This was very curious, very curious indeed.  Sammy flew a little nearer and then a little nearer, taking the greatest care not to make a sound.  Pretty soon he was so near that he could see those Ducks very plainly, and he stared with all his might.  He couldn’t see any feathers!  No, Sir, he couldn’t see any feathers!  Then he understood.

“Huh!” said he to himself.  “Those are not Ducks at all.  They are just pieces of wood made to look like Ducks.  Now I wonder what they are for.”

In a few minutes he found out.  He saw the hunter crouch down a little lower and look down the Big River.  Sammy looked too.  He saw a flock of real Ducks flying swiftly just above the middle of the Big River.  Suddenly the leader turned straight towards the place where the hunter was hiding, and the others followed him.  He could hear Mrs. Quack calling excitedly out in the middle of the Big River, but the strangers did not heed her.  They had their eyes on those wooden Ducks and were coming straight in to join them.

“They think they are real Ducks and so this place is perfectly safe!” thought Sammy.  He saw the hunter make ready to shoot with his terrible gun and then, without stopping to think what might happen to him, he opened his mouth and screamed at the top of his voice.  He saw the Ducks suddenly swing out towards the middle of the Big River and knew that they had heard his warning.  He saw the hunter suddenly rise and point his gun at the flying Ducks.  He heard the bang, bang of the terrible gun, but not one of the flock was hit.  The distance was too great.  Sammy chuckled happily.  Then he remembered that he himself was within easy reach of that terrible gun, and probably the hunter was very angry.  In great fright Sammy turned and flew, dodging behind trees and every second expecting to hear again the roar of that terrible gun.

But he didn’t, and so when he thought he was safe, he stopped.  Now in flying away from the hunter he had followed the Laughing Brook where it winds through a sort of swamp before it joins the Big River.  Because there was more water than could be kept between the banks of the Big River, it had crept over the banks, and all the trees of the swamp were standing in water.  Just beyond where Sammy was sitting was a pile of brush in the water.  A Jolly Little Sunbeam, dancing down through the tree tops, touched something under the edge of the brush, and Sammy’s sharp eyes caught a flash of green.  Idly he watched it, and presently it moved.  Instantly Sammy was all curiosity.  He flew over where he could see better.

“Now what can that be?” thought Sammy, as he peered down at the pile of brush and tried to see under it.

XVII

MR. QUACK IS FOUND AT LAST