. ' 'Well, I hope not, too, ' said the Rat heartily. 'You've been a finebother to us all this time, and I'm glad to hear it's going to stop. Andin weather like this, and the boating season just beginning! It's toobad of you, Toad! It isn't the trouble we mind, but you're making usmiss such an awful lot. ' 'I'm afraid it IS the trouble you mind, though, ' replied the Toadlanguidly. 'I can quite understand it. It's natural enough. You're tiredof bothering about me. I mustn't ask you to do anything further. I'm anuisance, I know. ' 'You are, indeed, ' said the Rat. 'But I tell you, I'd take any troubleon earth for you, if only you'd be a sensible animal. ' 'If I thought that, Ratty, ' murmured Toad, more feebly than ever, 'thenI would beg you--for the last time, probably--to step round to thevillage as quickly as possible--even now it may be too late--and fetchthe doctor. But don't you bother. It's only a trouble, and perhaps wemay as well let things take their course. ' 'Why, what do you want a doctor for?' inquired the Rat, coming closerand examining him. He certainly lay very still and flat, and his voicewas weaker and his manner much changed. 'Surely you have noticed of late----' murmured Toad. 'But, no--whyshould you? Noticing things is only a trouble. To-morrow, indeed, youmay be saying to yourself, "O, if only I had noticed sooner! If only Ihad done something!" But no; it's a trouble. Never mind--forget that Iasked. ' 'Look here, old man, ' said the Rat, beginning to get rather alarmed, 'ofcourse I'll fetch a doctor to you, if you really think you want him. Butyou can hardly be bad enough for that yet. Let's talk about somethingelse. ' 'I fear, dear friend, ' said Toad, with a sad smile, 'that "talk" can dolittle in a case like this--or doctors either, for that matter; still, one must grasp at the slightest straw. And, by the way--while youare about it--I HATE to give you additional trouble, but I happen toremember that you will pass the door--would you mind at the same timeasking the lawyer to step up? It would be a convenience to me, and thereare moments--perhaps I should say there is A moment--when one must facedisagreeable tasks, at whatever cost to exhausted nature!' 'A lawyer! O, he must be really bad!' the affrighted Rat said tohimself, as he hurried from the room, not forgetting, however, to lockthe door carefully behind him. Outside, he stopped to consider. The other two were far away, and he hadno one to consult. 'It's best to be on the safe side, ' he said, on reflection. 'I've knownToad fancy himself frightfully bad before, without the slightest reason;but I've never heard him ask for a lawyer! If there's nothing really thematter, the doctor will tell him he's an old ass, and cheer him up; andthat will be something gained. I'd better humour him and go; it won'ttake very long. ' So he ran off to the village on his errand of mercy. The Toad, who had hopped lightly out of bed as soon as he heard thekey turned in the lock, watched him eagerly from the window till hedisappeared down the carriage-drive. Then, laughing heartily, he dressedas quickly as possible in the smartest suit he could lay hands on at themoment, filled his pockets with cash which he took from a small drawerin the dressing-table, and next, knotting the sheets from his bedtogether and tying one end of the improvised rope round the centralmullion of the handsome Tudor window which formed such a feature of hisbedroom, he scrambled out, slid lightly to the ground, and, taking theopposite direction to the Rat, marched off lightheartedly, whistling amerry tune. It was a gloomy luncheon for Rat when the Badger and the Mole atlength returned, and he had to face them at table with his pitiful andunconvincing story. The Badger's caustic, not to say brutal, remarks maybe imagined, and therefore passed over; but it was painful to the Ratthat even the Mole, though he took his friend's side as far as possible, could not help saying, 'You've been a bit of a duffer this time, Ratty!Toad, too, of all animals!' 'He did it awfully well, ' said the crestfallen Rat. 'He did YOU awfully well!' rejoined the Badger hotly. 'However, talkingwon't mend matters. He's got clear away for the time, that's certain;and the worst of it is, he'll be so conceited with what he'll think ishis cleverness that he may commit any folly. One comfort is, we're freenow, and needn't waste any more of our precious time doing sentry-go. But we'd better continue to sleep at Toad Hall for a while longer. Toad may be brought back at any moment--on a stretcher, or between twopolicemen. ' So spoke the Badger, not knowing what the future held in store, or howmuch water, and of how turbid a character, was to run under bridgesbefore Toad should sit at ease again in his ancestral Hall. Meanwhile, Toad, gay and irresponsible, was walking briskly along thehigh road, some miles from home. At first he had taken by-paths, andcrossed many fields, and changed his course several times, in case ofpursuit; but now, feeling by this time safe from recapture, and the sunsmiling brightly on him, and all Nature joining in a chorus of approvalto the song of self-praise that his own heart was singing to him, healmost danced along the road in his satisfaction and conceit. 'Smart piece of work that!' he remarked to himself chuckling. 'Brainagainst brute force--and brain came out on the top--as it's bound todo. Poor old Ratty! My! won't he catch it when the Badger gets back!A worthy fellow, Ratty, with many good qualities, but very littleintelligence and absolutely no education. I must take him in hand someday, and see if I can make something of him. ' Filled full of conceited thoughts such as these he strode along, hishead in the air, till he reached a little town, where the sign of'The Red Lion, ' swinging across the road halfway down the main street, reminded him that he had not breakfasted that day, and that he wasexceedingly hungry after his long walk. He marched into the Inn, orderedthe best luncheon that could be provided at so short a notice, and satdown to eat it in the coffee-room. He was about half-way through his meal when an only too familiar sound, approaching down the street, made him start and fall a-trembling allover. The poop-poop! drew nearer and nearer, the car could be heard toturn into the inn-yard and come to a stop, and Toad had to hold on tothe leg of the table to conceal his over-mastering emotion. Presentlythe party entered the coffee-room, hungry, talkative, and gay, volubleon their experiences of the morning and the merits of the chariot thathad brought them along so well. Toad listened eagerly, all ears, for atime; at last he could stand it no longer. He slipped out of theroom quietly, paid his bill at the bar, and as soon as he got outsidesauntered round quietly to the inn-yard. 'There cannot be any harm, ' hesaid to himself, 'in my only just LOOKING at it!' The car stood in the middle of the yard, quite unattended, thestable-helps and other hangers-on being all at their dinner. Toad walkedslowly round it, inspecting, criticising, musing deeply. 'I wonder, ' he said to himself presently, 'I wonder if this sort of carSTARTS easily?' Next moment, hardly knowing how it came about, he found he had hold ofthe handle and was turning it. As the familiar sound broke forth, theold passion seized on Toad and completely mastered him, body and soul. As if in a dream he found himself, somehow, seated in the driver's seat;as if in a dream, he pulled the lever and swung the car round the yardand out through the archway; and, as if in a dream, all sense ofright and wrong, all fear of obvious consequences, seemed temporarilysuspended. He increased his pace, and as the car devoured the streetand leapt forth on the high road through the open country, he was onlyconscious that he was Toad once more, Toad at his best and highest, Toadthe terror, the traffic-queller, the Lord of the lone trail, before whomall must give way or be smitten into nothingness and everlasting night. He chanted as he flew, and the car responded with sonorous drone; themiles were eaten up under him as he sped he knew not whither, fulfillinghis instincts, living his hour, reckless of what might come to him. * * * * * * 'To my mind, ' observed the Chairman of the Bench of Magistratescheerfully, 'the ONLY difficulty that presents itself in this otherwisevery clear case is, how we can possibly make it sufficiently hot for theincorrigible rogue and hardened ruffian whom we see cowering in thedock before us. Let me see: he has been found guilty, on the clearestevidence, first, of stealing a valuable motor-car; secondly, of drivingto the public danger; and, thirdly, of gross impertinence to the ruralpolice. Mr. Clerk, will you tell us, please, what is the very stiffestpenalty we can impose for each of these offences? Without, of course, giving the prisoner the benefit of any doubt, because there isn't any. ' The Clerk scratched his nose with his pen. 'Some people would consider, 'he observed, 'that stealing the motor-car was the worst offence; and soit is. But cheeking the police undoubtedly carries the severest penalty;and so it ought. Supposing you were to say twelve months for thetheft, which is mild; and three years for the furious driving, which islenient; and fifteen years for the cheek, which was pretty bad sort ofcheek, judging by what we've heard from the witness-box, even if youonly believe one-tenth part of what you heard, and I never believe moremyself--those figures, if added together correctly, tot up to nineteenyears----' 'First-rate!' said the Chairman. '--So you had better make it a round twenty years and be on the safeside, ' concluded the Clerk. 'An excellent suggestion!' said the Chairman approvingly. 'Prisoner!Pull yourself together and try and stand up straight. It's going to betwenty years for you this time. And mind, if you appear before usagain, upon any charge whatever, we shall have to deal with you veryseriously!' Then the brutal minions of the law fell upon the hapless Toad; loadedhim with chains, and dragged him from the Court House, shrieking, praying, protesting; across the marketplace, where the playful populace, always as severe upon detected crime as they are sympathetic and helpfulwhen one is merely 'wanted, ' assailed him with jeers, carrots, andpopular catch-words; past hooting school children, their innocent faceslit up with the pleasure they ever derive from the sight of a gentlemanin difficulties; across the hollow-sounding drawbridge, below the spikyportcullis, under the frowning archway of the grim old castle, whoseancient towers soared high overhead; past guardrooms full of grinningsoldiery off duty, past sentries who coughed in a horrid, sarcasticway, because that is as much as a sentry on his post dare do to showhis contempt and abhorrence of crime; up time-worn winding stairs, pastmen-at-arms in casquet and corselet of steel, darting threatening looksthrough their vizards; across courtyards, where mastiffs strained attheir leash and pawed the air to get at him; past ancient warders, theirhalberds leant against the wall, dozing over a pasty and a flagon ofbrown ale; on and on, past the rack-chamber and the thumbscrew-room, past the turning that led to the private scaffold, till they reachedthe door of the grimmest dungeon that lay in the heart of the innermostkeep. There at last they paused, where an ancient gaoler sat fingering abunch of mighty keys. 'Oddsbodikins!' said the sergeant of police, taking off his helmet andwiping his forehead. 'Rouse thee, old loon, and take over from us thisvile Toad, a criminal of deepest guilt and matchless artfulness andresource. Watch and ward him with all thy skill; and mark thee well, greybeard, should aught untoward befall, thy old head shall answer forhis--and a murrain on both of them!' The gaoler nodded grimly, laying his withered hand on the shoulder ofthe miserable Toad. The rusty key creaked in the lock, the great doorclanged behind them; and Toad was a helpless prisoner in the remotestdungeon of the best-guarded keep of the stoutest castle in all thelength and breadth of Merry England. VII. THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN The Willow-Wren was twittering his thin little song, hidden himself inthe dark selvedge of the river bank. Though it was past ten o'clockat night, the sky still clung to and retained some lingering skirtsof light from the departed day; and the sullen heats of the torridafternoon broke up and rolled away at the dispersing touch of the coolfingers of the short midsummer night. Mole lay stretched on the bank, still panting from the stress of the fierce day that had been cloudlessfrom dawn to late sunset, and waited for his friend to return. He hadbeen on the river with some companions, leaving the Water Rat free tokeep a engagement of long standing with Otter; and he had come back tofind the house dark and deserted, and no sign of Rat, who was doubtlesskeeping it up late with his old comrade. It was still too hot to thinkof staying indoors, so he lay on some cool dock-leaves, and thought overthe past day and its doings, and how very good they all had been. The Rat's light footfall was presently heard approaching over theparched grass. 'O, the blessed coolness!' he said, and sat down, gazingthoughtfully into the river, silent and pre-occupied. 'You stayed to supper, of course?' said the Mole presently. 'Simply had to, ' said the Rat. 'They wouldn't hear of my going before. You know how kind they always are. And they made things as jolly for meas ever they could, right up to the moment I left. But I felt a bruteall the time, as it was clear to me they were very unhappy, though theytried to hide it. Mole, I'm afraid they're in trouble. Little Portly ismissing again; and you know what a lot his father thinks of him, thoughhe never says much about it. ' 'What, that child?' said the Mole lightly. 'Well, suppose he is; whyworry about it? He's always straying off and getting lost, and turningup again; he's so adventurous. But no harm ever happens to him. Everybody hereabouts knows him and likes him, just as they do old Otter, and you may be sure some animal or other will come across him and bringhim back again all right. Why, we've found him ourselves, miles fromhome, and quite self-possessed and cheerful!' 'Yes; but this time it's more serious, ' said the Rat gravely. 'He's beenmissing for some days now, and the Otters have hunted everywhere, highand low, without finding the slightest trace. And they've asked everyanimal, too, for miles around, and no one knows anything about him. Otter's evidently more anxious than he'll admit. I got out of him thatyoung Portly hasn't learnt to swim very well yet, and I can seehe's thinking of the weir. There's a lot of water coming down still, considering the time of the year, and the place always had a fascinationfor the child. And then there are--well, traps and things--YOU know. Otter's not the fellow to be nervous about any son of his before it'stime. And now he IS nervous. When I left, he came out with me--said hewanted some air, and talked about stretching his legs. But I could seeit wasn't that, so I drew him out and pumped him, and got it all fromhim at last. He was going to spend the night watching by the ford. Youknow the place where the old ford used to be, in by-gone days beforethey built the bridge?' 'I know it well, ' said the Mole. 'But why should Otter choose to watchthere?' 'Well, it seems that it was there he gave Portly his firstswimming-lesson, ' continued the Rat. 'From that shallow, gravelly spitnear the bank. And it was there he used to teach him fishing, and thereyoung Portly caught his first fish, of which he was so very proud. Thechild loved the spot, and Otter thinks that if he came wanderingback from wherever he is--if he IS anywhere by this time, poor littlechap--he might make for the ford he was so fond of; or if he came acrossit he'd remember it well, and stop there and play, perhaps. So Ottergoes there every night and watches--on the chance, you know, just on thechance!' They were silent for a time, both thinking of the same thing--thelonely, heart-sore animal, crouched by the ford, watching and waiting, the long night through--on the chance. 'Well, well, ' said the Rat presently, 'I suppose we ought to be thinkingabout turning in. ' But he never offered to move. 'Rat, ' said the Mole, 'I simply can't go and turn in, and go to sleep, and DO nothing, even though there doesn't seem to be anything to bedone. We'll get the boat out, and paddle up stream. The moon will be upin an hour or so, and then we will search as well as we can--anyhow, itwill be better than going to bed and doing NOTHING. ' 'Just what I was thinking myself, ' said the Rat. 'It's not the sort ofnight for bed anyhow; and daybreak is not so very far off, and then wemay pick up some news of him from early risers as we go along. ' They got the boat out, and the Rat took the sculls, paddling withcaution. Out in midstream, there was a clear, narrow track that faintlyreflected the sky; but wherever shadows fell on the water from bank, bush, or tree, they were as solid to all appearance as the banksthemselves, and the Mole had to steer with judgment accordingly. Darkand deserted as it was, the night was full of small noises, song andchatter and rustling, telling of the busy little population who wereup and about, plying their trades and vocations through the nighttill sunshine should fall on them at last and send them off to theirwell-earned repose. The water's own noises, too, were more apparent thanby day, its gurglings and 'cloops' more unexpected and near at hand;and constantly they started at what seemed a sudden clear call from anactual articulate voice. The line of the horizon was clear and hard against the sky, and inone particular quarter it showed black against a silvery climbingphosphorescence that grew and grew. At last, over the rim of the waitingearth the moon lifted with slow majesty till it swung clear of thehorizon and rode off, free of moorings; and once more they began to seesurfaces--meadows wide-spread, and quiet gardens, and the river itselffrom bank to bank, all softly disclosed, all washed clean of mysteryand terror, all radiant again as by day, but with a difference that wastremendous. Their old haunts greeted them again in other raiment, as ifthey had slipped away and put on this pure new apparel and come quietlyback, smiling as they shyly waited to see if they would be recognisedagain under it. Fastening their boat to a willow, the friends landed in this silent, silver kingdom, and patiently explored the hedges, the hollow trees, the runnels and their little culverts, the ditches and dry water-ways. Embarking again and crossing over, they worked their way up the streamin this manner, while the moon, serene and detached in a cloudless sky, did what she could, though so far off, to help them in their quest; tillher hour came and she sank earthwards reluctantly, and left them, andmystery once more held field and river. Then a change began slowly to declare itself. The horizon becameclearer, field and tree came more into sight, and somehow with adifferent look; the mystery began to drop away from them. A bird pipedsuddenly, and was still; and a light breeze sprang up and set the reedsand bulrushes rustling. Rat, who was in the stern of the boat, whileMole sculled, sat up suddenly and listened with a passionate intentness. Mole, who with gentle strokes was just keeping the boat moving while hescanned the banks with care, looked at him with curiosity. 'It's gone!' sighed the Rat, sinking back in his seat again. 'Sobeautiful and strange and new. Since it was to end so soon, I almostwish I had never heard it. For it has roused a longing in me that ispain, and nothing seems worth while but just to hear that sound oncemore and go on listening to it for ever. No! There it is again!' hecried, alert once more. Entranced, he was silent for a long space, spellbound. 'Now it passes on and I begin to lose it, ' he said presently. 'O Mole!the beauty of it! The merry bubble and joy, the thin, clear, happy callof the distant piping! Such music I never dreamed of, and the call init is stronger even than the music is sweet! Row on, Mole, row! For themusic and the call must be for us. ' The Mole, greatly wondering, obeyed. 'I hear nothing myself, ' he said, 'but the wind playing in the reeds and rushes and osiers. ' The Rat never answered, if indeed he heard. Rapt, transported, trembling, he was possessed in all his senses by this new divine thingthat caught up his helpless soul and swung and dandled it, a powerlessbut happy infant in a strong sustaining grasp. In silence Mole rowed steadily, and soon they came to a point where theriver divided, a long backwater branching off to one side. With aslight movement of his head Rat, who had long dropped the rudder-lines, directed the rower to take the backwater. The creeping tide of lightgained and gained, and now they could see the colour of the flowers thatgemmed the water's edge. 'Clearer and nearer still, ' cried the Rat joyously. 'Now you must surelyhear it! Ah--at last--I see you do!' Breathless and transfixed the Mole stopped rowing as the liquid run ofthat glad piping broke on him like a wave, caught him up, and possessedhim utterly. He saw the tears on his comrade's cheeks, and bowed hishead and understood. For a space they hung there, brushed by the purpleloose-strife that fringed the bank; then the clear imperious summonsthat marched hand-in-hand with the intoxicating melody imposed its willon Mole, and mechanically he bent to his oars again. And the light grewsteadily stronger, but no birds sang as they were wont to do at theapproach of dawn; and but for the heavenly music all was marvellouslystill. On either side of them, as they glided onwards, the rich meadow-grassseemed that morning of a freshness and a greenness unsurpassable. Neverhad they noticed the roses so vivid, the willow-herb so riotous, the meadow-sweet so odorous and pervading. Then the murmur of theapproaching weir began to hold the air, and they felt a consciousnessthat they were nearing the end, whatever it might be, that surelyawaited their expedition. A wide half-circle of foam and glinting lights and shining shouldersof green water, the great weir closed the backwater from bank tobank, troubled all the quiet surface with twirling eddies and floatingfoam-streaks, and deadened all other sounds with its solemn and soothingrumble. In midmost of the stream, embraced in the weir's shimmeringarm-spread, a small island lay anchored, fringed close with willow andsilver birch and alder. Reserved, shy, but full of significance, it hidwhatever it might hold behind a veil, keeping it till the hour shouldcome, and, with the hour, those who were called and chosen. Slowly, but with no doubt or hesitation whatever, and in something of asolemn expectancy, the two animals passed through the broken tumultuouswater and moored their boat at the flowery margin of the island. Insilence they landed, and pushed through the blossom and scented herbageand undergrowth that led up to the level ground, till they stood ona little lawn of a marvellous green, set round with Nature's ownorchard-trees--crab-apple, wild cherry, and sloe. 'This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played to me, 'whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. 'Here, in this holy place, here ifanywhere, surely we shall find Him!' Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe thatturned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to theground. It was no panic terror--indeed he felt wonderfully at peace andhappy--but it was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, heknew it could only mean that some august Presence was very, very near. With difficulty he turned to look for his friend and saw him at hisside cowed, stricken, and trembling violently. And still there was uttersilence in the populous bird-haunted branches around them; and still thelight grew and grew. Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that, thoughthe piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed stilldominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death himself waitingto strike him instantly, once he had looked with mortal eye on thingsrightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, and raised his humble head;and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fullness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breathfor the event, he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper;saw the backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growingdaylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that werelooking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth broke into ahalf-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles on the arm that layacross the broad chest, the long supple hand still holding the pan-pipesonly just fallen away from the parted lips; saw the splendid curves ofthe shaggy limbs disposed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last ofall, nestling between his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peaceand contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the babyotter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vividon the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as helived, he wondered. 'Rat!' he found breath to whisper, shaking. 'Are you afraid?' 'Afraid?' murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. 'Afraid! Of HIM? O, never, never! And yet--and yet--O, Mole, I amafraid!' Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and didworship. Sudden and magnificent, the sun's broad golden disc showed itself overthe horizon facing them; and the first rays, shooting across the levelwater-meadows, took the animals full in the eyes and dazzled them. Whenthey were able to look once more, the Vision had vanished, and the airwas full of the carol of birds that hailed the dawn. As they stared blankly in dumb misery deepening as they slowly realisedall they had seen and all they had lost, a capricious little breeze, dancing up from the surface of the water, tossed the aspens, shook thedewy roses and blew lightly and caressingly in their faces; and with itssoft touch came instant oblivion. For this is the last best giftthat the kindly demi-god is careful to bestow on those to whom he hasrevealed himself in their helping: the gift of forgetfulness. Lestthe awful remembrance should remain and grow, and overshadow mirth andpleasure, and the great haunting memory should spoil all the after-livesof little animals helped out of difficulties, in order that they shouldbe happy and lighthearted as before. Mole rubbed his eyes and stared at Rat, who was looking about him ina puzzled sort of way. 'I beg your pardon; what did you say, Rat?' heasked. 'I think I was only remarking, ' said Rat slowly, 'that this was theright sort of place, and that here, if anywhere, we should find him. Andlook! Why, there he is, the little fellow!' And with a cry of delight heran towards the slumbering Portly. But Mole stood still a moment, held in thought. As one wakened suddenlyfrom a beautiful dream, who struggles to recall it, and can re-capturenothing but a dim sense of the beauty of it, the beauty! Till that, too, fades away in its turn, and the dreamer bitterly accepts the hard, coldwaking and all its penalties; so Mole, after struggling with his memoryfor a brief space, shook his head sadly and followed the Rat. Portly woke up with a joyous squeak, and wriggled with pleasure at thesight of his father's friends, who had played with him so often in pastdays. In a moment, however, his face grew blank, and he fell to huntinground in a circle with pleading whine. As a child that has fallenhappily asleep in its nurse's arms, and wakes to find itself alone andlaid in a strange place, and searches corners and cupboards, and runsfrom room to room, despair growing silently in its heart, even so Portlysearched the island and searched, dogged and unwearying, till at lastthe black moment came for giving it up, and sitting down and cryingbitterly. The Mole ran quickly to comfort the little animal; but Rat, lingering, looked long and doubtfully at certain hoof-marks deep in the sward. 'Some--great--animal--has been here, ' he murmured slowly andthoughtfully; and stood musing, musing; his mind strangely stirred. 'Come along, Rat!' called the Mole. 'Think of poor Otter, waiting upthere by the ford!' Portly had soon been comforted by the promise of a treat--a jaunt on theriver in Mr. Rat's real boat; and the two animals conducted him to thewater's side, placed him securely between them in the bottom of theboat, and paddled off down the backwater. The sun was fully up by now, and hot on them, birds sang lustily and without restraint, and flowerssmiled and nodded from either bank, but somehow--so thought theanimals--with less of richness and blaze of colour than they seemed toremember seeing quite recently somewhere--they wondered where. The main river reached again, they turned the boat's head upstream, towards the point where they knew their friend was keeping his lonelyvigil. As they drew near the familiar ford, the Mole took the boat into the bank, and they lifted Portly out and set him on his legs on thetow-path, gave him his marching orders and a friendly farewell pat onthe back, and shoved out into mid-stream. They watched the little animalas he waddled along the path contentedly and with importance; watchedhim till they saw his muzzle suddenly lift and his waddle break into aclumsy amble as he quickened his pace with shrill whines and wriggles ofrecognition. Looking up the river, they could see Otter start up, tenseand rigid, from out of the shallows where he crouched in dumb patience, and could hear his amazed and joyous bark as he bounded up through theosiers on to the path. Then the Mole, with a strong pull on one oar, swung the boat round and let the full stream bear them down againwhither it would, their quest now happily ended. 'I feel strangely tired, Rat, ' said the Mole, leaning wearily over hisoars as the boat drifted. 'It's being up all night, you'll say, perhaps;but that's nothing. We do as much half the nights of the week, at thistime of the year. No; I feel as if I had been through something veryexciting and rather terrible, and it was just over; and yet nothingparticular has happened. ' 'Or something very surprising and splendid and beautiful, ' murmured theRat, leaning back and closing his eyes. 'I feel just as you do, Mole;simply dead tired, though not body tired. It's lucky we've got thestream with us, to take us home. Isn't it jolly to feel the sun again, soaking into one's bones! And hark to the wind playing in the reeds!' 'It's like music--far away music, ' said the Mole nodding drowsily. 'So I was thinking, ' murmured the Rat, dreamful and languid. 'Dance-music--the lilting sort that runs on without a stop--but withwords in it, too--it passes into words and out of them again--I catchthem at intervals--then it is dance-music once more, and then nothingbut the reeds' soft thin whispering. ' 'You hear better than I, ' said the Mole sadly. 'I cannot catch thewords. ' 'Let me try and give you them, ' said the Rat softly, his eyes stillclosed. 'Now it is turning into words again--faint but clear--Lest theawe should dwell--And turn your frolic to fret--You shall look on mypower at the helping hour--But then you shall forget! Now the reeds takeit up--forget, forget, they sigh, and it dies away in a rustle and awhisper. Then the voice returns-- 'Lest limbs be reddened and rent--I spring the trap that is set--As Iloose the snare you may glimpse me there--For surely you shall forget!Row nearer, Mole, nearer to the reeds! It is hard to catch, and growseach minute fainter. 'Helper and healer, I cheer--Small waifs in the woodland wet--Strays Ifind in it, wounds I bind in it--Bidding them all forget! Nearer, Mole, nearer! No, it is no good; the song has died away into reed-talk. ' 'But what do the words mean?' asked the wondering Mole. 'That I do not know, ' said the Rat simply. 'I passed them on to youas they reached me. Ah! now they return again, and this time full andclear! This time, at last, it is the real, the unmistakable thing, simple--passionate--perfect----' 'Well, let's have it, then, ' said the Mole, after he had waitedpatiently for a few minutes, half-dozing in the hot sun. But no answer came. He looked, and understood the silence. With a smileof much happiness on his face, and something of a listening look stilllingering there, the weary Rat was fast asleep. VIII. TOAD'S ADVENTURES When Toad found himself immured in a dank and noisome dungeon, and knewthat all the grim darkness of a medieval fortress lay between him andthe outer world of sunshine and well-metalled high roads where he hadlately been so happy, disporting himself as if he had bought up everyroad in England, he flung himself at full length on the floor, and shedbitter tears, and abandoned himself to dark despair. 'This is the endof everything' (he said), 'at least it is the end of the career of Toad, which is the same thing; the popular and handsome Toad, the rich andhospitable Toad, the Toad so free and careless and debonair! How can Ihope to be ever set at large again' (he said), 'who have been imprisonedso justly for stealing so handsome a motor-car in such an audaciousmanner, and for such lurid and imaginative cheek, bestowed upon such anumber of fat, red-faced policemen!' (Here his sobs choked him. ) 'Stupidanimal that I was' (he said), 'now I must languish in this dungeon, tillpeople who were proud to say they knew me, have forgotten the very nameof Toad! O wise old Badger!' (he said), 'O clever, intelligent Rat andsensible Mole! What sound judgments, what a knowledge of men and mattersyou possess! O unhappy and forsaken Toad!' With lamentations such asthese he passed his days and nights for several weeks, refusing hismeals or intermediate light refreshments, though the grim and ancientgaoler, knowing that Toad's pockets were well lined, frequently pointedout that many comforts, and indeed luxuries, could by arrangement besent in--at a price--from outside. Now the gaoler had a daughter, a pleasant wench and good-hearted, who assisted her father in the lighter duties of his post. She wasparticularly fond of animals, and, besides her canary, whose cage hungon a nail in the massive wall of the keep by day, to the great annoyanceof prisoners who relished an after-dinner nap, and was shrouded in anantimacassar on the parlour table at night, she kept several piebaldmice and a restless revolving squirrel. This kind-hearted girl, pityingthe misery of Toad, said to her father one day, 'Father! I can't bear tosee that poor beast so unhappy, and getting so thin! You let me have themanaging of him. You know how fond of animals I am. I'll make him eatfrom my hand, and sit up, and do all sorts of things. ' Her father replied that she could do what she liked with him. He wastired of Toad, and his sulks and his airs and his meanness. So that dayshe went on her errand of mercy, and knocked at the door of Toad's cell. 'Now, cheer up, Toad, ' she said, coaxingly, on entering, 'and sit upand dry your eyes and be a sensible animal. And do try and eat a bit ofdinner. See, I've brought you some of mine, hot from the oven!' It was bubble-and-squeak, between two plates, and its fragrance filledthe narrow cell. The penetrating smell of cabbage reached the nose ofToad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the floor, and gave him theidea for a moment that perhaps life was not such a blank and desperatething as he had imagined. But still he wailed, and kicked with his legs, and refused to be comforted. So the wise girl retired for the time, but, of course, a good deal of the smell of hot cabbage remained behind, as it will do, and Toad, between his sobs, sniffed and reflected, andgradually began to think new and inspiring thoughts: of chivalry, and poetry, and deeds still to be done; of broad meadows, and cattlebrowsing in them, raked by sun and wind; of kitchen-gardens, andstraight herb-borders, and warm snap-dragon beset by bees; and of thecomforting clink of dishes set down on the table at Toad Hall, and thescrape of chair-legs on the floor as every one pulled himself close upto his work. The air of the narrow cell took a rosy tinge; he began tothink of his friends, and how they would surely be able to do something;of lawyers, and how they would have enjoyed his case, and what an asshe had been not to get in a few; and lastly, he thought of his own greatcleverness and resource, and all that he was capable of if he only gavehis great mind to it; and the cure was almost complete. When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with acup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hotbuttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butterrunning through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey fromthe honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts onbright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on thefender; of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepycanaries. Toad sat up on end once more, dried his eyes, sipped his teaand munched his toast, and soon began talking freely about himself, andthe house he lived in, and his doings there, and how important he was, and what a lot his friends thought of him. The gaoler's daughter saw that the topic was doing him as much good asthe tea, as indeed it was, and encouraged him to go on. 'Tell me about Toad Hall, ' said she. 'It sounds beautiful. ' 'Toad Hall, ' said the Toad proudly, 'is an eligible self-containedgentleman's residence very unique; dating in part from the fourteenthcentury, but replete with every modern convenience. Up-to-datesanitation. Five minutes from church, post-office, and golf-links, Suitable for----' 'Bless the animal, ' said the girl, laughing, 'I don't want to TAKE it. Tell me something REAL about it. But first wait till I fetch you somemore tea and toast. ' She tripped away, and presently returned with a fresh trayful; and Toad, pitching into the toast with avidity, his spirits quite restored totheir usual level, told her about the boathouse, and the fish-pond, andthe old walled kitchen-garden; and about the pig-styes, and the stables, and the pigeon-house, and the hen-house; and about the dairy, and thewash-house, and the china-cupboards, and the linen-presses (she likedthat bit especially); and about the banqueting-hall, and the fun theyhad there when the other animals were gathered round the table and Toadwas at his best, singing songs, telling stories, carrying on generally. Then she wanted to know about his animal-friends, and was veryinterested in all he had to tell her about them and how they lived, andwhat they did to pass their time. Of course, she did not say she wasfond of animals as PETS, because she had the sense to see that Toadwould be extremely offended. When she said good night, having filled hiswater-jug and shaken up his straw for him, Toad was very much the samesanguine, self-satisfied animal that he had been of old. He sang alittle song or two, of the sort he used to sing at his dinner-parties, curled himself up in the straw, and had an excellent night's rest andthe pleasantest of dreams. They had many interesting talks together, after that, as the dreary dayswent on; and the gaoler's daughter grew very sorry for Toad, and thoughtit a great shame that a poor little animal should be locked up in prisonfor what seemed to her a very trivial offence. Toad, of course, inhis vanity, thought that her interest in him proceeded from a growingtenderness; and he could not help half-regretting that the social gulfbetween them was so very wide, for she was a comely lass, and evidentlyadmired him very much. One morning the girl was very thoughtful, and answered at random, anddid not seem to Toad to be paying proper attention to his witty sayingsand sparkling comments. 'Toad, ' she said presently, 'just listen, please. I have an aunt who isa washerwoman. ' 'There, there, ' said Toad, graciously and affably, 'never mind; think nomore about it. _I_ have several aunts who OUGHT to be washerwomen. ' 'Do be quiet a minute, Toad, ' said the girl. 'You talk too much, that'syour chief fault, and I'm trying to think, and you hurt my head. As Isaid, I have an aunt who is a washerwoman; she does the washing for allthe prisoners in this castle--we try to keep any paying business of thatsort in the family, you understand. She takes out the washing on Mondaymorning, and brings it in on Friday evening. This is a Thursday. Now, this is what occurs to me: you're very rich--at least you're alwaystelling me so--and she's very poor. A few pounds wouldn't make anydifference to you, and it would mean a lot to her. Now, I think if shewere properly approached--squared, I believe is the word you animalsuse--you could come to some arrangement by which she would let you haveher dress and bonnet and so on, and you could escape from thecastle as the official washerwoman. You're very alike in manyrespects--particularly about the figure. ' 'We're NOT, ' said the Toad in a huff. 'I have a very elegant figure--forwhat I am. ' 'So has my aunt, ' replied the girl, 'for what SHE is. But have it yourown way. You horrid, proud, ungrateful animal, when I'm sorry for you, and trying to help you!' 'Yes, yes, that's all right; thank you very much indeed, ' said the Toadhurriedly. 'But look here! you wouldn't surely have Mr. Toad of ToadHall, going about the country disguised as a washerwoman!' 'Then you can stop here as a Toad, ' replied the girl with much spirit. 'I suppose you want to go off in a coach-and-four!' Honest Toad was always ready to admit himself in the wrong. 'You are agood, kind, clever girl, ' he said, 'and I am indeed a proud and a stupidtoad. Introduce me to your worthy aunt, if you will be so kind, andI have no doubt that the excellent lady and I will be able to arrangeterms satisfactory to both parties. ' Next evening the girl ushered her aunt into Toad's cell, bearing hisweek's washing pinned up in a towel. The old lady had been preparedbeforehand for the interview, and the sight of certain gold sovereignsthat Toad had thoughtfully placed on the table in full view practicallycompleted the matter and left little further to discuss. In return forhis cash, Toad received a cotton print gown, an apron, a shawl, and arusty black bonnet; the only stipulation the old lady made being thatshe should be gagged and bound and dumped down in a corner. By this notvery convincing artifice, she explained, aided by picturesque fictionwhich she could supply herself, she hoped to retain her situation, inspite of the suspicious appearance of things. Toad was delighted with the suggestion. It would enable him to leave theprison in some style, and with his reputation for being a desperateand dangerous fellow untarnished; and he readily helped the gaoler'sdaughter to make her aunt appear as much as possible the victim ofcircumstances over which she had no control. 'Now it's your turn, Toad, ' said the girl. 'Take off that coat andwaistcoat of yours; you're fat enough as it is. ' Shaking with laughter, she proceeded to 'hook-and-eye' him into thecotton print gown, arranged the shawl with a professional fold, and tiedthe strings of the rusty bonnet under his chin. 'You're the very image of her, ' she giggled, 'only I'm sure you neverlooked half so respectable in all your life before. Now, good-bye, Toad, and good luck. Go straight down the way you came up; and if any one saysanything to you, as they probably will, being but men, you can chaffback a bit, of course, but remember you're a widow woman, quite alone inthe world, with a character to lose. ' With a quaking heart, but as firm a footstep as he could command, Toad set forth cautiously on what seemed to be a most hare-brained andhazardous undertaking; but he was soon agreeably surprised to find howeasy everything was made for him, and a little humbled at the thoughtthat both his popularity, and the sex that seemed to inspire it, werereally another's. The washerwoman's squat figure in its familiar cottonprint seemed a passport for every barred door and grim gateway; evenwhen he hesitated, uncertain as to the right turning to take, he foundhimself helped out of his difficulty by the warder at the next gate, anxious to be off to his tea, summoning him to come along sharp and notkeep him waiting there all night. The chaff and the humourous salliesto which he was subjected, and to which, of course, he had to provideprompt and effective reply, formed, indeed, his chief danger; for Toadwas an animal with a strong sense of his own dignity, and the chaffwas mostly (he thought) poor and clumsy, and the humour of the salliesentirely lacking. However, he kept his temper, though with greatdifficulty, suited his retorts to his company and his supposedcharacter, and did his best not to overstep the limits of good taste. It seemed hours before he crossed the last courtyard, rejected thepressing invitations from the last guardroom, and dodged the outspreadarms of the last warder, pleading with simulated passion for just onefarewell embrace. But at last he heard the wicket-gate in the greatouter door click behind him, felt the fresh air of the outer world uponhis anxious brow, and knew that he was free! Dizzy with the easy success of his daring exploit, he walked quicklytowards the lights of the town, not knowing in the least what he shoulddo next, only quite certain of one thing, that he must remove himself asquickly as possible from the neighbourhood where the lady he was forcedto represent was so well-known and so popular a character. As he walked along, considering, his attention was caught by some redand green lights a little way off, to one side of the town, and thesound of the puffing and snorting of engines and the banging of shuntedtrucks fell on his ear. 'Aha!' he thought, 'this is a piece of luck!A railway station is the thing I want most in the whole world at thismoment; and what's more, I needn't go through the town to get it, andshan't have to support this humiliating character by repartees which, though thoroughly effective, do not assist one's sense of self-respect. ' He made his way to the station accordingly, consulted a time-table, andfound that a train, bound more or less in the direction of his home, wasdue to start in half-an-hour. 'More luck!' said Toad, his spirits risingrapidly, and went off to the booking-office to buy his ticket. He gave the name of the station that he knew to be nearest to thevillage of which Toad Hall was the principal feature, and mechanicallyput his fingers, in search of the necessary money, where his waistcoatpocket should have been. But here the cotton gown, which had noblystood by him so far, and which he had basely forgotten, intervened, andfrustrated his efforts. In a sort of nightmare he struggled with thestrange uncanny thing that seemed to hold his hands, turn all muscularstrivings to water, and laugh at him all the time; while othertravellers, forming up in a line behind, waited with impatience, making suggestions of more or less value and comments of more or lessstringency and point. At last--somehow--he never rightly understoodhow--he burst the barriers, attained the goal, arrived at where allwaistcoat pockets are eternally situated, and found--not only no money, but no pocket to hold it, and no waistcoat to hold the pocket! To his horror he recollected that he had left both coat and waistcoatbehind him in his cell, and with them his pocket-book, money, keys, watch, matches, pencil-case--all that makes life worth living, all thatdistinguishes the many-pocketed animal, the lord of creation, from theinferior one-pocketed or no-pocketed productions that hop or trip aboutpermissively, unequipped for the real contest. In his misery he made one desperate effort to carry the thing off, and, with a return to his fine old manner--a blend of the Squire and theCollege Don--he said, 'Look here! I find I've left my purse behind. Justgive me that ticket, will you, and I'll send the money on to-morrow? I'mwell-known in these parts. ' The clerk stared at him and the rusty black bonnet a moment, and thenlaughed. 'I should think you were pretty well known in these parts, 'he said, 'if you've tried this game on often. Here, stand away from thewindow, please, madam; you're obstructing the other passengers!' An old gentleman who had been prodding him in the back for some momentshere thrust him away, and, what was worse, addressed him as his goodwoman, which angered Toad more than anything that had occurred thatevening. Baffled and full of despair, he wandered blindly down the platform wherethe train was standing, and tears trickled down each side of his nose. It was hard, he thought, to be within sight of safety and almost ofhome, and to be baulked by the want of a few wretched shillings and bythe pettifogging mistrustfulness of paid officials. Very soon his escapewould be discovered, the hunt would be up, he would be caught, reviled, loaded with chains, dragged back again to prison and bread-and-water andstraw; his guards and penalties would be doubled; and O, what sarcasticremarks the girl would make! What was to be done? He was not swift offoot; his figure was unfortunately recognisable. Could he not squeezeunder the seat of a carriage? He had seen this method adopted byschoolboys, when the journey-money provided by thoughtful parents hadbeen diverted to other and better ends. As he pondered, he foundhimself opposite the engine, which was being oiled, wiped, and generallycaressed by its affectionate driver, a burly man with an oil-can in onehand and a lump of cotton-waste in the other. 'Hullo, mother!' said the engine-driver, 'what's the trouble? You don'tlook particularly cheerful. ' 'O, sir!' said Toad, crying afresh, 'I am a poor unhappy washerwoman, and I've lost all my money, and can't pay for a ticket, and I must gethome to-night somehow, and whatever I am to do I don't know. O dear, Odear!' 'That's a bad business, indeed, ' said the engine-driver reflectively. 'Lost your money--and can't get home--and got some kids, too, waitingfor you, I dare say?' 'Any amount of 'em, ' sobbed Toad. 'And they'll be hungry--andplaying with matches--and upsetting lamps, the little innocents!--andquarrelling, and going on generally. O dear, O dear!' 'Well, I'll tell you what I'll do, ' said the good engine-driver. 'You'rea washerwoman to your trade, says you. Very well, that's that. AndI'm an engine-driver, as you well may see, and there's no denying it'sterribly dirty work. Uses up a power of shirts, it does, till my missusis fair tired of washing of 'em. If you'll wash a few shirts for me whenyou get home, and send 'em along, I'll give you a ride on my engine. It's against the Company's regulations, but we're not so very particularin these out-of-the-way parts. ' The Toad's misery turned into rapture as he eagerly scrambled up intothe cab of the engine. Of course, he had never washed a shirt in hislife, and couldn't if he tried and, anyhow, he wasn't going to begin;but he thought: 'When I get safely home to Toad Hall, and have moneyagain, and pockets to put it in, I will send the engine-driver enough topay for quite a quantity of washing, and that will be the same thing, orbetter. ' The guard waved his welcome flag, the engine-driver whistled incheerful response, and the train moved out of the station. As the speedincreased, and the Toad could see on either side of him real fields, andtrees, and hedges, and cows, and horses, all flying past him, and ashe thought how every minute was bringing him nearer to Toad Hall, andsympathetic friends, and money to chink in his pocket, and a soft bedto sleep in, and good things to eat, and praise and admiration at therecital of his adventures and his surpassing cleverness, he began toskip up and down and shout and sing snatches of song, to the greatastonishment of the engine-driver, who had come across washerwomenbefore, at long intervals, but never one at all like this. They had covered many and many a mile, and Toad was already consideringwhat he would have for supper as soon as he got home, when he noticedthat the engine-driver, with a puzzled expression on his face, wasleaning over the side of the engine and listening hard. Then he saw himclimb on to the coals and gaze out over the top of the train; then hereturned and said to Toad: 'It's very strange; we're the last trainrunning in this direction to-night, yet I could be sworn that I heardanother following us!' Toad ceased his frivolous antics at once. He became grave and depressed, and a dull pain in the lower part of his spine, communicating itself tohis legs, made him want to sit down and try desperately not to think ofall the possibilities. By this time the moon was shining brightly, and the engine-driver, steadying himself on the coal, could command a view of the line behindthem for a long distance. Presently he called out, 'I can see it clearly now! It is an engine, onour rails, coming along at a great pace! It looks as if we were beingpursued!' The miserable Toad, crouching in the coal-dust, tried hard to think ofsomething to do, with dismal want of success. 'They are gaining on us fast!' cried the engine-driver. And the engineis crowded with the queerest lot of people! Men like ancient warders, waving halberds; policemen in their helmets, waving truncheons; andshabbily dressed men in pot-hats, obvious and unmistakable plain-clothesdetectives even at this distance, waving revolvers and walking-sticks;all waving, and all shouting the same thing--"Stop, stop, stop!"' Then Toad fell on his knees among the coals and, raising his claspedpaws in supplication, cried, 'Save me, only save me, dear kind Mr. Engine-driver, and I will confess everything! I am not the simplewasherwoman I seem to be! I have no children waiting for me, innocentor otherwise! I am a toad--the well-known and popular Mr. Toad, a landedproprietor; I have just escaped, by my great daring and cleverness, froma loathsome dungeon into which my enemies had flung me; and ifthose fellows on that engine recapture me, it will be chains andbread-and-water and straw and misery once more for poor, unhappy, innocent Toad!' The engine-driver looked down upon him very sternly, and said, 'Now tellthe truth; what were you put in prison for?' 'It was nothing very much, ' said poor Toad, colouring deeply. 'I onlyborrowed a motorcar while the owners were at lunch; they had no needof it at the time. I didn't mean to steal it, really; butpeople--especially magistrates--take such harsh views of thoughtless andhigh-spirited actions. ' The engine-driver looked very grave and said, 'I fear that you have beenindeed a wicked toad, and by rights I ought to give you up to offendedjustice. But you are evidently in sore trouble and distress, so I willnot desert you. I don't hold with motor-cars, for one thing; and I don'thold with being ordered about by policemen when I'm on my own engine, for another. And the sight of an animal in tears always makes me feelqueer and softhearted. So cheer up, Toad! I'll do my best, and we maybeat them yet!' They piled on more coals, shovelling furiously; the furnace roared, thesparks flew, the engine leapt and swung but still their pursuers slowlygained. The engine-driver, with a sigh, wiped his brow with a handfulof cotton-waste, and said, 'I'm afraid it's no good, Toad. You see, theyare running light, and they have the better engine. There's just onething left for us to do, and it's your only chance, so attend verycarefully to what I tell you. A short way ahead of us is a long tunnel, and on the other side of that the line passes through a thick wood. Now, I will put on all the speed I can while we are running through thetunnel, but the other fellows will slow down a bit, naturally, for fearof an accident. When we are through, I will shut off steam and put onbrakes as hard as I can, and the moment it's safe to do so you must jumpand hide in the wood, before they get through the tunnel and see you. Then I will go full speed ahead again, and they can chase me if theylike, for as long as they like, and as far as they like. Now mind and beready to jump when I tell you!' They piled on more coals, and the train shot into the tunnel, and theengine rushed and roared and rattled, till at last they shot out at theother end into fresh air and the peaceful moonlight, and saw the woodlying dark and helpful upon either side of the line. The driver shut offsteam and put on brakes, the Toad got down on the step, and as the trainslowed down to almost a walking pace he heard the driver call out, 'Now, jump!' Toad jumped, rolled down a short embankment, picked himself up unhurt, scrambled into the wood and hid. Peeping out, he saw his train get up speed again and disappear at agreat pace. Then out of the tunnel burst the pursuing engine, roaringand whistling, her motley crew waving their various weapons andshouting, 'Stop! stop! stop!' When they were past, the Toad had a heartylaugh--for the first time since he was thrown into prison. But he soon stopped laughing when he came to consider that it was nowvery late and dark and cold, and he was in an unknown wood, with nomoney and no chance of supper, and still far from friends and home; andthe dead silence of everything, after the roar and rattle of the train, was something of a shock. He dared not leave the shelter of the trees, so he struck into the wood, with the idea of leaving the railway as faras possible behind him. After so many weeks within walls, he found the wood strange andunfriendly and inclined, he thought, to make fun of him. Night-jars, sounding their mechanical rattle, made him think that the wood was fullof searching warders, closing in on him. An owl, swooping noiselesslytowards him, brushed his shoulder with its wing, making him jump withthe horrid certainty that it was a hand; then flitted off, moth-like, laughing its low ho! ho! ho; which Toad thought in very poor taste. Oncehe met a fox, who stopped, looked him up and down in a sarcastic sortof way, and said, 'Hullo, washerwoman! Half a pair of socks and apillow-case short this week! Mind it doesn't occur again!' and swaggeredoff, sniggering. Toad looked about for a stone to throw at him, butcould not succeed in finding one, which vexed him more than anything. At last, cold, hungry, and tired out, he sought the shelter of a hollowtree, where with branches and dead leaves he made himself as comfortablea bed as he could, and slept soundly till the morning. IX. WAYFARERS ALL The Water Rat was restless, and he did not exactly know why. To allappearance the summer's pomp was still at fullest height, and althoughin the tilled acres green had given way to gold, though rowans werereddening, and the woods were dashed here and there with a tawnyfierceness, yet light and warmth and colour were still present inundiminished measure, clean of any chilly premonitions of the passingyear. But the constant chorus of the orchards and hedges had shrunk toa casual evensong from a few yet unwearied performers; the robin wasbeginning to assert himself once more; and there was a feeling inthe air of change and departure. The cuckoo, of course, had long beensilent; but many another feathered friend, for months a part of thefamiliar landscape and its small society, was missing too and it seemedthat the ranks thinned steadily day by day. Rat, ever observant of allwinged movement, saw that it was taking daily a southing tendency; andeven as he lay in bed at night he thought he could make out, passingin the darkness overhead, the beat and quiver of impatient pinions, obedient to the peremptory call. Nature's Grand Hotel has its Season, like the others. As the guests oneby one pack, pay, and depart, and the seats at the table-d'hote shrinkpitifully at each succeeding meal; as suites of rooms are closed, carpets taken up, and waiters sent away; those boarders who are stayingon, en pension, until the next year's full re-opening, cannot helpbeing somewhat affected by all these flittings and farewells, this eagerdiscussion of plans, routes, and fresh quarters, this daily shrinkage inthe stream of comradeship. One gets unsettled, depressed, and inclinedto be querulous. Why this craving for change? Why not stay on quietlyhere, like us, and be jolly? You don't know this hotel out of theseason, and what fun we have among ourselves, we fellows who remain andsee the whole interesting year out. All very true, no doubt the othersalways reply; we quite envy you--and some other year perhaps--but justnow we have engagements--and there's the bus at the door--our time isup! So they depart, with a smile and a nod, and we miss them, and feelresentful. The Rat was a self-sufficing sort of animal, rooted to theland, and, whoever went, he stayed; still, he could not help noticingwhat was in the air, and feeling some of its influence in his bones. It was difficult to settle down to anything seriously, with all thisflitting going on. Leaving the water-side, where rushes stood thickand tall in a stream that was becoming sluggish and low, he wanderedcountry-wards, crossed a field or two of pasturage already looking dustyand parched, and thrust into the great sea of wheat, yellow, wavy, andmurmurous, full of quiet motion and small whisperings. Here he oftenloved to wander, through the forest of stiff strong stalks that carriedtheir own golden sky away over his head--a sky that was always dancing, shimmering, softly talking; or swaying strongly to the passing wind andrecovering itself with a toss and a merry laugh. Here, too, he hadmany small friends, a society complete in itself, leading full and busylives, but always with a spare moment to gossip, and exchange news witha visitor. Today, however, though they were civil enough, the field-miceand harvest-mice seemed preoccupied. Many were digging and tunnellingbusily; others, gathered together in small groups, examined plansand drawings of small flats, stated to be desirable and compact, andsituated conveniently near the Stores. Some were hauling out dustytrunks and dress-baskets, others were already elbow-deep packing theirbelongings; while everywhere piles and bundles of wheat, oats, barley, beech-mast and nuts, lay about ready for transport. 'Here's old Ratty!' they cried as soon as they saw him. 'Come and bear ahand, Rat, and don't stand about idle!' 'What sort of games are you up to?' said the Water Rat severely. 'Youknow it isn't time to be thinking of winter quarters yet, by a longway!' 'O yes, we know that, ' explained a field-mouse rather shamefacedly; 'butit's always as well to be in good time, isn't it? We really MUST getall the furniture and baggage and stores moved out of this before thosehorrid machines begin clicking round the fields; and then, you know, the best flats get picked up so quickly nowadays, and if you're late youhave to put up with ANYTHING; and they want such a lot of doing up, too, before they're fit to move into. Of course, we're early, we know that;but we're only just making a start. ' 'O, bother STARTS, ' said the Rat. 'It's a splendid day. Come for a row, or a stroll along the hedges, or a picnic in the woods, or something. ' 'Well, I THINK not TO-DAY, thank you, ' replied the field-mousehurriedly. 'Perhaps some OTHER day--when we've more TIME----' The Rat, with a snort of contempt, swung round to go, tripped over ahat-box, and fell, with undignified remarks. 'If people would be more careful, ' said a field-mouse rather stiffly, 'and look where they're going, people wouldn't hurt themselves--andforget themselves. Mind that hold-all, Rat! You'd better sit downsomewhere. In an hour or two we may be more free to attend to you. ' 'You won't be "free" as you call it much this side of Christmas, I cansee that, ' retorted the Rat grumpily, as he picked his way out of thefield. He returned somewhat despondently to his river again--his faithful, steady-going old river, which never packed up, flitted, or went intowinter quarters. In the osiers which fringed the bank he spied a swallow sitting. Presently it was joined by another, and then by a third; and the birds, fidgeting restlessly on their bough, talked together earnestly and low. 'What, ALREADY, ' said the Rat, strolling up to them. 'What's the hurry?I call it simply ridiculous. ' 'O, we're not off yet, if that's what you mean, ' replied the firstswallow. 'We're only making plans and arranging things. Talking it over, you know--what route we're taking this year, and where we'll stop, andso on. That's half the fun!' 'Fun?' said the Rat; 'now that's just what I don't understand. If you'veGOT to leave this pleasant place, and your friends who will miss you, and your snug homes that you've just settled into, why, when the hourstrikes I've no doubt you'll go bravely, and face all the trouble anddiscomfort and change and newness, and make believe that you're not veryunhappy. But to want to talk about it, or even think about it, till youreally need----' 'No, you don't understand, naturally, ' said the second swallow. 'First, we feel it stirring within us, a sweet unrest; then back come therecollections one by one, like homing pigeons. They flutter through ourdreams at night, they fly with us in our wheelings and circlings byday. We hunger to inquire of each other, to compare notes and assureourselves that it was all really true, as one by one the scents andsounds and names of long-forgotten places come gradually back and beckonto us. ' 'Couldn't you stop on for just this year?' suggested the Water Rat, wistfully. 'We'll all do our best to make you feel at home. You've noidea what good times we have here, while you are far away. ' 'I tried "stopping on" one year, ' said the third swallow. 'I had grownso fond of the place that when the time came I hung back and let theothers go on without me. For a few weeks it was all well enough, butafterwards, O the weary length of the nights! The shivering, sunlessdays! The air so clammy and chill, and not an insect in an acre of it!No, it was no good; my courage broke down, and one cold, stormy night Itook wing, flying well inland on account of the strong easterly gales. It was snowing hard as I beat through the passes of the great mountains, and I had a stiff fight to win through; but never shall I forget theblissful feeling of the hot sun again on my back as I sped down to thelakes that lay so blue and placid below me, and the taste of my firstfat insect! The past was like a bad dream; the future was all happyholiday as I moved southwards week by week, easily, lazily, lingering aslong as I dared, but always heeding the call! No, I had had my warning;never again did I think of disobedience. ' 'Ah, yes, the call of the South, of the South!' twittered the other twodreamily. 'Its songs its hues, its radiant air! O, do you remember----'and, forgetting the Rat, they slid into passionate reminiscence, whilehe listened fascinated, and his heart burned within him. In himself, too, he knew that it was vibrating at last, that chord hitherto dormantand unsuspected. The mere chatter of these southern-bound birds, theirpale and second-hand reports, had yet power to awaken this wild newsensation and thrill him through and through with it; what would onemoment of the real thing work in him--one passionate touch of the realsouthern sun, one waft of the authentic odor? With closed eyes he daredto dream a moment in full abandonment, and when he looked again theriver seemed steely and chill, the green fields grey and lightless. Thenhis loyal heart seemed to cry out on his weaker self for its treachery. 'Why do you ever come back, then, at all?' he demanded of the swallowsjealously. 'What do you find to attract you in this poor drab littlecountry?' 'And do you think, ' said the first swallow, 'that the other call isnot for us too, in its due season? The call of lush meadow-grass, wetorchards, warm, insect-haunted ponds, of browsing cattle, of haymaking, and all the farm-buildings clustering round the House of the perfectEaves?' 'Do you suppose, ' asked the second one, that you are the only livingthing that craves with a hungry longing to hear the cuckoo's noteagain?' 'In due time, ' said the third, 'we shall be home-sick once more forquiet water-lilies swaying on the surface of an English stream. Butto-day all that seems pale and thin and very far away. Just now ourblood dances to other music. ' They fell a-twittering among themselves once more, and this time theirintoxicating babble was of violet seas, tawny sands, and lizard-hauntedwalls. Restlessly the Rat wandered off once more, climbed the slope that rosegently from the north bank of the river, and lay looking out towardsthe great ring of Downs that barred his vision further southwards--hissimple horizon hitherto, his Mountains of the Moon, his limit behindwhich lay nothing he had cared to see or to know. To-day, to him gazingSouth with a new-born need stirring in his heart, the clear sky overtheir long low outline seemed to pulsate with promise; to-day, theunseen was everything, the unknown the only real fact of life. On thisside of the hills was now the real blank, on the other lay the crowdedand coloured panorama that his inner eye was seeing so clearly. Whatseas lay beyond, green, leaping, and crested! What sun-bathed coasts, along which the white villas glittered against the olive woods! Whatquiet harbours, thronged with gallant shipping bound for purple islandsof wine and spice, islands set low in languorous waters! He rose and descended river-wards once more; then changed his mindand sought the side of the dusty lane. There, lying half-buried in thethick, cool under-hedge tangle that bordered it, he could muse on themetalled road and all the wondrous world that it led to; on all thewayfarers, too, that might have trodden it, and the fortunes andadventures they had gone to seek or found unseeking--out there, beyond--beyond! Footsteps fell on his ear, and the figure of one that walked somewhatwearily came into view; and he saw that it was a Rat, and a very dustyone. The wayfarer, as he reached him, saluted with a gesture of courtesythat had something foreign about it--hesitated a moment--then with apleasant smile turned from the track and sat down by his side in thecool herbage. He seemed tired, and the Rat let him rest unquestioned, understanding something of what was in his thoughts; knowing, too, thevalue all animals attach at times to mere silent companionship, when theweary muscles slacken and the mind marks time. The wayfarer was lean and keen-featured, and somewhat bowed at theshoulders; his paws were thin and long, his eyes much wrinkled at thecorners, and he wore small gold ear rings in his neatly-set well-shapedears. His knitted jersey was of a faded blue, his breeches, patched andstained, were based on a blue foundation, and his small belongings thathe carried were tied up in a blue cotton handkerchief. When he had rested awhile the stranger sighed, snuffed the air, andlooked about him. 'That was clover, that warm whiff on the breeze, ' he remarked; 'andthose are cows we hear cropping the grass behind us and blowing softlybetween mouthfuls. There is a sound of distant reapers, and yonderrises a blue line of cottage smoke against the woodland. The river runssomewhere close by, for I hear the call of a moorhen, and I see by yourbuild that you're a freshwater mariner. Everything seems asleep, andyet going on all the time. It is a goodly life that you lead, friend; nodoubt the best in the world, if only you are strong enough to lead it!' 'Yes, it's THE life, the only life, to live, ' responded the Water Ratdreamily, and without his usual whole-hearted conviction. 'I did not say exactly that, ' replied the stranger cautiously; 'but nodoubt it's the best. I've tried it, and I know. And because I've justtried it--six months of it--and know it's the best, here am I, footsoreand hungry, tramping away from it, tramping southward, following the oldcall, back to the old life, THE life which is mine and which will notlet me go. ' 'Is this, then, yet another of them?' mused the Rat. 'And where haveyou just come from?' he asked. He hardly dared to ask where he was boundfor; he seemed to know the answer only too well. 'Nice little farm, ' replied the wayfarer, briefly. 'Upalong in thatdirection'--he nodded northwards. 'Never mind about it. I had everythingI could want--everything I had any right to expect of life, and more;and here I am! Glad to be here all the same, though, glad to be here!So many miles further on the road, so many hours nearer to my heart'sdesire!' His shining eyes held fast to the horizon, and he seemed to be listeningfor some sound that was wanting from that inland acreage, vocal as itwas with the cheerful music of pasturage and farmyard. 'You are not one of US, ' said the Water Rat, 'nor yet a farmer; noreven, I should judge, of this country. ' 'Right, ' replied the stranger. 'I'm a seafaring rat, I am, and theport I originally hail from is Constantinople, though I'm a sort of aforeigner there too, in a manner of speaking. You will have heard ofConstantinople, friend? A fair city, and an ancient and glorious one. And you may have heard, too, of Sigurd, King of Norway, and how hesailed thither with sixty ships, and how he and his men rode up throughstreets all canopied in their honour with purple and gold; and how theEmperor and Empress came down and banqueted with him on board his ship. When Sigurd returned home, many of his Northmen remained behind andentered the Emperor's body-guard, and my ancestor, a Norwegian born, stayed behind too, with the ships that Sigurd gave the Emperor. Seafarers we have ever been, and no wonder; as for me, the city of mybirth is no more my home than any pleasant port between there and theLondon River. I know them all, and they know me. Set me down on any oftheir quays or foreshores, and I am home again. ' 'I suppose you go great voyages, ' said the Water Rat with growinginterest. 'Months and months out of sight of land, and provisionsrunning short, and allowanced as to water, and your mind communing withthe mighty ocean, and all that sort of thing?' 'By no means, ' said the Sea Rat frankly. 'Such a life as you describewould not suit me at all. I'm in the coasting trade, and rarely out ofsight of land. It's the jolly times on shore that appeal to me, as muchas any seafaring. O, those southern seaports! The smell of them, theriding-lights at night, the glamour!' 'Well, perhaps you have chosen the better way, ' said the Water Rat, butrather doubtfully. 'Tell me something of your coasting, then, if youhave a mind to, and what sort of harvest an animal of spirit might hopeto bring home from it to warm his latter days with gallant memories bythe fireside; for my life, I confess to you, feels to me to-day somewhatnarrow and circumscribed. ' 'My last voyage, ' began the Sea Rat, 'that landed me eventually in thiscountry, bound with high hopes for my inland farm, will serve as a goodexample of any of them, and, indeed, as an epitome of my highly-colouredlife. Family troubles, as usual, began it. The domestic storm-cone washoisted, and I shipped myself on board a small trading vessel bound fromConstantinople, by classic seas whose every wave throbs with a deathlessmemory, to the Grecian Islands and the Levant. Those were golden daysand balmy nights! In and out of harbour all the time--old friendseverywhere--sleeping in some cool temple or ruined cistern during theheat of the day--feasting and song after sundown, under great starsset in a velvet sky! Thence we turned and coasted up the Adriatic, itsshores swimming in an atmosphere of amber, rose, and aquamarine; welay in wide land-locked harbours, we roamed through ancient and noblecities, until at last one morning, as the sun rose royally behind us, werode into Venice down a path of gold. O, Venice is a fine city, whereina rat can wander at his ease and take his pleasure! Or, when weary ofwandering, can sit at the edge of the Grand Canal at night, feastingwith his friends, when the air is full of music and the sky full ofstars, and the lights flash and shimmer on the polished steel prows ofthe swaying gondolas, packed so that you could walk across the canal onthem from side to side! And then the food--do you like shellfish? Well, well, we won't linger over that now. ' He was silent for a time; and the Water Rat, silent too and enthralled, floated on dream-canals and heard a phantom song pealing high betweenvaporous grey wave-lapped walls. 'Southwards we sailed again at last, ' continued the Sea Rat, 'coastingdown the Italian shore, till finally we made Palermo, and there Iquitted for a long, happy spell on shore. I never stick too long to oneship; one gets narrow-minded and prejudiced. Besides, Sicily is one ofmy happy hunting-grounds. I know everybody there, and their ways justsuit me. I spent many jolly weeks in the island, staying with friends upcountry. When I grew restless again I took advantage of a ship that wastrading to Sardinia and Corsica; and very glad I was to feel the freshbreeze and the sea-spray in my face once more. ' 'But isn't it very hot and stuffy, down in the--hold, I think you callit?' asked the Water Rat. The seafarer looked at him with the suspicion go a wink. 'I'm an oldhand, ' he remarked with much simplicity. 'The captain's cabin's goodenough for me. ' 'It's a hard life, by all accounts, ' murmured the Rat, sunk in deepthought. 'For the crew it is, ' replied the seafarer gravely, again with the ghostof a wink. 'From Corsica, ' he went on, 'I made use of a ship that was taking wineto the mainland. We made Alassio in the evening, lay to, hauled up ourwine-casks, and hove them overboard, tied one to the other by a longline. Then the crew took to the boats and rowed shorewards, singing asthey went, and drawing after them the long bobbing procession of casks, like a mile of porpoises. On the sands they had horses waiting, whichdragged the casks up the steep street of the little town with a finerush and clatter and scramble. When the last cask was in, we went andrefreshed and rested, and sat late into the night, drinking with ourfriends, and next morning I took to the great olive-woods for a spelland a rest. For now I had done with islands for the time, and ports andshipping were plentiful; so I led a lazy life among the peasants, lyingand watching them work, or stretched high on the hillside with the blueMediterranean far below me. And so at length, by easy stages, and partlyon foot, partly by sea, to Marseilles, and the meeting of old shipmates, and the visiting of great ocean-bound vessels, and feasting oncemore. Talk of shell-fish! Why, sometimes I dream of the shell-fish ofMarseilles, and wake up crying!' 'That reminds me, ' said the polite Water Rat; 'you happened to mentionthat you were hungry, and I ought to have spoken earlier. Of course, youwill stop and take your midday meal with me? My hole is close by; it issome time past noon, and you are very welcome to whatever there is. ' 'Now I call that kind and brotherly of you, ' said the Sea Rat. 'I wasindeed hungry when I sat down, and ever since I inadvertently happenedto mention shell-fish, my pangs have been extreme. But couldn't youfetch it along out here? I am none too fond of going under hatches, unless I'm obliged to; and then, while we eat, I could tell you moreconcerning my voyages and the pleasant life I lead--at least, it is verypleasant to me, and by your attention I judge it commends itself to you;whereas if we go indoors it is a hundred to one that I shall presentlyfall asleep. ' 'That is indeed an excellent suggestion, ' said the Water Rat, andhurried off home. There he got out the luncheon-basket and packeda simple meal, in which, remembering the stranger's origin andpreferences, he took care to include a yard of long French bread, asausage out of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay downand cried, and a long-necked straw-covered flask wherein lay bottledsunshine shed and garnered on far Southern slopes. Thus laden, hereturned with all speed, and blushed for pleasure at the old seaman'scommendations of his taste and judgment, as together they unpacked thebasket and laid out the contents on the grass by the roadside. The Sea Rat, as soon as his hunger was somewhat assuaged, continued thehistory of his latest voyage, conducting his simple hearer from port toport of Spain, landing him at Lisbon, Oporto, and Bordeaux, introducinghim to the pleasant harbours of Cornwall and Devon, and so up theChannel to that final quayside, where, landing after winds longcontrary, storm-driven and weather-beaten, he had caught the firstmagical hints and heraldings of another Spring, and, fired by these, hadsped on a long tramp inland, hungry for the experiment of life on somequiet farmstead, very far from the weary beating of any sea. Spell-bound and quivering with excitement, the Water Rat followedthe Adventurer league by league, over stormy bays, through crowdedroadsteads, across harbour bars on a racing tide, up winding rivers thathid their busy little towns round a sudden turn; and left him with aregretful sigh planted at his dull inland farm, about which he desiredto hear nothing. By this time their meal was over, and the Seafarer, refreshed andstrengthened, his voice more vibrant, his eye lit with a brightness thatseemed caught from some far-away sea-beacon, filled his glass with thered and glowing vintage of the South, and, leaning towards the WaterRat, compelled his gaze and held him, body and soul, while he talked. Those eyes were of the changing foam-streaked grey-green of leapingNorthern seas; in the glass shone a hot ruby that seemed the veryheart of the South, beating for him who had courage to respond to itspulsation. The twin lights, the shifting grey and the steadfast red, mastered the Water Rat and held him bound, fascinated, powerless. Thequiet world outside their rays receded far away and ceased to be. Andthe talk, the wonderful talk flowed on--or was it speech entirely, or did it pass at times into song--chanty of the sailors weighing thedripping anchor, sonorous hum of the shrouds in a tearing North-Easter, ballad of the fisherman hauling his nets at sundown against an apricotsky, chords of guitar and mandoline from gondola or caique? Did itchange into the cry of the wind, plaintive at first, angrily shrill asit freshened, rising to a tearing whistle, sinking to a musical trickleof air from the leech of the bellying sail? All these sounds thespell-bound listener seemed to hear, and with them the hungry complaintof the gulls and the sea-mews, the soft thunder of the breaking wave, the cry of the protesting shingle. Back into speech again it passed, andwith beating heart he was following the adventures of a dozen seaports, the fights, the escapes, the rallies, the comradeships, the gallantundertakings; or he searched islands for treasure, fished in stilllagoons and dozed day-long on warm white sand. Of deep-sea fishings heheard tell, and mighty silver gatherings of the mile-long net; of suddenperils, noise of breakers on a moonless night, or the tall bows ofthe great liner taking shape overhead through the fog; of the merryhome-coming, the headland rounded, the harbour lights opened out;the groups seen dimly on the quay, the cheery hail, the splash of thehawser; the trudge up the steep little street towards the comfortingglow of red-curtained windows. Lastly, in his waking dream it seemed to him that the Adventurer hadrisen to his feet, but was still speaking, still holding him fast withhis sea-grey eyes. 'And now, ' he was softly saying, 'I take to the road again, holding onsouthwestwards for many a long and dusty day; till at last I reach thelittle grey sea town I know so well, that clings along one steep side ofthe harbour. There through dark doorways you look down flights of stonesteps, overhung by great pink tufts of valerian and ending in a patchof sparkling blue water. The little boats that lie tethered to therings and stanchions of the old sea-wall are gaily painted as thoseI clambered in and out of in my own childhood; the salmon leap on theflood tide, schools of mackerel flash and play past quay-sides andforeshores, and by the windows the great vessels glide, night and day, up to their moorings or forth to the open sea. There, sooner or later, the ships of all seafaring nations arrive; and there, at its destinedhour, the ship of my choice will let go its anchor. I shall take mytime, I shall tarry and bide, till at last the right one lies waitingfor me, warped out into midstream, loaded low, her bowsprit pointingdown harbour. I shall slip on board, by boat or along hawser; and thenone morning I shall wake to the song and tramp of the sailors, the clinkof the capstan, and the rattle of the anchor-chain coming merrily in. We shall break out the jib and the foresail, the white houses on theharbour side will glide slowly past us as she gathers steering-way, andthe voyage will have begun! As she forges towards the headland she willclothe herself with canvas; and then, once outside, the sounding slap ofgreat green seas as she heels to the wind, pointing South! 'And you, you will come too, young brother; for the days pass, and neverreturn, and the South still waits for you. Take the Adventure, heed thecall, now ere the irrevocable moment passes!' 'Tis but a banging of thedoor behind you, a blithesome step forward, and you are out of the oldlife and into the new! Then some day, some day long hence, jog home hereif you will, when the cup has been drained and the play has been played, and sit down by your quiet river with a store of goodly memories forcompany. You can easily overtake me on the road, for you are young, andI am ageing and go softly. I will linger, and look back; and at last Iwill surely see you coming, eager and light-hearted, with all the Southin your face!' The voice died away and ceased as an insect's tiny trumpet dwindlesswiftly into silence; and the Water Rat, paralysed and staring, saw atlast but a distant speck on the white surface of the road. Mechanically he rose and proceeded to repack the luncheon-basket, carefully and without haste. Mechanically he returned home, gatheredtogether a few small necessaries and special treasures he was fond of, and put them in a satchel; acting with slow deliberation, moving aboutthe room like a sleep-walker; listening ever with parted lips. He swungthe satchel over his shoulder, carefully selected a stout stick for hiswayfaring, and with no haste, but with no hesitation at all, he steppedacross the threshold just as the Mole appeared at the door. 'Why, where are you off to, Ratty?' asked the Mole in great surprise, grasping him by the arm. 'Going South, with the rest of them, ' murmured the Rat in a dreamymonotone, never looking at him. 'Seawards first and then on shipboard, and so to the shores that are calling me!' He pressed resolutely forward, still without haste, but with doggedfixity of purpose; but the Mole, now thoroughly alarmed, placed himselfin front of him, and looking into his eyes saw that they were glazed andset and turned a streaked and shifting grey--not his friend's eyes, butthe eyes of some other animal! Grappling with him strongly he draggedhim inside, threw him down, and held him. The Rat struggled desperately for a few moments, and then his strengthseemed suddenly to leave him, and he lay still and exhausted, withclosed eyes, trembling. Presently the Mole assisted him to rise andplaced him in a chair, where he sat collapsed and shrunken intohimself, his body shaken by a violent shivering, passing in time intoan hysterical fit of dry sobbing. Mole made the door fast, threw thesatchel into a drawer and locked it, and sat down quietly on the tableby his friend, waiting for the strange seizure to pass. Gradually theRat sank into a troubled doze, broken by starts and confused murmuringsof things strange and wild and foreign to the unenlightened Mole; andfrom that he passed into a deep slumber. Very anxious in mind, the Mole left him for a time and busied himselfwith household matters; and it was getting dark when he returned to theparlour and found the Rat where he had left him, wide awake indeed, butlistless, silent, and dejected. He took one hasty glance at his eyes;found them, to his great gratification, clear and dark and brown againas before; and then sat down and tried to cheer him up and help him torelate what had happened to him. Poor Ratty did his best, by degrees, to explain things; but how couldhe put into cold words what had mostly been suggestion? How recall, foranother's benefit, the haunting sea voices that had sung to him, how reproduce at second-hand the magic of the Seafarer's hundredreminiscences? Even to himself, now the spell was broken and the glamourgone, he found it difficult to account for what had seemed, some hoursago, the inevitable and only thing. It is not surprising, then, that hefailed to convey to the Mole any clear idea of what he had been throughthat day. To the Mole this much was plain: the fit, or attack, had passedaway, and had left him sane again, though shaken and cast down by thereaction. But he seemed to have lost all interest for the time in thethings that went to make up his daily life, as well as in all pleasantforecastings of the altered days and doings that the changing season wassurely bringing. Casually, then, and with seeming indifference, the Mole turned his talkto the harvest that was being gathered in, the towering wagons and theirstraining teams, the growing ricks, and the large moon rising over bareacres dotted with sheaves. He talked of the reddening apples around, ofthe browning nuts, of jams and preserves and the distilling of cordials;till by easy stages such as these he reached midwinter, its hearty joysand its snug home life, and then he became simply lyrical. By degrees the Rat began to sit up and to join in. His dull eyebrightened, and he lost some of his listening air. Presently the tactful Mole slipped away and returned with a pencil anda few half-sheets of paper, which he placed on the table at his friend'selbow. 'It's quite a long time since you did any poetry, ' he remarked. 'Youmight have a try at it this evening, instead of--well, brooding overthings so much. I've an idea that you'll feel a lot better when you'vegot something jotted down--if it's only just the rhymes. ' The Rat pushed the paper away from him wearily, but the discreet Moletook occasion to leave the room, and when he peeped in again sometime later, the Rat was absorbed and deaf to the world; alternatelyscribbling and sucking the top of his pencil. It is true that he suckeda good deal more than he scribbled; but it was joy to the Mole to knowthat the cure had at least begun. X. THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF TOAD The front door of the hollow tree faced eastwards, so Toad was called atan early hour; partly by the bright sunlight streaming in on him, partlyby the exceeding coldness of his toes, which made him dream that he wasat home in bed in his own handsome room with the Tudor window, on a coldwinter's night, and his bedclothes had got up, grumbling and protestingthey couldn't stand the cold any longer, and had run downstairs to thekitchen fire to warm themselves; and he had followed, on bare feet, along miles and miles of icy stone-paved passages, arguing andbeseeching them to be reasonable. He would probably have been arousedmuch earlier, had he not slept for some weeks on straw over stone flags, and almost forgotten the friendly feeling of thick blankets pulled wellup round the chin. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes first and his complaining toes next, wondered for a moment where he was, looking round for familiarstone wall and little barred window; then, with a leap of the heart, remembered everything--his escape, his flight, his pursuit; remembered, first and best thing of all, that he was free! Free! The word and the thought alone were worth fifty blankets. He waswarm from end to end as he thought of the jolly world outside, waitingeagerly for him to make his triumphal entrance, ready to serve himand play up to him, anxious to help him and to keep him company, as italways had been in days of old before misfortune fell upon him. He shookhimself and combed the dry leaves out of his hair with his fingers; and, his toilet complete, marched forth into the comfortable morning sun, cold but confident, hungry but hopeful, all nervous terrors of yesterdaydispelled by rest and sleep and frank and heartening sunshine. He had the world all to himself, that early summer morning. The dewywoodland, as he threaded it, was solitary and still: the green fieldsthat succeeded the trees were his own to do as he liked with; the roaditself, when he reached it, in that loneliness that was everywhere, seemed, like a stray dog, to be looking anxiously for company. Toad, however, was looking for something that could talk, and tell him clearlywhich way he ought to go. It is all very well, when you have a lightheart, and a clear conscience, and money in your pocket, and nobodyscouring the country for you to drag you off to prison again, to followwhere the road beckons and points, not caring whither. The practicalToad cared very much indeed, and he could have kicked the road for itshelpless silence when every minute was of importance to him. The reserved rustic road was presently joined by a shy little brother inthe shape of a canal, which took its hand and ambled along by its sidein perfect confidence, but with the same tongue-tied, uncommunicativeattitude towards strangers. 'Bother them!' said Toad to himself. 'But, anyhow, one thing's clear. They must both be coming FROM somewhere, and going TO somewhere. You can't get over that. Toad, my boy!' So hemarched on patiently by the water's edge. Round a bend in the canal came plodding a solitary horse, stoopingforward as if in anxious thought. From rope traces attached to hiscollar stretched a long line, taut, but dipping with his stride, thefurther part of it dripping pearly drops. Toad let the horse pass, andstood waiting for what the fates were sending him. With a pleasant swirl of quiet water at its blunt bow the barge slid upalongside of him, its gaily painted gunwale level with the towing-path, its sole occupant a big stout woman wearing a linen sun-bonnet, onebrawny arm laid along the tiller. 'A nice morning, ma'am!' she remarked to Toad, as she drew up level withhim. 'I dare say it is, ma'am!' responded Toad politely, as he walked alongthe tow-path abreast of her. 'I dare it IS a nice morning to them that'snot in sore trouble, like what I am. Here's my married daughter, shesends off to me post-haste to come to her at once; so off I comes, notknowing what may be happening or going to happen, but fearing the worst, as you will understand, ma'am, if you're a mother, too. And I've left mybusiness to look after itself--I'm in the washing and laundering line, you must know, ma'am--and I've left my young children to look afterthemselves, and a more mischievous and troublesome set of young impsdoesn't exist, ma'am; and I've lost all my money, and lost my way, andas for what may be happening to my married daughter, why, I don't liketo think of it, ma'am!' 'Where might your married daughter be living, ma'am?' asked thebarge-woman. 'She lives near to the river, ma'am, ' replied Toad. 'Close to a finehouse called Toad Hall, that's somewheres hereabouts in these parts. Perhaps you may have heard of it. ' 'Toad Hall? Why, I'm going that way myself, ' replied the barge-woman. 'This canal joins the river some miles further on, a little above ToadHall; and then it's an easy walk. You come along in the barge with me, and I'll give you a lift. ' She steered the barge close to the bank, and Toad, with many humble andgrateful acknowledgments, stepped lightly on board and sat down withgreat satisfaction. 'Toad's luck again!' thought he. 'I always come outon top!' 'So you're in the washing business, ma'am?' said the barge-womanpolitely, as they glided along. 'And a very good business you've gottoo, I dare say, if I'm not making too free in saying so. ' 'Finest business in the whole country, ' said Toad airily. 'All thegentry come to me--wouldn't go to any one else if they were paid, theyknow me so well. You see, I understand my work thoroughly, and attend toit all myself. Washing, ironing, clear-starching, making up gents' fineshirts for evening wear--everything's done under my own eye!' 'But surely you don't DO all that work yourself, ma'am?' asked thebarge-woman respectfully. 'O, I have girls, ' said Toad lightly: 'twenty girls or thereabouts, always at work. But you know what GIRLS are, ma'am! Nasty littlehussies, that's what _I_ call 'em!' 'So do I, too, ' said the barge-woman with great heartiness. 'But I daresay you set yours to rights, the idle trollops! And are you very fond ofwashing?' 'I love it, ' said Toad. 'I simply dote on it. Never so happy as whenI've got both arms in the wash-tub. But, then, it comes so easy to me!No trouble at all! A real pleasure, I assure you, ma'am!' 'What a bit of luck, meeting you!' observed the barge-woman, thoughtfully. 'A regular piece of good fortune for both of us!' 'Why, what do you mean?' asked Toad, nervously. 'Well, look at me, now, ' replied the barge-woman. '_I_ like washing, too, just the same as you do; and for that matter, whether I like it ornot I have got to do all my own, naturally, moving about as I do. Now myhusband, he's such a fellow for shirking his work and leaving the bargeto me, that never a moment do I get for seeing to my own affairs. Byrights he ought to be here now, either steering or attending to thehorse, though luckily the horse has sense enough to attend to himself. Instead of which, he's gone off with the dog, to see if they can't pickup a rabbit for dinner somewhere. Says he'll catch me up at the nextlock. Well, that's as may be--I don't trust him, once he gets off withthat dog, who's worse than he is. But meantime, how am I to get on withmy washing?' 'O, never mind about the washing, ' said Toad, not liking the subject. 'Try and fix your mind on that rabbit. A nice fat young rabbit, I'll bebound. Got any onions?' 'I can't fix my mind on anything but my washing, ' said the barge-woman, 'and I wonder you can be talking of rabbits, with such a joyful prospectbefore you. There's a heap of things of mine that you'll find ina corner of the cabin. If you'll just take one or two of the mostnecessary sort--I won't venture to describe them to a lady like you, butyou'll recognise them at a glance--and put them through the wash-tub aswe go along, why, it'll be a pleasure to you, as you rightly say, and areal help to me. You'll find a tub handy, and soap, and a kettle on thestove, and a bucket to haul up water from the canal with. Then I shallknow you're enjoying yourself, instead of sitting here idle, looking atthe scenery and yawning your head off. ' 'Here, you let me steer!' said Toad, now thoroughly frightened, 'andthen you can get on with your washing your own way. I might spoil yourthings, or not do 'em as you like. I'm more used to gentlemen's thingsmyself. It's my special line. ' 'Let you steer?' replied the barge-woman, laughing. 'It takes somepractice to steer a barge properly. Besides, it's dull work, and I wantyou to be happy. No, you shall do the washing you are so fond of, andI'll stick to the steering that I understand. Don't try and deprive meof the pleasure of giving you a treat!' Toad was fairly cornered. He looked for escape this way and that, saw that he was too far from the bank for a flying leap, and sullenlyresigned himself to his fate. 'If it comes to that, ' he thought indesperation, 'I suppose any fool can WASH!' He fetched tub, soap, and other necessaries from the cabin, selected afew garments at random, tried to recollect what he had seen in casualglances through laundry windows, and set to. A long half-hour passed, and every minute of it saw Toad getting crosserand crosser. Nothing that he could do to the things seemed to pleasethem or do them good. He tried coaxing, he tried slapping, he triedpunching; they smiled back at him out of the tub unconverted, happy intheir original sin. Once or twice he looked nervously over his shoulderat the barge-woman, but she appeared to be gazing out in front of her, absorbed in her steering. His back ached badly, and he noticed withdismay that his paws were beginning to get all crinkly. Now Toad wasvery proud of his paws. He muttered under his breath words that shouldnever pass the lips of either washerwomen or Toads; and lost the soap, for the fiftieth time. A burst of laughter made him straighten himself and look round. Thebarge-woman was leaning back and laughing unrestrainedly, till the tearsran down her cheeks. 'I've been watching you all the time, ' she gasped. 'I thought youmust be a humbug all along, from the conceited way you talked. Prettywasherwoman you are! Never washed so much as a dish-clout in your life, I'll lay!' Toad's temper which had been simmering viciously for some time, nowfairly boiled over, and he lost all control of himself. 'You common, low, FAT barge-woman!' he shouted; 'don't you dare to talkto your betters like that! Washerwoman indeed! I would have you to knowthat I am a Toad, a very well-known, respected, distinguished Toad! Imay be under a bit of a cloud at present, but I will NOT be laughed atby a bargewoman!' The woman moved nearer to him and peered under his bonnet keenly andclosely. 'Why, so you are!' she cried. 'Well, I never! A horrid, nasty, crawly Toad! And in my nice clean barge, too! Now that is a thing that Iwill NOT have. ' She relinquished the tiller for a moment. One big mottled arm shot outand caught Toad by a fore-leg, while the other-gripped him fast by ahind-leg. Then the world turned suddenly upside down, the barge seemedto flit lightly across the sky, the wind whistled in his ears, and Toadfound himself flying through the air, revolving rapidly as he went. The water, when he eventually reached it with a loud splash, provedquite cold enough for his taste, though its chill was not sufficient toquell his proud spirit, or slake the heat of his furious temper. He roseto the surface spluttering, and when he had wiped the duck-weed out ofhis eyes the first thing he saw was the fat barge-woman looking back athim over the stern of the retreating barge and laughing; and he vowed, as he coughed and choked, to be even with her. He struck out for the shore, but the cotton gown greatly impeded hisefforts, and when at length he touched land he found it hard to climbup the steep bank unassisted. He had to take a minute or two's rest torecover his breath; then, gathering his wet skirts well over his arms, he started to run after the barge as fast as his legs would carry him, wild with indignation, thirsting for revenge. The barge-woman was still laughing when he drew up level with her. 'Putyourself through your mangle, washerwoman, ' she called out, 'and ironyour face and crimp it, and you'll pass for quite a decent-lookingToad!' Toad never paused to reply. Solid revenge was what he wanted, not cheap, windy, verbal triumphs, though he had a thing or two in his mind thathe would have liked to say. He saw what he wanted ahead of him. Runningswiftly on he overtook the horse, unfastened the towrope and cast off, jumped lightly on the horse's back, and urged it to a gallop by kickingit vigorously in the sides. He steered for the open country, abandoningthe tow-path, and swinging his steed down a rutty lane. Once he lookedback, and saw that the barge had run aground on the other side of thecanal, and the barge-woman was gesticulating wildly and shouting, 'Stop, stop, stop!' 'I've heard that song before, ' said Toad, laughing, as hecontinued to spur his steed onward in its wild career. The barge-horse was not capable of any very sustained effort, and itsgallop soon subsided into a trot, and its trot into an easy walk; butToad was quite contented with this, knowing that he, at any rate, wasmoving, and the barge was not. He had quite recovered his temper, now that he had done something he thought really clever; and he wassatisfied to jog along quietly in the sun, steering his horse alongby-ways and bridle-paths, and trying to forget how very long it wassince he had had a square meal, till the canal had been left very farbehind him. He had travelled some miles, his horse and he, and he was feeling drowsyin the hot sunshine, when the horse stopped, lowered his head, andbegan to nibble the grass; and Toad, waking up, just saved himself fromfalling off by an effort. He looked about him and found he was on a widecommon, dotted with patches of gorse and bramble as far as he could see. Near him stood a dingy gipsy caravan, and beside it a man was sitting ona bucket turned upside down, very busy smoking and staring into the wideworld. A fire of sticks was burning near by, and over the fire hung aniron pot, and out of that pot came forth bubblings and gurglings, anda vague suggestive steaminess. Also smells--warm, rich, and variedsmells--that twined and twisted and wreathed themselves at last into onecomplete, voluptuous, perfect smell that seemed like the very soul ofNature taking form and appearing to her children, a true Goddess, amother of solace and comfort. Toad now knew well that he had not beenreally hungry before. What he had felt earlier in the day had been amere trifling qualm. This was the real thing at last, and no mistake;and it would have to be dealt with speedily, too, or there would betrouble for somebody or something. He looked the gipsy over carefully, wondering vaguely whether it would be easier to fight him or cajole him. So there he sat, and sniffed and sniffed, and looked at the gipsy; andthe gipsy sat and smoked, and looked at him. Presently the gipsy took his pipe out of his mouth and remarked in acareless way, 'Want to sell that there horse of yours?' Toad was completely taken aback. He did not know that gipsies were veryfond of horse-dealing, and never missed an opportunity, and he hadnot reflected that caravans were always on the move and took a deal ofdrawing. It had not occurred to him to turn the horse into cash, but thegipsy's suggestion seemed to smooth the way towards the two things hewanted so badly--ready money, and a solid breakfast. 'What?' he said, 'me sell this beautiful young horse of mine? O, no;it's out of the question. Who's going to take the washing home to mycustomers every week? Besides, I'm too fond of him, and he simply doteson me. ' 'Try and love a donkey, ' suggested the gipsy. 'Some people do. ' 'You don't seem to see, ' continued Toad, 'that this fine horse of mineis a cut above you altogether. He's a blood horse, he is, partly;not the part you see, of course--another part. And he's been a PrizeHackney, too, in his time--that was the time before you knew him, butyou can still tell it on him at a glance, if you understand anythingabout horses. No, it's not to be thought of for a moment. All the same, how much might you be disposed to offer me for this beautiful younghorse of mine?' The gipsy looked the horse over, and then he looked Toad over with equalcare, and looked at the horse again. 'Shillin' a leg, ' he said briefly, and turned away, continuing to smoke and try to stare the wide world outof countenance. 'A shilling a leg?' cried Toad. 'If you please, I must take a littletime to work that out, and see just what it comes to. ' He climbed down off his horse, and left it to graze, and sat down by thegipsy, and did sums on his fingers, and at last he said, 'A shilling aleg? Why, that comes to exactly four shillings, and no more. O, no; Icould not think of accepting four shillings for this beautiful younghorse of mine. ' 'Well, ' said the gipsy, 'I'll tell you what I will do. I'll make it fiveshillings, and that's three-and-sixpence more than the animal's worth. And that's my last word. ' Then Toad sat and pondered long and deeply. For he was hungry and quitepenniless, and still some way--he knew not how far--from home, andenemies might still be looking for him. To one in such a situation, fiveshillings may very well appear a large sum of money. On the other hand, it did not seem very much to get for a horse. But then, again, the horsehadn't cost him anything; so whatever he got was all clear profit. Atlast he said firmly, 'Look here, gipsy! I tell you what we will do; andthis is MY last word. You shall hand me over six shillings and sixpence, cash down; and further, in addition thereto, you shall give me as muchbreakfast as I can possibly eat, at one sitting of course, out of thatiron pot of yours that keeps sending forth such delicious and excitingsmells. In return, I will make over to you my spirited young horse, withall the beautiful harness and trappings that are on him, freely thrownin. If that's not good enough for you, say so, and I'll be getting on. Iknow a man near here who's wanted this horse of mine for years. ' The gipsy grumbled frightfully, and declared if he did a few more dealsof that sort he'd be ruined. But in the end he lugged a dirty canvas bagout of the depths of his trouser pocket, and counted out six shillingsand sixpence into Toad's paw. Then he disappeared into the caravan foran instant, and returned with a large iron plate and a knife, fork, and spoon. He tilted up the pot, and a glorious stream of hot rich stewgurgled into the plate. It was, indeed, the most beautiful stew in theworld, being made of partridges, and pheasants, and chickens, andhares, and rabbits, and pea-hens, and guinea-fowls, and one or two otherthings. Toad took the plate on his lap, almost crying, and stuffed, and stuffed, and stuffed, and kept asking for more, and the gipsy nevergrudged it him. He thought that he had never eaten so good a breakfastin all his life. When Toad had taken as much stew on board as he thought he couldpossibly hold, he got up and said good-bye to the gipsy, and tookan affectionate farewell of the horse; and the gipsy, who knew theriverside well, gave him directions which way to go, and he set forth onhis travels again in the best possible spirits. He was, indeed, a verydifferent Toad from the animal of an hour ago. The sun was shiningbrightly, his wet clothes were quite dry again, he had money in hispocket once more, he was nearing home and friends and safety, and, mostand best of all, he had had a substantial meal, hot and nourishing, andfelt big, and strong, and careless, and self-confident. As he tramped along gaily, he thought of his adventures and escapes, andhow when things seemed at their worst he had always managed to find away out; and his pride and conceit began to swell within him. 'Ho, ho!'he said to himself as he marched along with his chin in the air, 'whata clever Toad I am! There is surely no animal equal to me for clevernessin the whole world! My enemies shut me up in prison, encircled bysentries, watched night and day by warders; I walk out through them all, by sheer ability coupled with courage. They pursue me with engines, and policemen, and revolvers; I snap my fingers at them, and vanish, laughing, into space. I am, unfortunately, thrown into a canal by awoman fat of body and very evil-minded. What of it? I swim ashore, Iseize her horse, I ride off in triumph, and I sell the horse for a wholepocketful of money and an excellent breakfast! Ho, ho! I am The Toad, the handsome, the popular, the successful Toad!' He got so puffed upwith conceit that he made up a song as he walked in praise of himself, and sang it at the top of his voice, though there was no one to hearit but him. It was perhaps the most conceited song that any animal evercomposed. 'The world has held great Heroes, As history-books have showed; But never a name to go down to fame Compared with that of Toad! 'The clever men at Oxford Know all that there is to be knowed. But they none of them know one half as much As intelligent Mr. Toad! 'The animals sat in the Ark and cried, Their tears in torrents flowed. Who was it said, "There's land ahead?" Encouraging Mr. Toad! 'The army all saluted As they marched along the road. Was it the King? Or Kitchener? No. It was Mr. Toad. 'The Queen and her Ladies-in-waiting Sat at the window and sewed. She cried, "Look! who's that _handsome_ man?" They answered, "Mr. Toad. "' There was a great deal more of the same sort, but too dreadfullyconceited to be written down. These are some of the milder verses. He sang as he walked, and he walked as he sang, and got more inflatedevery minute. But his pride was shortly to have a severe fall. After some miles of country lanes he reached the high road, and as heturned into it and glanced along its white length, he saw approachinghim a speck that turned into a dot and then into a blob, and then intosomething very familiar; and a double note of warning, only too wellknown, fell on his delighted ear. 'This is something like!' said the excited Toad. 'This is real lifeagain, this is once more the great world from which I have been missedso long! I will hail them, my brothers of the wheel, and pitch them ayarn, of the sort that has been so successful hitherto; and they willgive me a lift, of course, and then I will talk to them some more; and, perhaps, with luck, it may even end in my driving up to Toad Hall in amotor-car! That will be one in the eye for Badger!' He stepped confidently out into the road to hail the motor-car, whichcame along at an easy pace, slowing down as it neared the lane; whensuddenly he became very pale, his heart turned to water, his knees shookand yielded under him, and he doubled up and collapsed with a sickeningpain in his interior. And well he might, the unhappy animal; for theapproaching car was the very one he had stolen out of the yard of theRed Lion Hotel on that fatal day when all his troubles began! Andthe people in it were the very same people he had sat and watched atluncheon in the coffee-room! He sank down in a shabby, miserable heap in the road, murmuring tohimself in his despair, 'It's all up! It's all over now! Chains andpolicemen again! Prison again! Dry bread and water again! O, what afool I have been! What did I want to go strutting about the country for, singing conceited songs, and hailing people in broad day on the highroad, instead of hiding till nightfall and slipping home quietly by backways! O hapless Toad! O ill-fated animal!' The terrible motor-car drew slowly nearer and nearer, till at last heheard it stop just short of him. Two gentlemen got out and walked roundthe trembling heap of crumpled misery lying in the road, and one of themsaid, 'O dear! this is very sad! Here is a poor old thing--a washerwomanapparently--who has fainted in the road! Perhaps she is overcome by theheat, poor creature; or possibly she has not had any food to-day. Letus lift her into the car and take her to the nearest village, wheredoubtless she has friends. ' They tenderly lifted Toad into the motor-car and propped him up withsoft cushions, and proceeded on their way. When Toad heard them talk in so kind and sympathetic a way, andknew that he was not recognised, his courage began to revive, and hecautiously opened first one eye and then the other. 'Look!' said one of the gentlemen, 'she is better already. The fresh airis doing her good. How do you feel now, ma'am?' 'Thank you kindly, Sir, ' said Toad in a feeble voice, 'I'm feeling agreat deal better!' 'That's right, ' said the gentleman. 'Now keep quitestill, and, above all, don't try to talk. ' 'I won't, ' said Toad. 'I was only thinking, if I might sit on the frontseat there, beside the driver, where I could get the fresh air full inmy face, I should soon be all right again. ' 'What a very sensible woman!' said the gentleman. 'Of course you shall. 'So they carefully helped Toad into the front seat beside the driver, andon they went again. Toad was almost himself again by now. He sat up, looked about him, andtried to beat down the tremors, the yearnings, the old cravings thatrose up and beset him and took possession of him entirely. 'It is fate!' he said to himself. 'Why strive? why struggle?' and heturned to the driver at his side. 'Please, Sir, ' he said, 'I wish you would kindly let me try and drivethe car for a little. I've been watching you carefully, and it looks soeasy and so interesting, and I should like to be able to tell my friendsthat once I had driven a motor-car!' The driver laughed at the proposal, so heartily that the gentlemaninquired what the matter was. When he heard, he said, to Toad's delight, 'Bravo, ma'am! I like your spirit. Let her have a try, and look afterher. She won't do any harm. ' Toad eagerly scrambled into the seat vacated by the driver, took thesteering-wheel in his hands, listened with affected humility to theinstructions given him, and set the car in motion, but very slowly andcarefully at first, for he was determined to be prudent. The gentlemen behind clapped their hands and applauded, and Toad heardthem saying, 'How well she does it! Fancy a washerwoman driving a car aswell as that, the first time!' Toad went a little faster; then faster still, and faster. He heard the gentlemen call out warningly, 'Be careful, washerwoman!'And this annoyed him, and he began to lose his head. The driver tried to interfere, but he pinned him down in his seat withone elbow, and put on full speed. The rush of air in his face, the humof the engines, and the light jump of the car beneath him intoxicatedhis weak brain. 'Washerwoman, indeed!' he shouted recklessly. 'Ho! ho!I am the Toad, the motor-car snatcher, the prison-breaker, the Toad whoalways escapes! Sit still, and you shall know what driving reallyis, for you are in the hands of the famous, the skilful, the entirelyfearless Toad!' With a cry of horror the whole party rose and flung themselves on him. 'Seize him!' they cried, 'seize the Toad, the wicked animal whostole our motor-car! Bind him, chain him, drag him to the nearestpolice-station! Down with the desperate and dangerous Toad!' Alas! they should have thought, they ought to have been more prudent, they should have remembered to stop the motor-car somehow before playingany pranks of that sort. With a half-turn of the wheel the Toad sentthe car crashing through the low hedge that ran along the roadside. Onemighty bound, a violent shock, and the wheels of the car were churningup the thick mud of a horse-pond. Toad found himself flying through the air with the strong upward rushand delicate curve of a swallow. He liked the motion, and was justbeginning to wonder whether it would go on until he developed wings andturned into a Toad-bird, when he landed on his back with a thump, in thesoft rich grass of a meadow. Sitting up, he could just see the motor-carin the pond, nearly submerged; the gentlemen and the driver, encumberedby their long coats, were floundering helplessly in the water. He picked himself up rapidly, and set off running across country as hardas he could, scrambling through hedges, jumping ditches, pounding acrossfields, till he was breathless and weary, and had to settle down intoan easy walk. When he had recovered his breath somewhat, and was able tothink calmly, he began to giggle, and from giggling he took to laughing, and he laughed till he had to sit down under a hedge. 'Ho, ho!' hecried, in ecstasies of self-admiration, 'Toad again! Toad, as usual, comes out on the top! Who was it got them to give him a lift? Whomanaged to get on the front seat for the sake of fresh air? Whopersuaded them into letting him see if he could drive? Who landed themall in a horse-pond? Who escaped, flying gaily and unscathed through theair, leaving the narrow-minded, grudging, timid excursionists in the mudwhere they should rightly be? Why, Toad, of course; clever Toad, greatToad, GOOD Toad!' Then he burst into song again, and chanted with uplifted voice-- 'The motor-car went Poop-poop-poop, As it raced along the road. Who was it steered it into a pond? Ingenious Mr. Toad! O, how clever I am! How clever, how clever, how very clev----' A slight noise at a distance behind him made him turn his head and look. O horror! O misery! O despair! About two fields off, a chauffeur in his leather gaiters and two largerural policemen were visible, running towards him as hard as they couldgo! Poor Toad sprang to his feet and pelted away again, his heart in hismouth. O, my!' he gasped, as he panted along, 'what an ASS I am! What aCONCEITED and heedless ass! Swaggering again! Shouting and singing songsagain! Sitting still and gassing again! O my! O my! O my!' He glanced back, and saw to his dismay that they were gaining on him. On he ran desperately, but kept looking back, and saw that they stillgained steadily. He did his best, but he was a fat animal, and his legswere short, and still they gained. He could hear them close behind himnow. Ceasing to heed where he was going, he struggled on blindly andwildly, looking back over his shoulder at the now triumphant enemy, whensuddenly the earth failed under his feet, he grasped at the air, and, splash! he found himself head over ears in deep water, rapid water, water that bore him along with a force he could not contend with; and heknew that in his blind panic he had run straight into the river! He rose to the surface and tried to grasp the reeds and the rushes thatgrew along the water's edge close under the bank, but the stream was sostrong that it tore them out of his hands. 'O my!' gasped poor Toad, 'if ever I steal a motor-car again! If ever I sing another conceitedsong'--then down he went, and came up breathless and spluttering. Presently he saw that he was approaching a big dark hole in the bank, just above his head, and as the stream bore him past he reached up witha paw and caught hold of the edge and held on. Then slowly and withdifficulty he drew himself up out of the water, till at last he was ableto rest his elbows on the edge of the hole. There he remained for someminutes, puffing and panting, for he was quite exhausted. As he sighed and blew and stared before him into the dark hole, somebright small thing shone and twinkled in its depths, moving towardshim. As it approached, a face grew up gradually around it, and it was afamiliar face! Brown and small, with whiskers. Grave and round, with neat ears and silky hair. It was the Water Rat! XI. 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS CAME HIS TEARS' The Rat put out a neat little brown paw, gripped Toad firmly bythe scruff of the neck, and gave a great hoist and a pull; and thewater-logged Toad came up slowly but surely over the edge of the hole, till at last he stood safe and sound in the hall, streaked with mud andweed to be sure, and with the water streaming off him, but happy andhigh-spirited as of old, now that he found himself once more in thehouse of a friend, and dodgings and evasions were over, and he could layaside a disguise that was unworthy of his position and wanted such a lotof living up to. 'O, Ratty!' he cried. 'I've been through such times since I saw youlast, you can't think! Such trials, such sufferings, and all so noblyborne! Then such escapes, such disguises such subterfuges, and all socleverly planned and carried out! Been in prison--got out of it, ofcourse! Been thrown into a canal--swam ashore! Stole a horse--sold himfor a large sum of money! Humbugged everybody--made 'em all do exactlywhat I wanted! Oh, I AM a smart Toad, and no mistake! What do you thinkmy last exploit was? Just hold on till I tell you----' 'Toad, ' said the Water Rat, gravely and firmly, 'you go off upstairsat once, and take off that old cotton rag that looks as if it mightformerly have belonged to some washerwoman, and clean yourselfthoroughly, and put on some of my clothes, and try and come downlooking like a gentleman if you CAN; for a more shabby, bedraggled, disreputable-looking object than you are I never set eyes on in my wholelife! Now, stop swaggering and arguing, and be off! I'll have somethingto say to you later!' Toad was at first inclined to stop and do some talking back at him. Hehad had enough of being ordered about when he was in prison, and herewas the thing being begun all over again, apparently; and by a Rat, too! However, he caught sight of himself in the looking-glass over thehat-stand, with the rusty black bonnet perched rakishly over one eye, and he changed his mind and went very quickly and humbly upstairs to theRat's dressing-room. There he had a thorough wash and brush-up, changedhis clothes, and stood for a long time before the glass, contemplatinghimself with pride and pleasure, and thinking what utter idiots all thepeople must have been to have ever mistaken him for one moment for awasherwoman. By the time he came down again luncheon was on the table, and very gladToad was to see it, for he had been through some trying experiences andhad taken much hard exercise since the excellent breakfast provided forhim by the gipsy. While they ate Toad told the Rat all his adventures, dwelling chiefly on his own cleverness, and presence of mind inemergencies, and cunning in tight places; and rather making out that hehad been having a gay and highly-coloured experience. But the more hetalked and boasted, the more grave and silent the Rat became. When at last Toad had talked himself to a standstill, there was silencefor a while; and then the Rat said, 'Now, Toady, I don't want to giveyou pain, after all you've been through already; but, seriously, don'tyou see what an awful ass you've been making of yourself? On yourown admission you have been handcuffed, imprisoned, starved, chased, terrified out of your life, insulted, jeered at, and ignominiously flunginto the water--by a woman, too! Where's the amusement in that? Wheredoes the fun come in? And all because you must needs go and steal amotor-car. You know that you've never had anything but trouble frommotor-cars from the moment you first set eyes on one. But if you WILLbe mixed up with them--as you generally are, five minutes after you'vestarted--why STEAL them? Be a cripple, if you think it's exciting; be abankrupt, for a change, if you've set your mind on it: but why chooseto be a convict? When are you going to be sensible, and think of yourfriends, and try and be a credit to them? Do you suppose it's anypleasure to me, for instance, to hear animals saying, as I go about, that I'm the chap that keeps company with gaol-birds?' Now, it was a very comforting point in Toad's character that he was athoroughly good-hearted animal and never minded being jawed by thosewho were his real friends. And even when most set upon a thing, he wasalways able to see the other side of the question. So although, whilethe Rat was talking so seriously, he kept saying to himself mutinously, 'But it WAS fun, though! Awful fun!' and making strange suppressednoises inside him, k-i-ck-ck-ck, and poop-p-p, and other soundsresembling stifled snorts, or the opening of soda-water bottles, yetwhen the Rat had quite finished, he heaved a deep sigh and said, verynicely and humbly, 'Quite right, Ratty! How SOUND you always are! Yes, I've been a conceited old ass, I can quite see that; but now I'm goingto be a good Toad, and not do it any more. As for motor-cars, I've notbeen at all so keen about them since my last ducking in that river ofyours. The fact is, while I was hanging on to the edge of your holeand getting my breath, I had a sudden idea--a really brilliantidea--connected with motor-boats--there, there! don't take on so, oldchap, and stamp, and upset things; it was only an idea, and we won'ttalk any more about it now. We'll have our coffee, AND a smoke, and aquiet chat, and then I'm going to stroll quietly down to Toad Hall, andget into clothes of my own, and set things going again on the old lines. I've had enough of adventures. I shall lead a quiet, steady, respectablelife, pottering about my property, and improving it, and doing a littlelandscape gardening at times. There will always be a bit of dinner formy friends when they come to see me; and I shall keep a pony-chaise tojog about the country in, just as I used to in the good old days, beforeI got restless, and wanted to DO things. ' 'Stroll quietly down to Toad Hall?' cried the Rat, greatly excited. 'What are you talking about? Do you mean to say you haven't HEARD?' 'Heard what?' said Toad, turning rather pale. 'Go on, Ratty! Quick!Don't spare me! What haven't I heard?' 'Do you mean to tell me, ' shouted the Rat, thumping with his littlefist upon the table, 'that you've heard nothing about the Stoats andWeasels?' What, the Wild Wooders?' cried Toad, trembling in every limb. 'No, not aword! What have they been doing?' '--And how they've been and taken Toad Hall?' continued the Rat. Toad leaned his elbows on the table, and his chin on his paws; and alarge tear welled up in each of his eyes, overflowed and splashed on thetable, plop! plop! 'Go on, Ratty, ' he murmured presently; 'tell me all. The worst is over. I am an animal again. I can bear it. ' 'When you--got--into that--that--trouble of yours, ' said the Rat, slowlyand impressively; 'I mean, when you--disappeared from society for atime, over that misunderstanding about a--a machine, you know--' Toad merely nodded. 'Well, it was a good deal talked about down here, naturally, ' continuedthe Rat, 'not only along the river-side, but even in the Wild Wood. Animals took sides, as always happens. The River-bankers stuck up foryou, and said you had been infamously treated, and there was no justiceto be had in the land nowadays. But the Wild Wood animals said hardthings, and served you right, and it was time this sort of thing wasstopped. And they got very cocky, and went about saying you were donefor this time! You would never come back again, never, never!' Toad nodded once more, keeping silence. 'That's the sort of little beasts they are, ' the Rat went on. 'But Moleand Badger, they stuck out, through thick and thin, that you would comeback again soon, somehow. They didn't know exactly how, but somehow!' Toad began to sit up in his chair again, and to smirk a little. 'They argued from history, ' continued the Rat. 'They said thatno criminal laws had ever been known to prevail against cheek andplausibility such as yours, combined with the power of a long purse. Sothey arranged to move their things in to Toad Hall, and sleep there, andkeep it aired, and have it all ready for you when you turned up. Theydidn't guess what was going to happen, of course; still, they had theirsuspicions of the Wild Wood animals. Now I come to the most painful andtragic part of my story. One dark night--it was a VERY dark night, andblowing hard, too, and raining simply cats and dogs--a band of weasels, armed to the teeth, crept silently up the carriage-drive to the frontentrance. Simultaneously, a body of desperate ferrets, advancing throughthe kitchen-garden, possessed themselves of the backyard and offices;while a company of skirmishing stoats who stuck at nothing occupied theconservatory and the billiard-room, and held the French windows openingon to the lawn. 'The Mole and the Badger were sitting by the fire in the smoking-room, telling stories and suspecting nothing, for it wasn't a night for anyanimals to be out in, when those bloodthirsty villains broke down thedoors and rushed in upon them from every side. They made the best fightthey could, but what was the good? They were unarmed, and taken bysurprise, and what can two animals do against hundreds? They took andbeat them severely with sticks, those two poor faithful creatures, and turned them out into the cold and the wet, with many insulting anduncalled-for remarks!' Here the unfeeling Toad broke into a snigger, and then pulled himselftogether and tried to look particularly solemn. 'And the Wild Wooders have been living in Toad Hall ever since, 'continued the Rat; 'and going on simply anyhow! Lying in bed half theday, and breakfast at all hours, and the place in such a mess (I'm told)it's not fit to be seen! Eating your grub, and drinking your drink, andmaking bad jokes about you, and singing vulgar songs, about--well, aboutprisons and magistrates, and policemen; horrid personal songs, with nohumour in them. And they're telling the tradespeople and everybody thatthey've come to stay for good. ' 'O, have they!' said Toad getting up and seizing a stick. 'I'll jollysoon see about that!' 'It's no good, Toad!' called the Rat after him. 'You'd better come backand sit down; you'll only get into trouble. ' But the Toad was off, and there was no holding him. He marched rapidlydown the road, his stick over his shoulder, fuming and muttering tohimself in his anger, till he got near his front gate, when suddenlythere popped up from behind the palings a long yellow ferret with a gun. 'Who comes there?' said the ferret sharply. 'Stuff and nonsense!' said Toad, very angrily. 'What do you mean bytalking like that to me? Come out of that at once, or I'll----' The ferret said never a word, but he brought his gun up to his shoulder. Toad prudently dropped flat in the road, and BANG! a bullet whistledover his head. The startled Toad scrambled to his feet and scampered off down the roadas hard as he could; and as he ran he heard the ferret laughing andother horrid thin little laughs taking it up and carrying on the sound. He went back, very crestfallen, and told the Water Rat. 'What did I tell you?' said the Rat. 'It's no good. They've got sentriesposted, and they are all armed. You must just wait. ' Still, Toad was not inclined to give in all at once. So he got out theboat, and set off rowing up the river to where the garden front of ToadHall came down to the waterside. Arriving within sight of his old home, he rested on his oars andsurveyed the land cautiously. All seemed very peaceful and deserted andquiet. He could see the whole front of Toad Hall, glowing in the eveningsunshine, the pigeons settling by twos and threes along the straightline of the roof; the garden, a blaze of flowers; the creek that ledup to the boat-house, the little wooden bridge that crossed it; alltranquil, uninhabited, apparently waiting for his return. He would trythe boat-house first, he thought. Very warily he paddled up to the mouthof the creek, and was just passing under the bridge, when . .. CRASH! A great stone, dropped from above, smashed through the bottom of theboat. It filled and sank, and Toad found himself struggling in deepwater. Looking up, he saw two stoats leaning over the parapet of thebridge and watching him with great glee. 'It will be your head nexttime, Toady!' they called out to him. The indignant Toad swam to shore, while the stoats laughed and laughed, supporting each other, and laughedagain, till they nearly had two fits--that is, one fit each, of course. The Toad retraced his weary way on foot, and related his disappointingexperiences to the Water Rat once more. 'Well, WHAT did I tell you?' said the Rat very crossly. 'And, now, lookhere! See what you've been and done! Lost me my boat that I was so fondof, that's what you've done! And simply ruined that nice suit of clothesthat I lent you! Really, Toad, of all the trying animals--I wonder youmanage to keep any friends at all!' The Toad saw at once how wrongly and foolishly he had acted. He admittedhis errors and wrong-headedness and made a full apology to Rat forlosing his boat and spoiling his clothes. And he wound up by saying, with that frank self-surrender which always disarmed his friend'scriticism and won them back to his side, 'Ratty! I see that I have beena headstrong and a wilful Toad! Henceforth, believe me, I will be humbleand submissive, and will take no action without your kind advice andfull approval!' 'If that is really so, ' said the good-natured Rat, already appeased, 'then my advice to you is, considering the lateness of the hour, to sitdown and have your supper, which will be on the table in a minute, andbe very patient. For I am convinced that we can do nothing until wehave seen the Mole and the Badger, and heard their latest news, and heldconference and taken their advice in this difficult matter. ' 'Oh, ah, yes, of course, the Mole and the Badger, ' said Toad, lightly. 'What's become of them, the dear fellows? I had forgotten all aboutthem. ' 'Well may you ask!' said the Rat reproachfully. 'While you were ridingabout the country in expensive motor-cars, and galloping proudly onblood-horses, and breakfasting on the fat of the land, those two poordevoted animals have been camping out in the open, in every sort ofweather, living very rough by day and lying very hard by night; watchingover your house, patrolling your boundaries, keeping a constant eye onthe stoats and the weasels, scheming and planning and contriving how toget your property back for you. You don't deserve to have such true andloyal friends, Toad, you don't, really. Some day, when it's too late, you'll be sorry you didn't value them more while you had them!' 'I'm an ungrateful beast, I know, ' sobbed Toad, shedding bitter tears. 'Let me go out and find them, out into the cold, dark night, and sharetheir hardships, and try and prove by----Hold on a bit! Surely I heardthe chink of dishes on a tray! Supper's here at last, hooray! Come on, Ratty!' The Rat remembered that poor Toad had been on prison fare for aconsiderable time, and that large allowances had therefore to be made. He followed him to the table accordingly, and hospitably encouraged himin his gallant efforts to make up for past privations. They had just finished their meal and resumed their arm-chairs, whenthere came a heavy knock at the door. Toad was nervous, but the Rat, nodding mysteriously at him, wentstraight up to the door and opened it, and in walked Mr. Badger. He had all the appearance of one who for some nights had been kept awayfrom home and all its little comforts and conveniences. His shoes werecovered with mud, and he was looking very rough and touzled; but thenhe had never been a very smart man, the Badger, at the best of times. Hecame solemnly up to Toad, shook him by the paw, and said, 'Welcome home, Toad! Alas! what am I saying? Home, indeed! This is a poor home-coming. Unhappy Toad!' Then he turned his back on him, sat down to the table, drew his chair up, and helped himself to a large slice of cold pie. Toad was quite alarmed at this very serious and portentous style ofgreeting; but the Rat whispered to him, 'Never mind; don't take anynotice; and don't say anything to him just yet. He's always rather lowand despondent when he's wanting his victuals. In half an hour's timehe'll be quite a different animal. ' So they waited in silence, and presently there came another and alighter knock. The Rat, with a nod to Toad, went to the door and usheredin the Mole, very shabby and unwashed, with bits of hay and strawsticking in his fur. 'Hooray! Here's old Toad!' cried the Mole, his face beaming. 'Fancyhaving you back again!' And he began to dance round him. 'We neverdreamt you would turn up so soon! Why, you must have managed to escape, you clever, ingenious, intelligent Toad!' The Rat, alarmed, pulled him by the elbow; but it was too late. Toad waspuffing and swelling already. 'Clever? O, no!' he said. 'I'm not really clever, according to myfriends. I've only broken out of the strongest prison in England, that'sall! And captured a railway train and escaped on it, that's all! Anddisguised myself and gone about the country humbugging everybody, that'sall! O, no! I'm a stupid ass, I am! I'll tell you one or two of mylittle adventures, Mole, and you shall judge for yourself!' 'Well, well, ' said the Mole, moving towards the supper-table; 'supposingyou talk while I eat. Not a bite since breakfast! O my! O my!' And hesat down and helped himself liberally to cold beef and pickles. Toad straddled on the hearth-rug, thrust his paw into his trouser-pocketand pulled out a handful of silver. 'Look at that!' he cried, displayingit. 'That's not so bad, is it, for a few minutes' work? And how do youthink I done it, Mole? Horse-dealing! That's how I done it!' 'Go on, Toad, ' said the Mole, immensely interested. 'Toad, do be quiet, please!' said the Rat. 'And don't you egg him on, Mole, when you know what he is; but please tell us as soon as possiblewhat the position is, and what's best to be done, now that Toad is backat last. ' 'The position's about as bad as it can be, ' replied the Mole grumpily;'and as for what's to be done, why, blest if I know! The Badger and Ihave been round and round the place, by night and by day; always thesame thing. Sentries posted everywhere, guns poked out at us, stonesthrown at us; always an animal on the look-out, and when they see us, my! how they do laugh! That's what annoys me most!' 'It's a very difficult situation, ' said the Rat, reflecting deeply. 'ButI think I see now, in the depths of my mind, what Toad really ought todo. I will tell you. He ought to----' 'No, he oughtn't!' shouted the Mole, with his mouth full. 'Nothing ofthe sort! You don't understand. What he ought to do is, he ought to----' 'Well, I shan't do it, anyway!' cried Toad, getting excited. 'I'm notgoing to be ordered about by you fellows! It's my house we're talkingabout, and I know exactly what to do, and I'll tell you. I'm goingto----' By this time they were all three talking at once, at the top of theirvoices, and the noise was simply deafening, when a thin, dry voice madeitself heard, saying, 'Be quiet at once, all of you!' and instantlyevery one was silent. It was the Badger, who, having finished his pie, had turned round in hischair and was looking at them severely. When he saw that he had securedtheir attention, and that they were evidently waiting for him to addressthem, he turned back to the table again and reached out for the cheese. And so great was the respect commanded by the solid qualities of thatadmirable animal, that not another word was uttered until he had quitefinished his repast and brushed the crumbs from his knees. The Toadfidgeted a good deal, but the Rat held him firmly down. When the Badger had quite done, he got up from his seat and stood beforethe fireplace, reflecting deeply. At last he spoke. 'Toad!' he said severely. 'You bad, troublesome little animal! Aren'tyou ashamed of yourself? What do you think your father, my old friend, would have said if he had been here to-night, and had known of all yourgoings on?' Toad, who was on the sofa by this time, with his legs up, rolled over onhis face, shaken by sobs of contrition. 'There, there!' went on the Badger, more kindly. 'Never mind. Stopcrying. We're going to let bygones be bygones, and try and turn over anew leaf. But what the Mole says is quite true. The stoats are on guard, at every point, and they make the best sentinels in the world. It'squite useless to think of attacking the place. They're too strong forus. ' 'Then it's all over, ' sobbed the Toad, crying into the sofa cushions. 'Ishall go and enlist for a soldier, and never see my dear Toad Hall anymore!' 'Come, cheer up, Toady!' said the Badger. 'There are more ways ofgetting back a place than taking it by storm. I haven't said my lastword yet. Now I'm going to tell you a great secret. ' Toad sat up slowly and dried his eyes. Secrets had an immense attractionfor him, because he never could keep one, and he enjoyed the sort ofunhallowed thrill he experienced when he went and told another animal, after having faithfully promised not to. 'There--is--an--underground--passage, ' said the Badger, impressively, 'that leads from the river-bank, quite near here, right up into themiddle of Toad Hall. ' 'O, nonsense! Badger, ' said Toad, rather airily. 'You've been listeningto some of the yarns they spin in the public-houses about here. I knowevery inch of Toad Hall, inside and out. Nothing of the sort, I doassure you!' 'My young friend, ' said the Badger, with great severity, 'your father, who was a worthy animal--a lot worthier than some others I know--wasa particular friend of mine, and told me a great deal he wouldn't havedreamt of telling you. He discovered that passage--he didn't make it, of course; that was done hundreds of years before he ever came to livethere--and he repaired it and cleaned it out, because he thought itmight come in useful some day, in case of trouble or danger; and heshowed it to me. "Don't let my son know about it, " he said. "He's a goodboy, but very light and volatile in character, and simply cannot holdhis tongue. If he's ever in a real fix, and it would be of use to him, you may tell him about the secret passage; but not before. "' The other animals looked hard at Toad to see how he would take it. Toadwas inclined to be sulky at first; but he brightened up immediately, like the good fellow he was. 'Well, well, ' he said; 'perhaps I am a bit of a talker. A popular fellowsuch as I am--my friends get round me--we chaff, we sparkle, we tellwitty stories--and somehow my tongue gets wagging. I have the gift ofconversation. I've been told I ought to have a salon, whatever that maybe. Never mind. Go on, Badger. How's this passage of yours going to helpus?' 'I've found out a thing or two lately, ' continued the Badger. 'I gotOtter to disguise himself as a sweep and call at the back-door withbrushes over his shoulder, asking for a job. There's going to be a bigbanquet to-morrow night. It's somebody's birthday--the Chief Weasel's, I believe--and all the weasels will be gathered together in thedining-hall, eating and drinking and laughing and carrying on, suspecting nothing. No guns, no swords, no sticks, no arms of any sortwhatever!' 'But the sentinels will be posted as usual, ' remarked the Rat. 'Exactly, ' said the Badger; 'that is my point. The weasels will trustentirely to their excellent sentinels. And that is where the passagecomes in. That very useful tunnel leads right up under the butler'spantry, next to the dining-hall!' 'Aha! that squeaky board in the butler's pantry!' said Toad. 'Now Iunderstand it!' 'We shall creep out quietly into the butler's pantry--' cried the Mole. '--with our pistols and swords and sticks--' shouted the Rat. '--and rush in upon them, ' said the Badger. '--and whack 'em, and whack 'em, and whack 'em!' cried the Toad inecstasy, running round and round the room, and jumping over the chairs. 'Very well, then, ' said the Badger, resuming his usual dry manner, 'ourplan is settled, and there's nothing more for you to argue and squabbleabout. So, as it's getting very late, all of you go right off to bed atonce. We will make all the necessary arrangements in the course of themorning to-morrow. ' Toad, of course, went off to bed dutifully with the rest--he knew betterthan to refuse--though he was feeling much too excited to sleep. Buthe had had a long day, with many events crowded into it; and sheets andblankets were very friendly and comforting things, after plain straw, and not too much of it, spread on the stone floor of a draughty cell;and his head had not been many seconds on his pillow before he wassnoring happily. Naturally, he dreamt a good deal; about roads that ranaway from him just when he wanted them, and canals that chased him andcaught him, and a barge that sailed into the banqueting-hall with hisweek's washing, just as he was giving a dinner-party; and he was alonein the secret passage, pushing onwards, but it twisted and turned roundand shook itself, and sat up on its end; yet somehow, at the last, he found himself back in Toad Hall, safe and triumphant, with all hisfriends gathered round about him, earnestly assuring him that he reallywas a clever Toad. He slept till a late hour next morning, and by the time he got downhe found that the other animals had finished their breakfast some timebefore. The Mole had slipped off somewhere by himself, without tellingany one where he was going to. The Badger sat in the arm-chair, readingthe paper, and not concerning himself in the slightest about what wasgoing to happen that very evening. The Rat, on the other hand, wasrunning round the room busily, with his arms full of weapons of everykind, distributing them in four little heaps on the floor, and sayingexcitedly under his breath, as he ran, 'Here's-a-sword-for-the-Rat, here's-a-sword-for-the Mole, here's-a-sword-for-the-Toad, here's-a-sword-for-the-Badger! Here's-a-pistol-for-the-Rat, here's-a-pistol-for-the-Mole, here's-a-pistol-for-the-Toad, here's-a-pistol-for-the-Badger!' And so on, in a regular, rhythmicalway, while the four little heaps gradually grew and grew. 'That's all very well, Rat, ' said the Badger presently, looking at thebusy little animal over the edge of his newspaper; 'I'm not blaming you. But just let us once get past the stoats, with those detestable guns oftheirs, and I assure you we shan't want any swords or pistols. We four, with our sticks, once we're inside the dining-hall, why, we shall clearthe floor of all the lot of them in five minutes. I'd have done thewhole thing by myself, only I didn't want to deprive you fellows of thefun!' 'It's as well to be on the safe side, ' said the Rat reflectively, polishing a pistol-barrel on his sleeve and looking along it. The Toad, having finished his breakfast, picked up a stout stick andswung it vigorously, belabouring imaginary animals. 'I'll learn 'em tosteal my house!' he cried. 'I'll learn 'em, I'll learn 'em!' 'Don't say "learn 'em, " Toad, ' said the Rat, greatly shocked. 'It's notgood English. ' 'What are you always nagging at Toad for?' inquired the Badger, ratherpeevishly. 'What's the matter with his English? It's the same what I usemyself, and if it's good enough for me, it ought to be good enough foryou!' 'I'm very sorry, ' said the Rat humbly. 'Only I THINK it ought to be"teach 'em, " not "learn 'em. "' 'But we don't WANT to teach 'em, ' replied the Badger. 'We want to LEARN'em--learn 'em, learn 'em! And what's more, we're going to DO it, too!' 'Oh, very well, have it your own way, ' said the Rat. He was gettingrather muddled about it himself, and presently he retired into a corner, where he could be heard muttering, 'Learn 'em, teach 'em, teach 'em, learn 'em!' till the Badger told him rather sharply to leave off. Presently the Mole came tumbling into the room, evidently very pleasedwith himself. 'I've been having such fun!' he began at once; 'I've beengetting a rise out of the stoats!' 'I hope you've been very careful, Mole?' said the Rat anxiously. 'I should hope so, too, ' said the Mole confidently. 'I got the idea whenI went into the kitchen, to see about Toad's breakfast being kepthot for him. I found that old washerwoman-dress that he came home inyesterday, hanging on a towel-horse before the fire. So I put it on, andthe bonnet as well, and the shawl, and off I went to Toad Hall, as boldas you please. The sentries were on the look-out, of course, with theirguns and their "Who comes there?" and all the rest of their nonsense. "Good morning, gentlemen!" says I, very respectful. "Want any washingdone to-day?" 'They looked at me very proud and stiff and haughty, and said, "Go away, washerwoman! We don't do any washing on duty. " "Or any other time?" saysI. Ho, ho, ho! Wasn't I FUNNY, Toad?' 'Poor, frivolous animal!' said Toad, very loftily. The fact is, he feltexceedingly jealous of Mole for what he had just done. It was exactlywhat he would have liked to have done himself, if only he had thought ofit first, and hadn't gone and overslept himself. 'Some of the stoats turned quite pink, ' continued the Mole, 'and theSergeant in charge, he said to me, very short, he said, "Now run away, my good woman, run away! Don't keep my men idling and talking on theirposts. " "Run away?" says I; "it won't be me that'll be running away, ina very short time from now!"' 'O MOLY, how could you?' said the Rat, dismayed. The Badger laid down his paper. 'I could see them pricking up their ears and looking at each other, 'went on the Mole; 'and the Sergeant said to them, "Never mind HER; shedoesn't know what she's talking about. "' '"O! don't I?"' said I. '"Well, let me tell you this. My daughter, shewashes for Mr. Badger, and that'll show you whether I know what I'mtalking about; and YOU'LL know pretty soon, too! A hundred bloodthirstybadgers, armed with rifles, are going to attack Toad Hall this verynight, by way of the paddock. Six boatloads of Rats, with pistols andcutlasses, will come up the river and effect a landing in thegarden; while a picked body of Toads, known at the Die-hards, or theDeath-or-Glory Toads, will storm the orchard and carry everything beforethem, yelling for vengeance. There won't be much left of you to wash, bythe time they've done with you, unless you clear out while you havethe chance!" Then I ran away, and when I was out of sight I hid; andpresently I came creeping back along the ditch and took a peep at themthrough the hedge. They were all as nervous and flustered as could be, running all ways at once, and falling over each other, and every onegiving orders to everybody else and not listening; and the Sergeant keptsending off parties of stoats to distant parts of the grounds, and thensending other fellows to fetch 'em back again; and I heard themsaying to each other, "That's just like the weasels; they're to stopcomfortably in the banqueting-hall, and have feasting and toasts andsongs and all sorts of fun, while we must stay on guard in the cold andthe dark, and in the end be cut to pieces by bloodthirsty Badgers!'" 'Oh, you silly ass, Mole!' cried Toad, 'You've been and spoilteverything!' 'Mole, ' said the Badger, in his dry, quiet way, 'I perceive you havemore sense in your little finger than some other animals have in thewhole of their fat bodies. You have managed excellently, and I begin tohave great hopes of you. Good Mole! Clever Mole!' The Toad was simply wild with jealousy, more especially as he couldn'tmake out for the life of him what the Mole had done that was soparticularly clever; but, fortunately for him, before he could showtemper or expose himself to the Badger's sarcasm, the bell rang forluncheon. It was a simple but sustaining meal--bacon and broad beans, and amacaroni pudding; and when they had quite done, the Badger settledhimself into an arm-chair, and said, 'Well, we've got our work cut outfor us to-night, and it will probably be pretty late before we're quitethrough with it; so I'm just going to take forty winks, while I can. 'And he drew a handkerchief over his face and was soon snoring. The anxious and laborious Rat at once resumed his preparations, and started running between his four little heaps, muttering, 'Here's-a-belt-for-the-Rat, here's-a-belt-for-the Mole, here's-a-belt-for-the-Toad, here's-a-belt-for-the-Badger!' and so on, with every fresh accoutrement he produced, to which there seemed reallyno end; so the Mole drew his arm through Toad's, led him out into theopen air, shoved him into a wicker chair, and made him tell him all hisadventures from beginning to end, which Toad was only too willing todo. The Mole was a good listener, and Toad, with no one to check hisstatements or to criticise in an unfriendly spirit, rather let himselfgo. Indeed, much that he related belonged more properly to the categoryof what-might-have-happened-had-I-only-thought-of-it-in-time-instead-often-minutes-afterwards. Those are always the best and the raciestadventures; and why should they not be truly ours, as much as thesomewhat inadequate things that really come off? XII. THE RETURN OF ULYSSES When it began to grow dark, the Rat, with an air of excitement andmystery, summoned them back into the parlour, stood each of them upalongside of his little heap, and proceeded to dress them up for thecoming expedition. He was very earnest and thoroughgoing about it, andthe affair took quite a long time. First, there was a belt to go roundeach animal, and then a sword to be stuck into each belt, and thena cutlass on the other side to balance it. Then a pair of pistols, apoliceman's truncheon, several sets of handcuffs, some bandages andsticking-plaster, and a flask and a sandwich-case. The Badger laughedgood-humouredly and said, 'All right, Ratty! It amuses you and itdoesn't hurt me. I'm going to do all I've got to do with this herestick. ' But the Rat only said, 'PLEASE, Badger. You know I shouldn'tlike you to blame me afterwards and say I had forgotten ANYTHING!' When all was quite ready, the Badger took a dark lantern in one paw, grasped his great stick with the other, and said, 'Now then, follow me!Mole first, 'cos I'm very pleased with him; Rat next; Toad last. Andlook here, Toady! Don't you chatter so much as usual, or you'll be sentback, as sure as fate!' The Toad was so anxious not to be left out that he took up the inferiorposition assigned to him without a murmur, and the animals set off. TheBadger led them along by the river for a little way, and then suddenlyswung himself over the edge into a hole in the river-bank, a littleabove the water. The Mole and the Rat followed silently, swingingthemselves successfully into the hole as they had seen the Badger do;but when it came to Toad's turn, of course he managed to slip and fallinto the water with a loud splash and a squeal of alarm. He was hauledout by his friends, rubbed down and wrung out hastily, comforted, andset on his legs; but the Badger was seriously angry, and told him thatthe very next time he made a fool of himself he would most certainly beleft behind. So at last they were in the secret passage, and the cutting-outexpedition had really begun! It was cold, and dark, and damp, and low, and narrow, and poor Toadbegan to shiver, partly from dread of what might be before him, partlybecause he was wet through. The lantern was far ahead, and he could nothelp lagging behind a little in the darkness. Then he heard the Rat callout warningly, 'COME on, Toad!' and a terror seized him of being leftbehind, alone in the darkness, and he 'came on' with such a rush thathe upset the Rat into the Mole and the Mole into the Badger, and for amoment all was confusion. The Badger thought they were being attackedfrom behind, and, as there was no room to use a stick or a cutlass, drewa pistol, and was on the point of putting a bullet into Toad. When hefound out what had really happened he was very angry indeed, and said, 'Now this time that tiresome Toad SHALL be left behind!' But Toad whimpered, and the other two promised that they would beanswerable for his good conduct, and at last the Badger was pacified, and the procession moved on; only this time the Rat brought up the rear, with a firm grip on the shoulder of Toad. So they groped and shuffled along, with their ears pricked up and theirpaws on their pistols, till at last the Badger said, 'We ought by now tobe pretty nearly under the Hall. ' Then suddenly they heard, far away as it might be, and yet apparentlynearly over their heads, a confused murmur of sound, as if people wereshouting and cheering and stamping on the floor and hammering on tables. The Toad's nervous terrors all returned, but the Badger only remarkedplacidly, 'They ARE going it, the Weasels!' The passage now began to slope upwards; they groped onward a littlefurther, and then the noise broke out again, quite distinct this time, and very close above them. 'Ooo-ray-ooray-oo-ray-ooray!' they heard, andthe stamping of little feet on the floor, and the clinking of glassesas little fists pounded on the table. 'WHAT a time they're having!' saidthe Badger. 'Come on!' They hurried along the passage till it came to afull stop, and they found themselves standing under the trap-door thatled up into the butler's pantry. Such a tremendous noise was going on in the banqueting-hall that therewas little danger of their being overheard. The Badger said, 'Now, boys, all together!' and the four of them put their shoulders to the trap-doorand heaved it back. Hoisting each other up, they found themselvesstanding in the pantry, with only a door between them and thebanqueting-hall, where their unconscious enemies were carousing. The noise, as they emerged from the passage, was simply deafening. Atlast, as the cheering and hammering slowly subsided, a voice couldbe made out saying, 'Well, I do not propose to detain you muchlonger'--(great applause)--'but before I resume my seat'--(renewedcheering)--'I should like to say one word about our kind host, Mr. Toad. We all know Toad!'--(great laughter)--'GOOD Toad, MODEST Toad, HONESTToad!' (shrieks of merriment). 'Only just let me get at him!' muttered Toad, grinding his teeth. 'Hold hard a minute!' said the Badger, restraining him with difficulty. 'Get ready, all of you!' '--Let me sing you a little song, ' went on the voice, 'which I havecomposed on the subject of Toad'--(prolonged applause). Then the Chief Weasel--for it was he--began in a high, squeaky voice-- 'Toad he went a-pleasuring Gaily down the street--' The Badger drew himself up, took a firm grip of his stick with bothpaws, glanced round at his comrades, and cried-- 'The hour is come! Follow me!' And flung the door open wide. My! What a squealing and a squeaking and a screeching filled the air! Well might the terrified weasels dive under the tables and spring madlyup at the windows! Well might the ferrets rush wildly for the fireplaceand get hopelessly jammed in the chimney! Well might tables and chairsbe upset, and glass and china be sent crashing on the floor, in thepanic of that terrible moment when the four Heroes strode wrathfullyinto the room! The mighty Badger, his whiskers bristling, his greatcudgel whistling through the air; Mole, black and grim, brandishing hisstick and shouting his awful war-cry, 'A Mole! A Mole!' Rat; desperateand determined, his belt bulging with weapons of every age and everyvariety; Toad, frenzied with excitement and injured pride, swollen totwice his ordinary size, leaping into the air and emitting Toad-whoopsthat chilled them to the marrow! 'Toad he went a-pleasuring!' he yelled. 'I'LL pleasure 'em!' and he went straight for the Chief Weasel. Theywere but four in all, but to the panic-stricken weasels the hall seemedfull of monstrous animals, grey, black, brown and yellow, whooping andflourishing enormous cudgels; and they broke and fled with squealsof terror and dismay, this way and that, through the windows, up thechimney, anywhere to get out of reach of those terrible sticks. The affair was soon over. Up and down, the whole length of the hall, strode the four Friends, whacking with their sticks at every head thatshowed itself; and in five minutes the room was cleared. Through thebroken windows the shrieks of terrified weasels escaping across the lawnwere borne faintly to their ears; on the floor lay prostrate some dozenor so of the enemy, on whom the Mole was busily engaged in fittinghandcuffs. The Badger, resting from his labours, leant on his stick andwiped his honest brow. 'Mole, ' he said, ' 'you're the best of fellows! Just cut along outsideand look after those stoat-sentries of yours, and see what they'redoing. I've an idea that, thanks to you, we shan't have much troublefrom them to-night!' The Mole vanished promptly through a window; and the Badger bade theother two set a table on its legs again, pick up knives and forks andplates and glasses from the debris on the floor, and see if they couldfind materials for a supper. 'I want some grub, I do, ' he said, in thatrather common way he had of speaking. 'Stir your stumps, Toad, and looklively! We've got your house back for you, and you don't offer us somuch as a sandwich. ' Toad felt rather hurt that the Badger didn't saypleasant things to him, as he had to the Mole, and tell him what afine fellow he was, and how splendidly he had fought; for he was ratherparticularly pleased with himself and the way he had gone for the ChiefWeasel and sent him flying across the table with one blow of his stick. But he bustled about, and so did the Rat, and soon they found some guavajelly in a glass dish, and a cold chicken, a tongue that had hardlybeen touched, some trifle, and quite a lot of lobster salad; and in thepantry they came upon a basketful of French rolls and any quantity ofcheese, butter, and celery. They were just about to sit down when theMole clambered in through the window, chuckling, with an armful ofrifles. 'It's all over, ' he reported. 'From what I can make out, as soon as thestoats, who were very nervous and jumpy already, heard the shrieks andthe yells and the uproar inside the hall, some of them threw down theirrifles and fled. The others stood fast for a bit, but when the weaselscame rushing out upon them they thought they were betrayed; and thestoats grappled with the weasels, and the weasels fought to get away, and they wrestled and wriggled and punched each other, and rolledover and over, till most of 'em rolled into the river! They've alldisappeared by now, one way or another; and I've got their rifles. Sothat's all right!' 'Excellent and deserving animal!' said the Badger, his mouth full ofchicken and trifle. 'Now, there's just one more thing I want you to do, Mole, before you sit down to your supper along of us; and I wouldn'ttrouble you only I know I can trust you to see a thing done, and I wishI could say the same of every one I know. I'd send Rat, if he wasn't apoet. I want you to take those fellows on the floor there upstairs withyou, and have some bedrooms cleaned out and tidied up and made reallycomfortable. See that they sweep UNDER the beds, and put clean sheetsand pillow-cases on, and turn down one corner of the bed-clothes, justas you know it ought to be done; and have a can of hot water, and cleantowels, and fresh cakes of soap, put in each room. And then you can givethem a licking a-piece, if it's any satisfaction to you, and put themout by the back-door, and we shan't see any more of THEM, I fancy. Andthen come along and have some of this cold tongue. It's first rate. I'mvery pleased with you, Mole!' The goodnatured Mole picked up a stick, formed his prisoners up in aline on the floor, gave them the order 'Quick march!' and led his squadoff to the upper floor. After a time, he appeared again, smiling, andsaid that every room was ready, and as clean as a new pin. 'And I didn'thave to lick them, either, ' he added. 'I thought, on the whole, they hadhad licking enough for one night, and the weasels, when I put the pointto them, quite agreed with me, and said they wouldn't think of troublingme. They were very penitent, and said they were extremely sorry forwhat they had done, but it was all the fault of the Chief Weasel and thestoats, and if ever they could do anything for us at any time to makeup, we had only got to mention it. So I gave them a roll a-piece, andlet them out at the back, and off they ran, as hard as they could!' Then the Mole pulled his chair up to the table, and pitched into thecold tongue; and Toad, like the gentleman he was, put all his jealousyfrom him, and said heartily, 'Thank you kindly, dear Mole, for allyour pains and trouble tonight, and especially for your cleverness thismorning!' The Badger was pleased at that, and said, 'There spoke mybrave Toad!' So they finished their supper in great joy and contentment, and presently retired to rest between clean sheets, safe in Toad'sancestral home, won back by matchless valour, consummate strategy, and aproper handling of sticks. The following morning, Toad, who had overslept himself as usual, camedown to breakfast disgracefully late, and found on the table a certainquantity of egg-shells, some fragments of cold and leathery toast, acoffee-pot three-fourths empty, and really very little else; which didnot tend to improve his temper, considering that, after all, it was hisown house. Through the French windows of the breakfast-room he couldsee the Mole and the Water Rat sitting in wicker-chairs out on the lawn, evidently telling each other stories; roaring with laughter and kickingtheir short legs up in the air. The Badger, who was in an arm-chair anddeep in the morning paper, merely looked up and nodded when Toad enteredthe room. But Toad knew his man, so he sat down and made the bestbreakfast he could, merely observing to himself that he would get squarewith the others sooner or later. When he had nearly finished, the Badgerlooked up and remarked rather shortly: 'I'm sorry, Toad, but I'm afraidthere's a heavy morning's work in front of you. You see, we really oughtto have a Banquet at once, to celebrate this affair. It's expected ofyou--in fact, it's the rule. ' 'O, all right!' said the Toad, readily. 'Anything to oblige. Thoughwhy on earth you should want to have a Banquet in the morning I cannotunderstand. But you know I do not live to please myself, but merely tofind out what my friends want, and then try and arrange it for 'em, youdear old Badger!' 'Don't pretend to be stupider than you really are, ' replied the Badger, crossly; 'and don't chuckle and splutter in your coffee while you'retalking; it's not manners. What I mean is, the Banquet will be at night, of course, but the invitations will have to be written and got off atonce, and you've got to write 'em. Now, sit down at that table--there'sstacks of letter-paper on it, with "Toad Hall" at the top in blue andgold--and write invitations to all our friends, and if you stick to itwe shall get them out before luncheon. And I'LL bear a hand, too; andtake my share of the burden. I'LL order the Banquet. ' 'What!' cried Toad, dismayed. 'Me stop indoors and write a lot ofrotten letters on a jolly morning like this, when I want to go around myproperty, and set everything and everybody to rights, and swagger aboutand enjoy myself! Certainly not! I'll be--I'll see you----Stop a minute, though! Why, of course, dear Badger! What is my pleasure or conveniencecompared with that of others! You wish it done, and it shall be done. Go, Badger, order the Banquet, order what you like; then join our youngfriends outside in their innocent mirth, oblivious of me and my caresand toils. I sacrifice this fair morning on the altar of duty andfriendship!' The Badger looked at him very suspiciously, but Toad's frank, opencountenance made it difficult to suggest any unworthy motive in thischange of attitude. He quitted the room, accordingly, in the directionof the kitchen, and as soon as the door had closed behind him, Toadhurried to the writing-table. A fine idea had occurred to him while hewas talking. He WOULD write the invitations; and he would take care tomention the leading part he had taken in the fight, and how he had laidthe Chief Weasel flat; and he would hint at his adventures, and what acareer of triumph he had to tell about; and on the fly-leaf he would setout a sort of a programme of entertainment for the evening--somethinglike this, as he sketched it out in his head:-- SPEECH. . . . BY TOAD. (There will be other speeches by TOAD during the evening. ) ADDRESS. . . BY TOAD SYNOPSIS--Our Prison System--the Waterways of Old England--Horse-dealing, and how to deal--Property, its rights and its duties--Back to the Land-- A Typical English Squire. SONG. . . . BY TOAD. (Composed by himself. ) OTHER COMPOSITIONS. BY TOAD will be sung in the course of the evening by the. . . COMPOSER. The idea pleased him mightily, and he worked very hard and got all theletters finished by noon, at which hour it was reported to him thatthere was a small and rather bedraggled weasel at the door, inquiringtimidly whether he could be of any service to the gentlemen. Toadswaggered out and found it was one of the prisoners of the previousevening, very respectful and anxious to please. He patted him on thehead, shoved the bundle of invitations into his paw, and told him tocut along quick and deliver them as fast as he could, and if he likedto come back again in the evening, perhaps there might be a shillingfor him, or, again, perhaps there mightn't; and the poor weasel seemedreally quite grateful, and hurried off eagerly to do his mission. When the other animals came back to luncheon, very boisterous andbreezy after a morning on the river, the Mole, whose conscience had beenpricking him, looked doubtfully at Toad, expecting to find him sulky ordepressed. Instead, he was so uppish and inflated that the Mole beganto suspect something; while the Rat and the Badger exchanged significantglances. As soon as the meal was over, Toad thrust his paws deep into histrouser-pockets, remarked casually, 'Well, look after yourselves, youfellows! Ask for anything you want!' and was swaggering off in thedirection of the garden, where he wanted to think out an idea or two forhis coming speeches, when the Rat caught him by the arm. Toad rather suspected what he was after, and did his best to get away;but when the Badger took him firmly by the other arm he began to seethat the game was up. The two animals conducted him between them intothe small smoking-room that opened out of the entrance-hall, shut thedoor, and put him into a chair. Then they both stood in front ofhim, while Toad sat silent and regarded them with much suspicion andill-humour. 'Now, look here, Toad, ' said the Rat. 'It's about this Banquet, andvery sorry I am to have to speak to you like this. But we want you tounderstand clearly, once and for all, that there are going to be nospeeches and no songs. Try and grasp the fact that on this occasionwe're not arguing with you; we're just telling you. ' Toad saw that he was trapped. They understood him, they saw through him, they had got ahead of him. His pleasant dream was shattered. 'Mayn't I sing them just one LITTLE song?' he pleaded piteously. 'No, not ONE little song, ' replied the Rat firmly, though his heart bledas he noticed the trembling lip of the poor disappointed Toad. 'It's nogood, Toady; you know well that your songs are all conceit and boastingand vanity; and your speeches are all self-praise and--and--well, andgross exaggeration and--and----' 'And gas, ' put in the Badger, in his common way. 'It's for your own good, Toady, ' went on the Rat. 'You know you MUSTturn over a new leaf sooner or later, and now seems a splendid time tobegin; a sort of turning-point in your career. Please don't think thatsaying all this doesn't hurt me more than it hurts you. ' Toad remained a long while plunged in thought. At last he raised hishead, and the traces of strong emotion were visible on his features. 'You have conquered, my friends, ' he said in broken accents. 'It was, to be sure, but a small thing that I asked--merely leave to blossomand expand for yet one more evening, to let myself go and hear thetumultuous applause that always seems to me--somehow--to bring out mybest qualities. However, you are right, I know, and I am wrong. Henceforth I will be a very different Toad. My friends, you shall never haveoccasion to blush for me again. But, O dear, O dear, this is a hardworld!' And, pressing his handkerchief to his face, he left the room, withfaltering footsteps. 'Badger, ' said the Rat, '_I_ feel like a brute; I wonder what YOU feellike?' 'O, I know, I know, ' said the Badger gloomily. 'But the thing had to bedone. This good fellow has got to live here, and hold his own, and berespected. Would you have him a common laughing-stock, mocked and jeeredat by stoats and weasels?' 'Of course not, ' said the Rat. 'And, talking of weasels, it's lucky wecame upon that little weasel, just as he was setting out with Toad'sinvitations. I suspected something from what you told me, and had a lookat one or two; they were simply disgraceful. I confiscated the lot, and the good Mole is now sitting in the blue boudoir, filling up plain, simple invitation cards. ' * * * * * At last the hour for the banquet began to draw near, and Toad, who onleaving the others had retired to his bedroom, was still sitting there, melancholy and thoughtful. His brow resting on his paw, he pondered longand deeply. Gradually his countenance cleared, and he began to smilelong, slow smiles. Then he took to giggling in a shy, self-consciousmanner. At last he got up, locked the door, drew the curtains acrossthe windows, collected all the chairs in the room and arranged them in asemicircle, and took up his position in front of them, swelling visibly. Then he bowed, coughed twice, and, letting himself go, with upliftedvoice he sang, to the enraptured audience that his imagination soclearly saw. TOAD'S LAST LITTLE SONG! The Toad--came--home! There was panic in the parlours and howling in the halls, There was crying in the cow-sheds and shrieking in the stalls, When the Toad--came--home! When the Toad--came--home! There was smashing in of window and crashing in of door, There was chivvying of weasels that fainted on the floor, When the Toad--came--home! Bang! go the drums! The trumpeters are tooting and the soldiers are saluting, And the cannon they are shooting and the motor-cars are hooting, As the--Hero--comes! Shout--Hoo-ray! And let each one of the crowd try and shout it very loud, In honour of an animal of whom you're justly proud, For it's Toad's--great--day! He sang this very loud, with great unction and expression; and when hehad done, he sang it all over again. Then he heaved a deep sigh; a long, long, long sigh. Then he dipped his hairbrush in the water-jug, parted his hair in themiddle, and plastered it down very straight and sleek on each side ofhis face; and, unlocking the door, went quietly down the stairs to greethis guests, who he knew must be assembling in the drawing-room. All the animals cheered when he entered, and crowded round tocongratulate him and say nice things about his courage, and hiscleverness, and his fighting qualities; but Toad only smiled faintly, and murmured, 'Not at all!' Or, sometimes, for a change, 'On thecontrary!' Otter, who was standing on the hearthrug, describing to anadmiring circle of friends exactly how he would have managed things hadhe been there, came forward with a shout, threw his arm round Toad'sneck, and tried to take him round the room in triumphal progress; butToad, in a mild way, was rather snubby to him, remarking gently, as hedisengaged himself, 'Badger's was the mastermind; the Mole and the WaterRat bore the brunt of the fighting; I merely served in the ranks and didlittle or nothing. ' The animals were evidently puzzled and taken abackby this unexpected attitude of his; and Toad felt, as he moved from oneguest to the other, making his modest responses, that he was an objectof absorbing interest to every one. The Badger had ordered everything of the best, and the banquet was agreat success. There was much talking and laughter and chaff among theanimals, but through it all Toad, who of course was in the chair, lookeddown his nose and murmured pleasant nothings to the animals on eitherside of him. At intervals he stole a glance at the Badger and the Rat, and always when he looked they were staring at each other with theirmouths open; and this gave him the greatest satisfaction. Some of theyounger and livelier animals, as the evening wore on, got whisperingto each other that things were not so amusing as they used to be in thegood old days; and there were some knockings on the table and cries of'Toad! Speech! Speech from Toad! Song! Mr. Toad's song!' But Toad onlyshook his head gently, raised one paw in mild protest, and, by pressingdelicacies on his guests, by topical small-talk, and by earnestinquiries after members of their families not yet old enough to appearat social functions, managed to convey to them that this dinner wasbeing run on strictly conventional lines. He was indeed an altered Toad! * * * * * After this climax, the four animals continued to lead their lives, so rudely broken in upon by civil war, in great joy and contentment, undisturbed by further risings or invasions. Toad, after dueconsultation with his friends, selected a handsome gold chain and locketset with pearls, which he dispatched to the gaoler's daughter witha letter that even the Badger admitted to be modest, grateful, andappreciative; and the engine-driver, in his turn, was properly thankedand compensated for all his pains and trouble. Under severe compulsionfrom the Badger, even the barge-woman was, with some trouble, soughtout and the value of her horse discreetly made good to her; though Toadkicked terribly at this, holding himself to be an instrument of Fate, sent to punish fat women with mottled arms who couldn't tell a realgentleman when they saw one. The amount involved, it was true, was notvery burdensome, the gipsy's valuation being admitted by local assessorsto be approximately correct. Sometimes, in the course of long summer evenings, the friends would takea stroll together in the Wild Wood, now successfully tamed so far asthey were concerned; and it was pleasing to see how respectfully theywere greeted by the inhabitants, and how the mother-weasels would bringtheir young ones to the mouths of their holes, and say, pointing, 'Look, baby! There goes the great Mr. Toad! And that's the gallant Water Rat, aterrible fighter, walking along o' him! And yonder comes the famous Mr. Mole, of whom you so often have heard your father tell!' But when theirinfants were fractious and quite beyond control, they would quiet themby telling how, if they didn't hush them and not fret them, the terriblegrey Badger would up and get them. This was a base libel on Badger, who, though he cared little about Society, was rather fond of children; butit never failed to have its full effect.