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University of Virginia Library
PZ10.3.G76 WI 1925
ALD The wind in the willows, byKe

YX 000 305 287

 LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
UNIVERSITY

V RG
I
O
F
INIA

1819

PRESENTED BY

R. H. Petit
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
 GR 2

And
a River went out from
Eden .
 And
dRiver went out from
Eden .
 THE WIND

IN THE WILLOWS

BY

KENNETH GRAHAME
AUTHOR OF
"THE GO! DEN AGE,” “ DREAM DAYS,” ITC.

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1925
 AUC 22 38

PZ
10

.3

G70Wi
1325

248328

$1

COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
3
Printed in the United States of Americs

Published October, 1908

Reprinted December, 1908; February, 1909;
October, 1910; June, 1911 ; June, 1912 ; August,
1913; November, 1914; December, 1915 ; May,
1917; February, 1919; July, 1920; March,
1921 ; January, June, 1922; August, 1923; March,
1925.

·
33 C
0 C 6E to

NLE PRE
THE FCRIO SS
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE RIVER BANK 1

II. THE OPEN ROAD 24

III. THE WILD WOOD 46
IV. MR. BADGER 69
V. DULCE DOMUM . 93
VI. MR. TOAD I 20

VII. THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN 144

VIII. TOAD'S ADVENTURES 163
IX. WAYFARERS ALL 187
X. THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF TOAD · 217
XI. " LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS CAME HIS TEARS " 247
XII. THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 278

毙
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

THE RIVER BANK

HE Mole had been working very hard

THE
all the morning, spring-cleaning his little
home. First with brooms, then with dusters ;
then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a
brush and a pail of whitewash ; till he had dust
in his throat and eyes, and splashes of white-
wash all over his black fur, and an aching back
and weary arms. Spring was moving in the air
above and in the earth below and around him,
penetrating even his dark and lowly little house
with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.
It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly
flung down his brush on the floor, said ' Bother! '
2 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and ' O blow!' and also ' Hang spring-clean-

ing!' and bolted out of the house without even
waiting to put on his coat. Something up above
was calling him imperiously, and he made for
the steep little tunnel which answered in his
case to the gravelled carriage-drive owned by
animals whose residences are nearer to the sun
and air. So he scraped and scratched and
scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged
again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped,
working busily with his little paws and mutter-
ing to himself, ' Up we go ! Up we go !' till at
last, pop ! his snout came out into the sunlight,
and he found 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
heated brow, and after the seclusion of the
cellarage he had lived in so long the 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 the delight of
spring without its cleaning, he pursued his way
across the meadow till he reached the hedge on
the further side.
 THE RIVER BANK 3

' Hold up !' said an elderly rabbit at the

gap. ' Sixpence for the privilege of passing by
the private road! ' He was bowled over in an
instant by the impatient and contemptuous
Mole, who trotted along the side of the hedge
chaffing the other rabbits as they peeped
hurriedly from their holes to see what the row
was about. 'Onion-sauce ! Onion-sauce !' he re-
marked jeeringly, and was gone before they could
think of a thoroughly satisfactory reply. Then
they all started grumbling at each other. ' How
stupid you are! Why didn't you tell him-
'Well, why didn't you say- ' 'You might
have reminded him and so on, in the usual
way; but, of course, it was then much too late,
as is always the case.
It all seemed too good to be true. Hither
and thither through the meadows he rambled
busily, along the hedgerows, across the copses,
finding everywhere birds building, flowers bud-
ding, leaves thrusting—everything happy, and
progressive, and occupied. And instead of
having an uneasy conscience pricking him and
whispering ' whitewash!' he somehow could
only feel how jolly it was to be the only idle
dog among all these busy citizens. After all,
4 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so

much to be resting yourself, as to see all the
other fellows busy working.
He 4 thought his happiness was complete
when, as he meandered aimlessly along, sud-
denly he stood by the edge of a full-fed river.
Never in his life had he seen a river before—
this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing
and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle
and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself
on fresh playmates that shook themselves
free, and were caught and held again. All was
a-shake and a-shiver-glints and gleams and
sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble.
The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated.
By the side of the river he trotted as one trots,
when very small, by the side of a man who
holds one spell-bound by exciting stories ; and
when tired at last, 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 the heart 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 the bank opposite, just
above the water's edge, caught his eye, and
 THE RIVER BANK 5

dreamily he fell to considering what a nice

snug dwelling-place it would make for an
animal with few wants and fond of a bijou
riverside residence, above flood level and
remote from noise and dust. As he gazed,
something bright 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 star in such an unlikely situation; and it
was too glittering and small for a glow-worm .
Then, as he looked, it winked at him, and so
declared itself to be an eye ; and a small face
began gradually to grow up round it, like a
frame round a picture.
A brown little face, with whiskers.
A grave round face, with the same twinkle
in its eye that had first attracted 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,
6 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

rather pettishly, he being new to a river and

riverside life and its ways.
The Rat said nothing, but stooped and
unfastened a rope and hauled on it; then
lightly stepped into a little boat which the
Mole had not observed. It was painted blue
outside and white within, and was just the size
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 his forepaw as the

Mole stepped gingerly down. ' Lean on that !'

he said. 'Now then, step lively!' and the
Mole to his surprise and rapture found himself
actually seated in the stern of a real boat.
"This has been a wonderful day!' said he,
as the Rat shoved off and took to the sculls
again. ' Do you know, I've never been in
a boat before in all my life.'
'What?' cried the Rat, open- mouthed :
'Never been in a-you never-well I-what
have you been doing, then ? '
'Is it so nice as all that ?' asked the Mole
shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe
it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the
 THE RIVER BANK 7

cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the

fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway
lightly under him.
'Nice ? It's the only thing,' said the Water
Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his
stroke. ' Believe me, my young friend, there
is nothing-absolute nothing-half so much
worth doing as simply messing 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, the joyous oarsman ,
lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his
heels in the air.
-about in boats-or with boats,' the Rat
went on composedly, picking himself 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 get away, or
whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere
else, or whether you never get anywhere at all,
you're always busy, and you never do anything
in particular ; and when you've done it there's
always something else to do, and you can do
8 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

it if you like, but you'd much better not. Look

here! If you've really nothing else on hand
this morning, supposing we drop down the
river together, and have a long day of it?'
The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happi-
ness, spread his chest with a sigh of full con-
tentment, and leaned back blissfully into the
soft cushions. ' 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 through a ring in his
landing-stage, climbed up into his hole above,
and after a short interval reappeared staggering
under a fat, wicker luncheon-basket.
'Shove that under your feet,' he observed to
the Mole, as he passed it down into the boat.
Then he untied the painter and took the sculls
again.
'What's inside it ?' asked the Mole, wriggling
with curiosity.
'There's cold chicken inside it,' replied the
Rat briefly; ' coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickled
gherkinssaladfrench rollscresssandwichespotted
meatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater-
'O stop, stop,' cried the Mole in ecstacies :
This is too much!'
 THE RIVER BANK 9

'Do you really think so ?' enquired the Rat

seriously. 'It's only what I always take on
these little excursions ; and the other animals
are always telling 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 he was entering upon,
intoxicated with the sparkle, the ripple, the
scents and the sounds and the sunlight, he
trailed a paw in the water and dreamed long
waking dreams. The Water Rat, like the good
little fellow he was, sculled steadily on and
forebore to disturb him.
'I like your clothes awfully, old chap,' he
remarked after some half an hour or so had
passed. ' I'm going to get a black velvet smok-
ing-suit myself some day, as soon as I can
afford it.'
'I beg your pardon,' said the Mole, pulling
himself together with an effort. '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
ΤΟ THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the Rat. 'It's brother and 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 it hasn't got is not
worth having, and what it doesn't know is
not worth knowing. Lord! the times we've
had together! Whether in winter or summer,
spring or autumn, it's always got its fun and its
excitements. When the floods are on in Febru-
ary, and my cellars and basement are brimming
with drink that's no good to me, and the brown
water runs by my best bedroom window; or
again when it all drops away and shows patches
of mud that smells like plum-cake, and the
rushes and weed clog the channels, and I can
potter about dry shod over most of the bed of
it and find fresh food to eat, and things careless
people have dropped out of boats!'
'But isn't it a bit dull at times ?' the Mole.
ventured to ask. 'Just you and 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 with forbearance. ' You're
new to it, and of course you don't know. The
bank is so crowded nowadays that many
people are moving away altogether : O no, it
 THE RIVER BANK 11

isn't what it used to be, at all. Otters , king-

fishers, dabchicks , moorhens, all of them about
all day long and always wanting you to do some-
thing-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 background of wood-
land that darkly framed the water-meadows on
one side of the river.
"That? O, that's just the Wild Wood,' said
the Rat shortly. 'We don't go there very much,
we river-bankers.'
'Aren't they aren't they very nice people in
there?' said the Mole, a trifle nervously.
'W-e-ll,' replied the Rat, ' let me see. The
squirrels are all right. And the rabbits- some
of ' em, but rabbits are a mixed lot. And then
there's Badger, of course. He lives right in
the heart of it ; wouldn't live anywhere else,
either, if you paid him to do it. Dear old Bad..
ger ! Nobody interferes with him. They'd bet-
ter not,' he added significantly.
'Why, who should interfere with him ?' asked
the Mole.
'Well, of course-there-are others,' ex-
plained the Rat in a hesitating sort of way.
12 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'Weasels and stoats- and foxes and so on.

They're all right in a way- 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, and then
-well, you can't really trust them, and that's
the fact.'
The Mole knew well that it is quite against
animal-etiquette to dwell on possible trouble
ahead, or even to allude to it; so he dropped
the subject.
'And beyond the Wild Wood again ?' he
asked : 'Where it's all blue and dim, and one
sees what may be hills or perhaps they mayn't,
and something like the smoke of towns, or is it
only cloud-drift ?'
'Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide
World,' said the Rat. 'And that's something
that doesn't matter, either to you or me. I've
never been there, and I'm never going, nor you
either, if you've got any sense at all. Don't
ever refer to it again, please. Now then! Here's
our backwater at last, where we're going to
lunch.'

Leaving the main stream, they now passed

into what seemed at first sight like a little land-
 THE RIVER BANK 13

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 its turn a grey-gabled
mill-house, filled the air with a soothing murmur
of sound, dull and smothery, yet with little
clear voices speaking up cheerfully out of it
at intervals. It was so very beautiful that the
Mole 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 the still awkward Mole
safely ashore, and swung out the luncheon-
basket. The Mole begged as a favour to be
allowed to unpack it all by himself; and the
Rat was very pleased to indulge him, and to
sprawl at full length on the grass and rest, while
his excited friend shook out the table- cloth
and spread it, took out all the mysterious pack-
ets one by one and arranged their contents in
due order, still gasping, ' O my! O my!' at
each fresh revelation . When all was ready, the
Rat said, 'Now, pitch in, old fellow! ' and the
Mole was indeed very glad to obey, for he had
14 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

started his spring- cleaning at a very early hour

that morning, as people will do , and had not
paused for bite or sup ; and he had been through
a very great deal since that distant time which
now seemed so many days ago.
'What are you looking at ? ' said the Rat
presently, when the edge of their hunger was
somewhat dulled, and the Mole's eyes were
able to wander off the table-cloth a little.
'I am looking,' said the Mole, ' at a streak of
bubbles that I see travelling along the surface
of the water. That is a thing that strikes me
as funny.'
Bubbles ? Oho !' said the Rat, and chirruped
cheerily in an inviting sort of way.
A broad glistening muzzle showed itself
above the edge of the bank, and the Otter
hauled himself out and shook the water from
his coat.
'Greedy beggars !' he observed, making for
the provender. 'Why didn't you invite me,
Ratty?'
'This was an impromptu affair,' explained the
Rat. By the way-my friend Mr. Mole.'
'Proud, I'm sure,' said the Otter, and the two
animals were friends forthwith,
 THE RIVER BANK 15

' Such a rumpus everywhere!' continued the

Otter. 'All the world seems out on the river
to-day. I came up this backwater to try and
get a moment's peace, and then stumble upon
you fellows !-At least-I beg pardon- I don't
exactly mean that, you know. '
There was a rustle behind them , proceed-
ing from a hedge wherein last year's leaves
still clung thick, and a stripy head, with
high shoulders behind 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 every-
thing!'
The two animals looked at each other and
laughed.
'Once, it was nothing but sailing,' said the
Rat. "Then he tired of that and took to punt
16 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

ing. Nothing would please him but to punt all

day and every day, and a nice mess he made of it.
Last year it was house-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 in a house-boat. It's
all the same, whatever he takes up; he gets
tired of it, and starts on something fresh.'
'Such a good fellow, too,' remarked the Otter
reflectively: ' But no stability- especially in a
boat!'
From where they sat they could get a glimpse
of the main stream across the island that sep-
arated them; and just then a wager-boat flashed
into view, the rower-a short, stout figure-
splashing badly and rolling a good deal, but
working his hardest.The Rat stood up and
hailed him, but Toad- 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 the Rat, sitting down again.
' Of course he will,' chuckled the Otter.
' Did I ever tell you that good story about
Toad and the lock-keeper ? It happened this
way. Toad....
An errant May- fly swerved unsteadily
 THE RIVER BANK 17

athwart the current in the intoxicated fashion

affected by young bloods of May- flies seeing
life. A swirl 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 turf whereon he had
sprawled was clearly vacant. Not an Otter to
be seen, as far 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 recol-
lected that animal -etiquette forbade any sort of
comment on the sudden disappearance of one's
friends at any moment, for any reason or no
reason whatever.
'Well, well,' said the Rat, ' I suppose we
ought to be moving. I wonder which of us
had better pack the luncheon- basket ? ' He did
not speak as if he 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 the basket. It
never is. But the Mole was bent on enjoying
18 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

everything, and although just when he had got

the basket packed and strapped up tightly he
saw a plate staring up at him from the grass,
and when the job had been done again the Rat
pointed out a fork which anybody ought to
have seen, and last of all, behold ! the mustard
pot, which he had been sitting on without
knowing it still, somehow, the thing got
finished at last, without much loss of temper.
The afternoon sun was getting low as the
Rat sculled gently homewards in a dreamy
mood, murmuring poetry-things over to him-
self, and not paying much attention to Mole.
But the Mole was very full of lunch, and self-
satisfaction, and pride, and already quite at
home in a boat (so he thought) 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,' he said- 'wait till you've
had a few lessons. It's not so easy as it looks.'
The Mole was quiet for a minute or two.
But he began to feel more and more jealous
of Rat, sculling so strongly and so easily along,
and his pride began to whisper that he could
do it every bit as well . He jumped up and
 THE RIVER BANK 19

seized the sculls, so suddenly, that the Rat, who

was gazing out over the water and saying more
poetry-things to himself, was taken by surprise
and fell backwards off his seat with his legs in
the air for the second time, while the trium-
phant Mole took his place and grabbed the
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 at the water. He missed

the surface altogether, his legs flew up above

his 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
next moment- 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 sang in his ears as
he went down, down, down ! How bright and
welcome the sun looked as he rose to the
surface coughing and spluttering ! How black
was his despair when he felt himself sinking
again! Then a firm paw gripped him by the
20 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

back of his neck. It was the Rat, and he was

evidently laughing-the Mole could feel him
laughing, right down his arm and through 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 he did the same
by the other side of him and, swimming behind,
propelled the helpless animal to shore, hauled
him out, and set him down on the bank, a
squashy, pulpy lump of misery.
When the Rat had rubbed him down a bit,
and wrung some of the wet out of him, he said,
'Now, then, old fellow ! Trot up and down the
towing-path as hard as you can, till you're
warm and dry again, while I dive for the
luncheon-basket.'
So the dismal Mole, wet without and ashamed
within, trotted about till he was fairly dry, while
the Rat plunged into the water again, recovered
the boat, righted her and made her fast, fetched
his floating property to shore by degrees, and
finally dived successfully for the luncheon- 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
 THE RIVER BANK 21

said in a low voice, broken with emotion,

Ratty, my generous friend ! I am very sorry in-
deed for my foolish and ungrateful conduct. My
heart quite fails me when I think how I might
have lost that beautiful luncheon-basket. In-
deed, I have been a complete ass , and I know it.
Will you overlook it this once and forgive me,
and let things go on as before ?'
' That's all right, bless you ! ' responded the
Rat cheerily. 'What's a little wet to a Water
Rat ? I'm more in the water than out of it
most days. Don't you think any more about
it; and, look here ! I really think you had
better come and stop with me for a little time.
It's very plain and rough, you know- not like
Toad's house at all— but you haven't seen that
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 could find no voice to
answer him; and he had to brush away a tear
or two with the back of his paw. But the
Rat kindly looked in another direction, and
presently the Mole's spirits revived again, and
he was even able to give some straight back-talk
22 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

to a couple of moorhens who were sniggering

to each other about his bedraggled appear-
ance.
When they got home, the Rat made a bright
fire in the parlour, and planted the Mole in an
arm-chair in front of it, having fetched down a
dressing-gown and slippers for him, and told
him river stories till supper-time. Very thrill-
ing stories they were, too, to an earth-dwelling
animal like Mole. Stories about weirs , and
sudden floods, and leaping pike, and steamers
that flung hard bottles-at least bottles were
certainly flung, and from steamers, so presum-
ably by them ; and about herons, and how partic-
ular they were whom they spoke to ; and about
adventures down drains, and night-fishings with
Otter, or excursions far a-field with Badger.
Supper was a most cheerful meal ; but very
shortly afterwards a terribly sleepy Mole had
to be escorted upstairs by his considerate host,
to the best bedroom, where he soon laid his
head on his pillow in great peace and content-
ment, knowing that his new-found friend the
River was lapping the sill of his window.
This day was only the first of many similar
ones for the emancipated Mole, each of them
 THE RIVER BANK 23

longer and full of interest as the ripening

summer moved onward. He learnt to swim
and to row, and entered into the joy of running
water; and with his ear to the reed-stems he
caught, at intervals , something of what the wind
went whispering so constantly among them.
 il

THE OPEN ROAD

'RATTY,' said the Mole suddenly, one

bright summer morning, ' if you please,
I want to ask you a favour.'
The Rat was sitting on the river bank, sing-
ing a little song. He had just composed it
himself, so he was very taken up with it, and
would not pay proper attention to Mole or any-
thing else. Since early morning he had been
swimming in the river, in company with his
friends the ducks . And when the ducks stood
on their heads suddenly, as ducks will, he would
dive down and tickle their necks, just under
where their chins would be if ducks had chins ,
till they were forced to come to the surface
again in a hurry, spluttering and angry and
shaking their feathers at him, for it is impossible
to say quite all you feel when your head is
24
 THE OPEN ROAD 25

under water. At last they implored him to go

away and attend to his own affairs and leave
them to mind theirs. So the Rat went away,
and sat on the river bank in the sun, and made
up a song about them, 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
Up tails all!

' I don't know that I think so very much of

that little song, Rat,' observed the Mole
26 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

cautiously. He was no poet himself and didn't

care who knew 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 as they like, instead of other
fellows sitting on banks and watching them
all the time and making remarks and poetry
and things about them ? What nonsense 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 what I wanted to ask you was,
won't you take me to call on Mr. Toad ? I've
heard so much about him, and I do so want
to make his acquaintance.'
'Why, certainly,' said the good-natured Rat,
jumping to his feet and dismissing poetry from
his mind for the day. ' Get the boat out, and
we'll paddle up there at once. It's never the
wrong time to call on Toad. Early or late he's
always the same fellow. Always good - tempered ,
always glad to see you , always sorry when you
go!"
 THE OPEN ROAD 27

'He must be a very nice animal,' observed

the Mole, as he got into the boat and took the
sculls, while the Rat settled himself comfortably
in the stern.
'He is indeed the best of animals,' replied
Rat. 'So simple, so good- natured, and so
affectionate. Perhaps he's not very clever -we
can't all be geniuses ; and it may be that he
is both boastful and conceited. 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
reaching down to the water's edge.
'There's Toad Hall,' said the Rat ; ' and
that creek on the left, where the notice-board
says, "Private. No landing allowed," leads to
his boat- house, where we'll leave the boat.
The stables are over there to the 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 the nicest
houses in these parts, though we never admit
as much to Toad.'
They glided up the creek, and the Mole
shipped his sculls as they passed into the
28 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

shadow of a large boat- house. Here they saw

many handsome boats, slung from the cross-
beams or hauled up on a slip, but none in the
water; and the place had an unused and
a deserted air.
The Rat looked around him. 'I understand ,'
said he. ' Boating is played out . He's tired
of it, and done with it. I wonder what new
fad he has taken up now ? Come along and
let's look him up. We shall hear all about
it quite soon enough.'
They disembarked, and strolled across the
gay flower- decked lawns in search of Toad,
whom they presently happened upon resting
in a wicker garden-chair, with a pre-occupied
expression of face, and a large map spread out
on his knees.
'Hooray!' he cried, jumping up on seeing
them, 'this is splendid !' He shook the paws
of both of them warmly, never waiting for
an introduction to the Mole. 'How kind of
you!' he went on, dancing round them. 'I was
just going to send a boat down the river for
you, Ratty, with strict orders that you were
to be fetched up here at once, whatever you
were doing. I want you badly- both of you.
 THE OPEN ROAD 29

Now what will you take ? Come inside and

have something ! You don't know how lucky
it is, your turning up just now !'
'Let's sit quiet a bit, Toady !' said the Rat,
throwing himself into an easy chair, while
the Mole took another by the side of him and
made some civil remark about Toad's ' delight-
ful residence. “
'Finest house on the whole river,' cried
Toad boisterously. ' Or anywhere else, for
that matter,' he could not help adding.
Here the Rat nudged the Mole. Unfortu-
nately the Toad saw him do it, and turned
very red. There was a moment's painful
silence. Then Toad burst out 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 it yourself.
Now, look here. Let's be sensible. You are
the very animals I wanted. 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.
With a great deal of patience, and any quantity
of coaching, you may-
30 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'O, pooh ! boating ! ' interrupted the Toad,

in great disgust. Silly boyish amusement.
I've given that up long ago. Sheer waste of
time, that's what it is. It makes me downright
sorry to see you fellows, who ought to know
better, spending all your energies in that aim-
less manner. No, I've discovered 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 the wasted
years that lie behind me, squandered in trivi-
alities. Come with me, dear Ratty, and your
amiable friend also, if he will be so very good,
just as far as the stable-yard, and you shall see
what you shall see!'
He led the way to the stable-yard accordingly ,
the Rat following with a most mistrustful ex-
pression; and there, drawn out of the coach-
house into the open, they saw a gipsy caravan,
shining with newness, painted a canary-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 com-
mon, the hedgerows, the rolling downs!
 THE OPEN ROAD 31

Camps, villages, towns, cities ! Here to-day,

up and off to somewhere else to- morrow !
Travel, change, interest, excitement! The
whole 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, with-
out any exception. Come inside and look at the
arrangements. Planned ' em all myself, I did !'
The Mole was tremendously interested and
excited, and followed him eagerly up the steps
and into the interior of the caravan. The Rat
only snorted and thrust his hands deep into his
pockets, remaining where he was.
It was indeed very compact and comfortable.
Little sleeping bunks-a little table that folded
up against the wall- a cooking-stove, lockers,
bookshelves, a bird-cage with a bird in it ; and
pots, pans, jugs and kettles of every size and
variety.
'All complete !' said the Toad triumphantly,
pulling open a locker. 'You see- biscuits,
potted lobster, sardines-everything you can
possibly want. Soda-water here -baccy there
-letter-paper, bacon, jam, cards and dominoes
-you'll find,' he continued, as they descended
the steps again, ' you'll find that nothing what-
32 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

ever has been forgotten, when we make our

start this afternoon.'
'I beg your pardon,' said the Rat slowly, as
he chewed a straw, 'but did I overhear you say
something about "we," and "start," and "this
afternoon?"
'Now, you dear good old Ratty ,' said Toad,
imploringly, ' don't begin talking in that stiff
and sniffy sort of way, because you know you've
got to come. I can't possibly manage without
you, so please consider it settled, and don't
argue- it's the one thing I can't stand. You
surely don't mean to stick to your dull fusty old
river all your life, and just live in a hole in a
bank, and boat? I want to show you the
world! I'm going to make an animal of you,
my boy!'
'I don't care,' said the Rat, doggedly. 'I'm
not coming, and that's flat. And I am going to
stick to my old river, and live in a hole, and
boat, as I've always done. And what's more,
Mole's going to stick me and do 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 sounds as
 THE OPEN ROAD 33

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 he had fallen in love at first
sight with the canary-coloured cart and all its
little fitments.
The Rat saw what was passing in his mind,
and wavered. He hated disappointing people ,
and he was fond of the Mole, and would do
almost anything to oblige him. Toad was
watching both of them closely.
'Come along in, and have some lunch,' he
said, diplomatically, ' and we'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 Toad Hall always was
-the Toad simply let himself go. Disregard-
ing the Rat, he proceeded to play upon the
inexperienced Mole as on a harp. Naturally a
voluble animal, and always mastered by his
imagination, he painted the prospects of the
trip and the joys of the open life and the road-
34 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

side in such glowing colours that the Mole

could hardly sit in his chair for excitement.
Somehow, it soon seemed taken for granted by
all three of them that the trip was a settled
thing; and the Rat, though still unconvinced in
his mind, allowed his good-nature to over-ride
his personal objections. He could not bear to
disappoint his two friends, who were already
deep in schemes and anticipations, planning
out each day's separate occupation for several
weeks ahead.
/ When they were quite ready, the now trium-
phant Toad led his companions to the paddock
and set them to capture the old grey horse, who,
without having been consulted, and to his own
extreme annoyance, had been told off by Toad
for the dustiest job in this dusty expedition. He
frankly preferred the paddock, and took a deal
of catching. Meantime Toad packed the lockers
still tighter with necessaries, and hung nose-
bags, nets of onions, bundles of hay, and
baskets from the bottom of the cart. At last
the horse was caught and harnessed, and they
set off, all talking at once, each animal either
trudging by the side of the cart or sitting on
the shaft, as the humour took him. It was a
 THE OPEN ROAD 35

golden afternoon. The smell of the dust they

kicked up was rich and satisfying ; out of thick
orchards on either side the road, birds called
and whistled to them cheerily; 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 drew up on a remote
common far from habitations, turned the horse
loose to graze, and ate their simple supper
sitting on the grass by the side of the cart.
Toad talked big about all he was going
to do in the days to come, while stars
grew fuller and larger all around them, and a
yellow moon, appearing suddenly and silently
from nowhere in particular, came to keep them
company and listen to their talk. At last they
turned in to their little bunks in the cart ; and
Toad, kicking out his legs, sleepily said, 'Well ,
good night, you fellows ! This is the real
life for a gentleman ! Talk about your old
river!'
'I don't talk about my river,' replied the
36 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

patient Rat. 'You know I don't, Toad. But I

think about it,' he added pathetically, in a lower
tone : 'I think about it -all the time! '
The Mole reached out from under his blanket,
felt for the Rat's paw in the darkness , and gave
it a squeeze. 'I'll do whatever you like, Ratty,'
he whispered. ' Shall we run away to- morrow
morning, quite early- very early- and go back
to our dear old hole on the river ?'
'No, no, we'll see it out,' whispered back the
Rat. "Thanks awfully, but I ought to stick by
Toad till this trip is ended. It wouldn't be safe
for him to be left to himself. It won't take
very long. His fads never do. Good night !'
The end was indeed nearer than even the
Rat suspected.
After so much open air and excitement the
Toad slept very soundly, and no amount of
shaking could rouse him out of bed next
morning. So the Mole and Rat turned to,
quietly and manfully, and while the Rat saw to
the 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 nearest
village, a long way off, for milk and eggs
and various necessaries the Toad had, of
 THE OPEN ROAD 37

course, forgotten to provide. The hard work

had all been done, and the two animals were
resting, thoroughly exhausted, by the time
Toad appeared on the scene, fresh and gay,
remarking what a pleasant easy life it was
they were all leading now, after the cares
and worries and fatigues of housekeeping at
home.
They had a pleasant ramble that day over
grassy downs and along narrow by-lanes, and
camped as before, on a common, only this
time the two guests took care that Toad should
do his fair share of work. In consequence ,
when the time came for starting next morning,
Toad was by no means so rapturous about the
simplicity of the primitive life, and indeed
attempted to resume his place in his bunk,
whence he was hauled by force. Their way
lay, as before, across country by narrow lanes,
and it was not till the afternoon that they came
out on the high-road, their first high-road ; and
there disaster, fleet and unforeseen, sprang out
on them- disaster momentous indeed to their
expedition, but simply overwhelming in its
effect on the after-career of Toad.
They were strolling along the high-road easily,
38 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the Mole by the horse's head , talking to him,

since the horse had complained that he was being
frightfully left out of it, and nobody considered
him in the least ; the Toad and the Water Rat
walking behind the cart talking together- at
least Toad was talking, and Rat was saying at
intervals, 'Yes, precisely; and what did you
say to him?'-and thinking all the time of
something very different, when far behind them
they heard a faint warning hum, like the drone
of a distant bee. Glancing back, they saw a
small cloud of dust, with a dark centre of
energy, advancing on them at incredible speed,
while from out the dust a faint ' Poop-poop !'
wailed like an uneasy animal in pain. Hardly
regarding it, they turned to resume their con-
versation, when in an instant (as it seemed) the
peaceful scene was changed, and with a blast of
wind and a whirl of sound 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's glimpse of an
interior of glittering plate-glass and rich morocco,
and the magnificent motor-car, immense, breath-
snatching, passionate, with its pilot tense and
hugging his wheel, possessed all earth and air
 THE OPEN ROAD 39

for the fraction of a second, flung an enveloping

cloud of dust that blinded and enwrapped
them utterly, and then dwindled to a speck in the
far distance, 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 his natural emotions. Rearing, plunging,
backing steadily, in spite of all the Mole's
efforts at his head, and all the Mole's lively
language directed at his better feelings , he
drove the cart backwards towards the deep
ditch at the side of the road. It wavered an
instant- then there was a heartrending crash
--and the canary-coloured cart, their pride and
their joy, lay on its side in the ditch, an ir-
redeemable wreck.
The Rat danced up and down in the road,
simply transported with passion. 'You vil-
lains ! ' he shouted, shaking both fists, 'You
scoundrels, you highwaymen, you—you—road-
hogs ! I'll have the law of you ! I'll report
you ! I'll take you through all the Courts !'
His home-sickness had quite slipped away from
him, and for the moment he was the skipper of
40 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the canary-coloured vessel driven on a shoal by

the reckless jockeying of rival mariners, and
he was trying to recollect all the fine and biting
things he used to say to masters of steam-
launches when their wash, as they 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 legs stretched out before him,
and stared fixedly in the direction of the
disappearing motor-car. He breathed short,
his face wore a placid satisfied expression, and
at intervals he faintly murmured ' Poop-
poop !'
The Mole was busy trying to quiet the horse,
which he succeeded in doing after a time.
Then he went to look at the cart, on its side in
the ditch. It was indeed a sorry sight. Panels
and windows smashed, axles hopelessly bent,
one wheel off, sardine-tins scattered over the
wide world, and the bird in the bird-cage
sobbing pitifully and calling to be let out.
The Rat came to help him, but their united
efforts were not sufficient to right the cart.
'Hi ! Toad!' they cried. ' Come and bear a
hand, can't you!'
 THE OPEN ROAD 41

The Toad never answered a word, or budged

from his seat in the road ; so they went to see
what was the matter with him. They found
him in a sort of a trance, a happy smile on his
face, his eyes still fixed on the dusty 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 ?' he demanded
sternly.
'Glorious, stirring sight!' murmured Toad,
never offering to move. "The poetry of motion !
The real way to travel ! The only way to travel !
Here to-day- in next week to- morrow ! Vil-
lages skipped, towns and cities jumped- always
somebody else's horizon ! O bliss ! O poop-
poop ! O my! O my!'
'O stop being an ass, Toad ! ' cried the Mole
despairingly.
'And to think I never knew !' went on the
Toad in a dreamy monotone. 'All those
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 flowery
track lies spread before me, henceforth ! What
dust-clouds shall spring up behind me as I
42 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

speed on my reckless way ! What carts I shall

fling carelessly into the ditch in the wake of my
magnificent onset ! Horrid little 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 really nothing to be done.
You see, I know him from of old . He is now
possessed. He has got a new craze, and it
always takes him that way, in its first stage.
He'll continue like that for days now, like an
animal walking 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
the cart.'
A careful inspection showed them that, even
if they succeeded in righting it by themselves,
the cart would travel no longer. The axles
were in a hopeless state, and the missing wheel
was shattered into pieces.
The Rat knotted the horse's reins over his
back and took him by the head, carrying the
bird cage and its hysterical occupant in the other
hand. 'Come on ! ' he said grimly to the Mole.
'It's five or six miles to the nearest town, and
 THE OPEN ROAD 43

we shall just have to walk it. The sooner we

make a start the better.'
'But what about Toad ?' asked the Mole
anxiously, as they set off together. 'We can't
leave him here, sitting in the middle of the road
by himself, in the distracted state he's in! It's
not safe. Supposing another Thing were tc
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 a pattering of
feet behind them, and Toad caught them up and
thrust a paw inside the elbow of each of them ;
still breathing short and staring into vacancy.
'Now, look here, Toad ! ' said the Rat sharply :
' as soon as we get to the town, you'll have to
go straight to the police-station, and see if they
know anything about that motor-car and who
it belongs to, and lodge a complaint against it.
And then you'll have to go to a blacksmith's
or a wheelwright's and arrange for the cart to
be fetched and mended and put 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 rooms where we can stay till
44 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the cart's ready, and till your nerves have

recovered their shock.'
'Police-station ! Complaint ! ' murmured Toad
dreamily. ' Me complain of that beautiful, that
heavenly vision that has been vouchsafed me!
Mend the cart ! I've done with carts for ever.
I never want to see the cart, or to hear of it,
again. O, Ratty ! You can't think how obliged
I am to you for consenting to come on this trip !
I wouldn't have gone without you , and then I
might never have seen that-that swan, that
sunbeam, that thunderbolt ! I might never have
heard that entrancing sound, or smelt that
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 the Mole, addressing
him across Toad's head : ' He's quite hopeless.
I give it up when we get to the town we'll go
to the railway station, and with luck we may
pick up a train there that'll get us back to river-
bank to-night. And if ever you catch me going
a-pleasuring with this provoking animal again!'
-He snorted, and during the rest of that weary
trudge addressed his remarks exclusively to
Mole.
 THE OPEN ROAD 45

On reaching the town they went straight to

the station and deposited Toad in the second-
class waiting-room, giving a porter twopence to
keep a strict eye on him. They then left the
horse at an inn stable, and gave what directions
they could about the cart and its contents.
Eventually, a slow train having landed them at
a station not very far from Toad Hall, they
escorted the spell - bound , sleep-walking Toad to
his door, put him 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 to supper
in their own cosy riverside parlour, to the Rat's
great joy and contentment.
The following evening the Mole, who had
risen late and taken things very easy all day,
was sitting on the bank fishing, when the Rat,
who had been looking up his friends and
gossiping, came strolling along to find him .
'Heard the news ?' he said. "There's nothing
else being talked about, all along the river bank.
Toad went up to Town by an early train this
morning. And he has ordered a large and very
expensive motor- car.'
 III

THE WILD WOOD

HE Mole had long wanted to make the

THE
acquaintance of the Badger. He seemed,
by all accounts, to be such an important per-
sonage and, though rarely visible, to make
his unseen influence felt by everybody about
the place. But whenever the Mole mentioned
his wish to the Water Rat he 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 then I'll introduce
you. The best of fellows ! But you must not
only take him as you find him, but when you
find him.'
'Couldn't you ask him here-dinner or some-
thing ? ' said the Mole.
'He wouldn't come,' replied the Rat simply.
'Badger hates Society, and invitations, and
dinner, and all that sort of thing.'
46
 THE WILD WOOD 47

'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 ventured to 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, be-
cause he lives in the very middle of the Wild
Wood.'
'Well, supposing he does,' said the Mole.
'You told me the Wild Wood was all right,
you know.'
' O, I know, I know, so it is,' replied the Rat
evasively. ' But I think we won't go there
just now. Not just yet. It's a long way, and
he wouldn't be at home at this time of year
anyhow, and he'll be coming along 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 was long over, and cold and frost
and miry ways kept them much indoors, and
the swollen river raced past outside their win-
dows with a speed that mocked at boating of
48 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

any sort or kind, that he found his thoughts

dwelling again with much persistence on the
solitary grey Badger, who lived his own life by
himself, in his hole in the middle of the Wild
Wood.
In the winter time the Rat slept a great deal,
retiring early and rising late. During his short
day he sometimes scribbled poetry or did
other small domestic jobs about the house ;
and, of course, there were always animals
dropping in for a chat, and consequently there
was a good deal of story-telling and comparing
notes on the past summer and all its doings.
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
pageant of the river bank had marched steadily
along, unfolding itself in scene- pictures that suc-
ceeded each other in stately procession. Purple
loosestrife arrived early, shaking luxuriant
tangled locks along the edge 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 its place in the line ; and at last one
 THE WILD WOOD 49

morning the diffident and delaying dog-rose

stepped delicately on the stage, and one knew,
as if string-music had announced it in stately
chords that strayed into a gavotte, that June
at last was here. One member of the company
was still awaited ; the shepherd- boy for the
nymphs to woo, the knight for whom the ladies
waited at the window, the prince that was to
kiss the sleeping summer back to life and love.
But when meadow-sweet, debonair and odorous
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 holes while wind and rain were
battering at their doors, recalled still keen morn-
ings, an hour before sunrise, when the white
mist, as yet undispersed, clung closely along
the surface of the water ; then the shock of
the early plunge, the scamper along the bank,
and the radiant transformation of earth, air,
and water, when suddenly the sun was with
them again, and grey was gold and colour was
born and sprang out of the earth once more.
They recalled the languorous siesta of hot
mid-day, deep in green undergrowth, the sun
striking through in tiny golden shafts and
50 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

spots; the boating and bathing of the after-

noon, the rambles along dusty lanes and
through yellow cornfields ; and the long, cool
evening at last, when so many threads were
gathered up, so many friendships rounded,
and so many adventures planned for the
morrow. There was plenty to talk about
on those short winter days when the animals
found themselves round the fire ; still, the
Mole had a good deal of spare time on his
hands, and so one afternoon , when the Rat in
his arm-chair before the blaze was alternately
dozing and trying over rhymes that wouldn't
fit, he formed the resolution to go out by him-
self and explore 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 he slipped out of
the warm parlour into the open air. The
country lay bare and entirely leafless around
him, and he thought that he had never seen
so far and so intimately into the insides of
things as on that winter day when Nature was
deep in her annual slumber and seemed to
have kicked the clothes off. Copses, dells,
quarries and all hidden places, which had
 THE WILD WOOD 51

been mysterious mines for exploration in leafy

summer, now exposed themselves and their
secrets pathetically, and seemed to ask him
to overlook their shabby poverty for a while,
till they could riot in rich masquerade as
before, and trick and entice him with the
old deceptions. It was pitiful in a way, and
yet cheering- even exhilarating. He was
glad that he liked the country undecorated,
hard, and stripped of its finery. He had got
down to the bare bones of it, and they were
fine and strong and simple. He did not want
the warm clover and the play of seeding
grasses; the screens of quickset, the billowy
drapery of beech and elm seemed best away;
and with great cheerfulness of spirit he pushed
on towards the Wild Wood, which lay before
him low and threatening, like a black reef in
some still southern sea.
There was nothing to alarm him at first
entry. Twigs crackled under his feet, logs
tripped him, funguses on stumps resembled
caricatures, and startled him for the moment
by their likeness to something familiar and far
away; but that was all fun, and exciting. It led
him on, and he penetrated to where the light was
52 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

less, and trees crouched nearer and nearer, 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 be draining away like flood-water.
Then the faces began.
It was over his shoulder, and indistinctly,
that he first thought he saw a 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 cheer-
fully not to begin imagining things, or there
would be simply no end to it. He passed
another hole, and another, and another ; and
then-yes !-no !-yes ! certainly a little narrow
face, with hard eyes, had flashed up for an
instant from a hole, and was gone. He hesi-
tated- braced himself up for an effort and
strode on. 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 its face, coming and going rapidly,
all fixing on him glances of malice and hatred :
all hard-eyed and evil and sharp.
 THE WILD WOOD 53

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 the untrodden places of the wood.
Then the whistling began.
Very faint and shrill it was , and far behind
him, when first he heard it ; but somehow it
made him hurry forward. Then, still very
faint and shrill, it sounded far ahead of him,
and made him hesitate and want to go back .
As he halted in indecision it broke out on
either side, and seemed to be caught up and
passed on throughout the whole length of the
wood 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 any help; and the night was
closing in.
Then the pattering began.
He thought it was only falling leaves at first,
so slight and delicate was the sound of it.
Then as it grew it took a regular rhythm , and
he knew it for nothing else but the pat- pat-pat
of little feet still a very long way off. Was
it in front or behind ? It seemed to be first
one, and then the other, then both. It grew and

UNIVERSITY

J
54 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

it multiplied, till from every quarter as he

listened anxiously, leaning this way and that,
it seemed to be closing in on him. As he stood
still to hearken, a rabbit came running hard
towards him through the trees. He waited,
expecting it to slacken 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 heard
him mutter as he swung round a stump and
disappeared down a friendly burrow.
The pattering increased till it sounded like
sudden hail on the dry leaf- 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 ran up against things, he fell
over things and into things, he darted under
things and dodged round things. At last
he took refuge in the deep dark hollow of
an old beech tree, which offered shelter, con-
cealment perhaps even safety, but who could
tell ? Anyhow, he was too tired to run any
further, and could only snuggle down into the
 THE WILD WOOD 55

dry leaves which had drifted into the hollow

and hope he was safe for a time. And as he
lay there panting and trembling, and listened to
the whistlings and the patterings outside, he
knew it at last, in all its fullness, that dread
thing which other little dwellers in field and
hedgerow had encountered here, and known
as their darkest moment-that thing which the
Rat had vainly tried to shield him from-the
Terror of the Wild Wood!
Meantime the Rat, warm and comfortable,
dozed by his fireside. His paper of half-finished
verses slipped from his knee, his head fell back,
his mouth opened, and he wandered by the
verdant banks of dream-rivers. Then a coal
slipped, the fire crackled and sent up a spurt
of flame, and he woke with a start. Remember-
ing what he had been engaged upon, he reached
down to the floor for his verses , pored over
them for a minute, and then looked round for
the Mole to ask him if he knew a good rhyme
for something 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,
56 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

receiving no answer, got up and went out into

the hall.
The Mole's cap was missing from its
accustomed peg. His goloshes, which always
lay by the umbrella- stand, were also gone.
The Rat left the house, and carefully ex-
amined the muddy surface of the ground
outside, hoping to find the Mole's tracks.
There they were, sure enough. The goloshes
were new, just bought for the winter, and the
pimples on their soles were fresh and sharp.
He could see the imprints of them in the mud,
running along straight and purposeful, leading
direct to the Wild Wood.
The Rat looked very grave, and stood in
deep thought for a minute or two. 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 in a 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 of trees and plunged
without hesitation into the wood, looking
anxiously on either side for any sign of his
friend. Here and there wicked little faces
 THE WILD WOOD 57

popped out of holes, but vanished immediately

at sight of the valorous animal , his pistols, and
the great ugly cudgel in his grasp ; and the
whistling and pattering, which he had heard
quite plainly on his first entry, died away and
ceased, and all was very still . He made his
way manfully through the length of the wood,
to its furthest edge ; then, forsaking all paths,
he set himself to traverse it, laboriously working
over 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 at last to his joy he
heard a little answering cry. Guiding himself
by the sound, he made his way through the
gathering darkness to the foot of an old
beech tree, with a hole in it, and from out of
the hole came a feeble voice, saying ' Ratty! Is
that really you ?'
The Rat crept into the hollow, and there he
found the Mole, exhausted and still trembling.
'O Rat!' he cried, 'I've been so frightened, you
can't think !'
'O, I quite understand, ' said the Rat sooth-
ingly. 'You shouldn't really have gone and
58 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

done it, Mole. I did my best to keep you

from it. We river-bankers, we hardly ever
come here by ourselves. If we have to come,
we come in couples, at least ; then we're gen-
erally all right. Besides, there are a hundred
things one has to know, which we understand
all about and you don't, as yet. I mean pass-
words, and signs , and sayings which have power
and effect, and plants you carry in your pocket,
and verses you repeat, and dodges and tricks
you practise ; all simple enough when you
know them, but they've got to be known if
you're small, or you'll find yourself in trouble.
Of course if you were Badger or Otter, it would
be quite another matter.'
'Surely the brave Mr. Toad wouldn't mind
coming here by himself, would he ? ' inquired
the Mole.
'Old Toad ?' said the Rat, laughing heartily.
'He wouldn't show his face here alone, not for a
whole hatful of golden guineas, Toad wouldn't.'
The Mole was greatly cheered by the sound
of the Rat's careless laughter, as well as by the
sight of his stick and his gleaming pistols, and
he stopped shivering and began to feel bolder
and more himself again.
 THE WILD WOOD 59

'Now then,' said the Rat presently, ' we

really must pull ourselves together and make
a start for home while there's still a little light
left. It will never do to spend the night here,
you understand. Too cold, for one thing. '
'Dear Ratty,' said the poor Mole, 'I'm
dreadfully sorry, but I'm simply dead beat and
that's a solid fact. You must let me rest here
a while longer, 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 pretty nearly pitch dark now,
anyhow; and there ought to be a bit of a moon
later.'
So the Mole got well into the dry leaves and
stretched himself out, and presently dropped off
into sleep, though of a broken and troubled
sort; while the Rat covered himself up, too, as
best he might, for warmth, and lay 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 if everything's quiet, and then we really
must be off.'
He went to the entrance of their retreat and
60 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

put his head out. Then the 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 snowing hard.'
The Mole came and crouched beside him,
and, looking out, saw the wood that had been so
dreadful to him in quite a changed aspect.
Holes, hollows, pools, pitfalls, and other black
menaces to the wayfarer were vanishing fast,
and a gleaming carpet of faery was springing
up everywhere, 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 its touch, and the black boles of the
trees showed up in a light that seemed to come
from below.
'Well, well, it can't be helped,' said the Rat,
after pondering. 'We must make a start, and
take our chance, I suppose. The worst of it is,
I don't exactly know where we are. And now
this snow makes everything look so very
different.'
It did indeed . The Mole would not have
known that it was the same wood. However,
 THE WILD WOOD 61

they set out bravely, and took the line that

seemed most promising, holding on to each
other and pretending with invincible cheerful-
ness that they recognized an old friend in every
fresh tree that grimly and silently greeted them,
or saw openings, gaps, or paths with a familiar
turn in them, in the monotony of white space
and black tree-trunks that refused to vary.
An hour or two later- they had lost all
count of time- they pulled up, dispirited , weary,
and hopelessly at sea, and sat down on a fallen
tree-trunk to recover their breath and consider
what was to be done. They were aching with
fatigue and bruised with tumbles ; they had
fallen into several holes and got wet through ;
the snow was getting so deep that they could
hardly drag their little legs through it, and the
trees were thicker and more like each other
than ever. There seemed to be no end to this
wood, and no beginning, and no difference in it,
and, worst of all , no way out.
'We can't sit here very long,' said the Rat.
'We shall have to make another push for it, and
do something or other. The cold is too awful
for anything, and the snow will soon be too
deep for us to wade through.' He peered about
62 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

him and considered. 'Look here,' he went on,

'this is what occurs to me. There's a sort of dell
down here in front of us, where the ground
seems all hilly and humpy and hummocky.
We'll make our way down into that, and try
and find some sort of shelter, a cave or hole with
a dry floor to it, out of the snow and the wind,
and there we'll have a good rest before
1 we try
again, for we're both of us pretty dead 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
and a protection from the keen wind and the
whirling snow. They were investigating one of
the hummocky bits the Rat had spoken of,
when suddenly 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 and nursed 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 look at the leg.
Yes,' he went on, going down on his knees
 THE WILD WOOD 63

to look, ' you've cut your shin, sure enough.

Wait till I get at my handkerchief, and I'll tie
it up for you .'
'I must have tripped over a hidden branch
or a stump,' said the Mole miserably. ' 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 made
by a sharp edge of something in metal.
Funny!' He pondered awhile, and examined
the humps and slopes that surrounded them.
'Well, never mind what done it,' said the
Mole, forgetting his grammar in his pain. 'It
hurts just the same, whatever done it.'
But the Rat, after carefully tying up the leg
with his handkerchief, had left him and was
busy scraping in the snow. He scratched and
shovelled and explored, all four legs working
busily, while the Mole waited impatiently,
remarking at intervals, ' O, come on, Rat ! '
Suddenly the Rat cried ' Hooray !' and then
'Hooray-00-ray-oo-ray-oo-ray ! ' and fell to exe-
cuting a feeble jig in the snow.
'What have you found, Ratty ?' asked the
Mole, still nursing his leg.
64 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'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 same sort of thing before,
lots of times. Familiar object, I call it. A
door-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 ? ' cried the Rat impa-tiently.
'Of course I see what it means,' replied the
Mole. 'It simply means that some very care-
less and forgetful person has left his door-
scraper lying about in the middle of the Wild

Wood, just where it's sure to trip everybody up.

Very thoughtless of him, I call it. When I get
home I shall go and complain about it to-to
somebody or other, see if I don'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 the snow fly in all directions around him .
After some further toil his efforts were
rewarded, and a very shabby door-mat lay
exposed to view.
 THE WILD WOOD 65

"There, what did I tell you ?' exclaimed the

Rat in great triumph.
'Absolutely nothing whatever,' replied the
Mole, with perfect truthfulness. 'Well now ,'
he went on, 'you seem to have found another
piece of domestic litter, done for and thrown
away, and I suppose you're perfectly happy.
Better go ahead and dance your jig round that
if you've got to, and get it over, and then per-
haps we can go on and not waste any more
time over rubbish- heaps. Can we eat a door-
mat ? Or sleep under a door-mat ? Or sit on a
door- mat and sledge home over the snow on it,
you exasperating rodent ?'
'Do-you- mean- to- say,' cried the excited
Rat, 'that this door-mat doesn't tell you any-
thing ?'
'Really, Rat,' said the Mole, quite pettishly,
'I think we'd had enough of this folly. Who
ever heard of a door-mat telling anyone any-
thing ? They simply don't do it. They are not
that sort at all. Door-mats know their place. '
'Now look here, you- you thick - headed
beast,' replied the Rat, really angry, ' this must
stop. Not another word, but scrape - scrape
and scratch and dig and hunt round, especially
66 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

on the sides of the hummocks, if you want to

sleep dry and warm to-night, for it's our last
chance !'
The Rat attacked a snow-bank beside them
with ardour, probing with his cudgel every-
where and then digging with fury; and the
Mole scraped busily too, more to oblige the
Rat than for any other reason, for his opinion
was that his friend was getting light-headed.
Some ten minutes' hard work, and the point
of the Rat's cudgel struck something that
sounded hollow. He worked till he could get
a paw through and feel ; then called the Mole
to come and help him. Hard at it went the
two animals, till at last the result of their
labours stood full in view of the astonished
and hitherto incredulous Mole.
In the side of what had seemed to be a
snow-bank stood a solid-looking little 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 capital letters,
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
 THE WILD WOOD 67

penitence, ' you're a wonder ! A real wonder,

that's what you are. I see it all now ! You
argued it out, step by step, in that wise 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 to itself, "Door-
scraper!" And then you turned to and found
the very door-scraper that done it ! Did you
stop there ? No. Some people would have
been quite satisfied ; but not you. Your in-
tellect went on working. " Let me only just
find a door-mat," says you to yourself, " and my
theory is proved !" And of course you found
your door-mat. You're so clever, I believe you
could find anything you liked. "Now," says
you, "that door exists, as plain as if I saw it.
There's nothing else remains to be done but to
find it! " Well, I've read about that sort of
thing in books, but I've never come across it
before in real life. You ought to go where
you'll be properly appreciated. You're simply
wasted here, among us fellows. If I only had
your head, Ratty—— '
' But as you haven't,' interrupted the Rat,
rather unkindly, 'I suppose you're going to sit
on the snow all night and talk ? Get up at
68 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

once and hang on to that bell-pull you see

there, and ring hard, as hard as you can, while
I hammer!'
While the Rat attacked the door with his
stick, the Mole sprang up at the bell-pull,
clutched it and swung there, both feet well off
the ground, and from quite a long way off they
could faintly hear a deep-toned bell respond.
 IV

MR . BADGER

HEY waited patiently for what seemed

THE
a very long time, stamping in the snow
to keep their feet warm. At last they heard the
sound of slow shuffling footsteps approaching
the door from the inside. It seemed, as the
Mole remarked to the Rat, like some one
walking in carpet slippers that were too large
for him and down at heel ; which was intelligent
of Mole, because that was exactly what it was.
There was the noise of a bolt shot back, and
the door opened a few inches, enough to show
a long snout and a pair of sleepy blinking
eyes.
'Now, the very next time this happens,' said
a gruff and suspicious voice, 'I shall be exceed
ingly angry. Who is it this time, disturbing
people on such a night ? Speak up ! '
'Oh, Badger,' cried the Rat, ' let us in, please.
69
70 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

It's me, Rat, and my friend Mole, and we've

lost our way in the snow.'
'What, Ratty, my dear little man ! ' exclaimed
the Badger, in quite a different voice. 'Come
along in, both of you, at once. Why, you must
be perished. Well I never! Lost in the snow!
And in the Wild Wood, too, and at this time of
night ! But come in with you.'
The two animals tumbled over each other in
their eagerness to get inside, and heard the door
shut behind them with great joy and relief.
The Badger, who wore a long dressing-gown,
and whose slippers were indeed very down at
heel, carried a flat candlestick in his paw and
had probably been on his way to bed when
their summons sounded. He looked kindly
down on them and patted both their heads.
"This is not the sort of night for small animals
to be out,' he said paternally. 'I'm afraid
you'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 and
everything.'
He shuffled on in front of them, carrying the
light, and they followed him, nudging each
other in an anticipating sort of way, down
 MR. BADGER 71

a long, gloomy, and, to tell the truth, decidedly

shabby passage, into a sort of a central hall,
out of which they could dimly see other long
tunnel-like passages branching, passages mys-
terious and without apparent end. But there
were doors in the hall as well- stout oaken
comfortable-looking doors. One of these the
Badger flung open, and at once they found
themselves 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 fire of 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
sitting accommodations for the sociably disposed.
In the middle of the room stood a long table
of plain boards placed on trestles, with benches
down each 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 of spotless plates winked from the
shelves of the dresser at the far end of the
room, and from the rafters overhead hung
hams, bundles of dried herbs, nets of onions,
72 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and baskets of eggs. It seemed a place where

heroes could fitly feast after victory, where
weary harvesters could line up in scores along
the table and keep their Harvest Home with
mirth and song, or where two or three friends
of simple tastes could sit about as 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 ; plates on the dresser grinned
at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight
flickered and played over everything without
distinction.
The kindly Badger thrust them down on a
settle to toast themselves at the fire, and bade
them remove their wet coats and boots. Then
he fetched them dressing-gowns and slippers,
and himself bathed the Mole's shin with warm
water and mended the cut with sticking- plaster
till the whole thing was just as good as new, if
not better. In the embracing light and warmth,
warm and dry at last, with weary legs propped
up in front of them, and a suggestive clink of
plates being arranged on the table behind , it
seemed to the storm-driven animals, now in
 MR. BADGER 73

safe anchorage, that the cold and trackless

Wild Wood just left outside was miles and
miles away, and all that they had suffered
in it a half-forgotten dream .
When at last they were thoroughly toasted,
the Badger summoned them to the table,
where he had been busy laying a repast. They
had felt pretty hungry before, but when they
actually saw at last the supper that was spread
for them, really it seemed only a question of
what they should attack first where all was
so attractive, and whether the other things
would obligingly wait for them till they had
time to give them attention. Conversation was
impossible for a long time ; and when it was
slowly resumed, it was that regrettable sort
of conversation that results from talking with
your mouth full. The Badger did not mind
that sort 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't really
matter. (We know of course that he was
wrong, and took too narrow a view; because
they do matter very much, though it would
74 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

take too long to explain why. ) He sat in his

arm-chair at the head of the table, and nodded
gravely at intervals as the animals told their
story; and he did not seem surprised or shocked
at anything, and he never said, ' I told you
so,' or, ' Just what I always said,' or remarked
that they ought to have done so-and- so, or
ought not to have done something else. The
Mole began to feel very friendly towards him.
When supper was really finished at last, and
each animal felt that his skin was now as tight
as was decently safe, and that by this time
he didn't care a hang for anybody or anything,
they gathered round the glowing embers of the
great wood fire, and thought how jolly it was
to be sitting up so late, and so independent,
and so full; and after they had chatted for a
time about things in general, the Badger said
heartily, 'Now then ! tell us the news from your
part of the world. How's old Toad going on ? '
'Oh, from bad to worse,' said the Rat gravely,
while the Mole, cocked up on a settle and
basking in the firelight, his heels higher than
his head, tried to look properly mournful.
'Another smash-up only last week, and a bad
one. You see, he will insist on driving himself,
 MR. BADGER 75

and he's hopelessly incapable. If he'd only

employ a decent, steady, well-trained animal,
pay him good wages, and leave everything to
him , he'd get on all right. But no ; he's con-
vinced he's a heaven-born driver, and nobody
can teach 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 the same thing-with
Toad. This is the seventh. As for the others
-you know that coach-house of his ? Well ,
it's piled up- literally piled up to the roof-
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 the fines he's had to pay,
it's simply awful to think of.'
'Yes, and that's part of the trouble,' con-
tinued the Rat. 'Toad's rich , we all know ; but
he's not a millionaire. And he's a hopelessly
bad driver, and quite regardless of law and
order. Killed or ruined- it's got to be one of
76 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the two things, sooner or later. Badger ! we're

his friends- oughtn't we to do something ?'
The Badger went through a bit of hard
thinking. ' Now look here ! ' he said at 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 do any-
thing strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately
active during the off-season of winter. All are
sleepy-some actually asleep. All are weather-
bound, more or less ; and all are resting from
arduous days and nights, during which every
muscle in them has been severely tested , and
every energy kept at full stretch.
'Very well then ! ' continued the Badger.
'But, when once the year has really turned,
and the nights are shorter, and halfway through
them one rouses and feels fidgety and wanting
to be up and doing by sunrise, if not before-
you know!
Both animals nodded gravely. They knew!
'Well, then,' went on the Badger, ' we- that
is, you and me and our friend the Mole here-
we'll take Toad seriously in hand. We'll stand
 MR. BADGER 77

no nonsense 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,
though he didn't know why. The reason was ,
of course, that he being naturally an under-
ground animal by birth and breeding, the situa-
tion of Badger's house exactly suited him and
made him feel at home ; while the Rat, who slept
every night in a bedroom the windows of which
opened on a breezy river, naturally felt the
atmosphere still and oppressive.
'Well, it's time we were all in bed,' said the
Badger, getting up and fetching flat candle-
sticks. 'Come along, you two, and I'll show
you your quarters. And take your time to-
morrow morning-breakfast at any hour you
please !'
He conducted the two animals to a long room
that seemed half bedchamber and half loft.
The Badger's winter stores, which indeed were
78 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

visible everywhere, took up half the room- piles

of apples, turnips, and potatoes, baskets full of
nuts, and jars of honey ; but the two little white
beds on the remainder of the floor looked soft
and inviting, and the linen on them, though
coarse, was clean and smelt beautifully of
lavender; and the Mole and the Water Rat,
shaking off their garments in some thirty
seconds, tumbled in between the sheets in great
joy and contentment.
In accordance with the kindly Badger's in-
junctions, the two tired animals came down to
breakfast very late next morning, and found a
bright fire burning in the kitchen, and two
young hedgehogs sitting on a bench at the
table, eating oatmeal porridge out of wooden
bowls. The hedgehogs dropped their spoons ,
rose to their feet, and ducked their heads
respectfully as the two entered.
'There, sit down, sit down,' said the Rat
pleasantly, ' and go on with your porridge.
Where have you youngsters come from ? Lost
your way in the snow, 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 to school-
 MR. BADGER 79

mother would have us go, was the weather ever

so-and of course we 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.
Badger he's a kind- hearted gentleman, as every-
one knows- '
'I understand,' said the Rat, cutting himself
some rashers from a side of bacon, while the
Mole dropped some eggs into a saucepan. ' And
what's the 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-pot before the fire.
'The master's gone into his study, sir,' replied
the hedgehog, ' and he said as how he was going
to be particular busy this morning, and on no
account was he to be disturbed.'
This explanation, of course, was thoroughly
understood by every one present . The fact is ,
as already set forth, when you live a life of
intense activity for six months in the year, and
80 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

of comparative or actual somnolence for the

other six, during the latter period you cannot
be continually pleading sleepiness when there
are people about or things to be done. The
excuse gets monotonous. The animals well
knew that Badger, having eaten a hearty
breakfast, had retired to his study and settled
himself in an arm -chair with his legs up on
another and a red cotton handkerchief over his
face, and was being ' busy ' in the usual way
at this time of the year.
The front- door bell clanged loudly, and the
Rat, who was very greasy with buttered toast,
sent Billy, the smaller hedgehog, to see who it
might be. There was a sound of much stamp-
ing in the hall , and presently Billy returned in
front of the Otter, who threw himself on the
Rat with an 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
arrived this morning. Rat never been home
all night- nor Mole either - something dreadful
 MR. BADGER 81

must have happened, they said ; and the snow

had covered up all your tracks , of course. But
I knew that when people were in any fix they
mostly went to Badger, or else Badger got to
know of it somehow, so I came straight off
here, through the Wild Wood and the snow!
My! it was fine, coming through the snow as
the red sun was rising and showing against the
black tree-trunks ! As you went along in the
stillness, every now 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 had sprung up out
of nowhere in the night- and snow bridges,
terraces, ramparts-I could have stayed and
played with them for hours. Here and there
great branches had been torn away by the
sheer weight of the snow, and robins perched
and hopped on them in their perky con-
ceited way, just as if they had done it them-
selves . A ragged string of wild geese passed
overhead, high on the grey sky, and a few rooks
whirled over the trees, inspected , and flapped
off homewards with a disgusted expression ;
but I met no sensible being to ask the news
of. About halfway across I came on a rabbit
82 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

sitting on a stump, cleaning his silly face with

his paws. He was a pretty scared animal when
I crept up behind him and placed a heavy fore-
paw on his shoulder. I had to cuff his head
once or twice to get any sense out of it at all.
At last I managed to extract from him that
Mole had been seen in the Wild Wood last
night by one of them. It was the talk of the
burrows, he said, how Mole, Mr. Rat's par-
ticular friend, was in a bad fix; how he had lost
his way, and " They" were up and out hunting,
and were chivvying him round and round.
" Then why didn't any of you do something ?"
I asked. " You mayn't be blest with brains,
but there are hundreds and hundreds of you,
big, stout fellows, as fat as butter, and your
burrows running in all directions, and you
could have taken him in and made him safe
and comfortable, or tried to, at all events. "
"What, us ?" he merely said : "do something ?
as rabbits ?" So I cuffed him again and left
him. There was nothing else to be done.
At any rate, I had learnt something; and if
I had had the luck to meet any of "Them"
I'd have learnt something more-or they
would.'
 MR. BADGER 83

'Weren't you at all-er- nervous ?' asked the

Mole, some of yesterday's terror coming back
to him at the mention of the Wild Wood.
'Nervous ?' The Otter showed a gleaming
set of strong white teeth as he laughed. '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 you are. I'm
frightfully hungry, and I've got any amount to
say to Ratty here. Haven't seen him for
an age.'
So the good-natured Mole, having cut some
slices of ham , set the hedgehogs to fry it, and
returned to his own breakfast, while the Otter
and the Rat, their heads together, eagerly
talked river-shop, which is long shop and talk
that is endless , running on like the babbling
river itself.
A plate of fried ham had just been cleared
and sent back for more, when the Badger en-
tered, yawning and rubbing his eyes, and
greeted them all in his quiet, simple way, with
kind enquiries for every one. 'It must be
getting on for luncheon time,' he remarked to
the Otter. ' Better stop and have it with us.
You must be hungry, this cold morning.'
84 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'Rather ! ' replied the Otter, winking at the

Mole. "The sight of these greedy young
hedgehogs stuffing themselves with fried ham
makes me feel positively famished . '
The hedgehogs, who were just beginning to
feel hungry again after their porridge, and after
working so hard at their frying, looked timidly
up at Mr. Badger, but were too shy to say
anything.
'Here, you two youngsters be off home to
your mother,' said the Badger kindly. 'I'll
send some one with you to show you the way.
You won't want any dinner to-day, I'll be
bound.'

He gave them sixpence apiece and a pat on

the head, and they went off with much re-
spectful swinging of caps and touching of
forelocks.
Presently they all sat down to luncheon
together. The Mole found himself placed next
to Mr. Badger, and, as the other two were still
deep in river-gossip from which nothing could
divert them , he took the opportunity to tell
Badger how comfortable and home-like it all
felt to him. ' Once well underground, ' he said ,
'you know exactly where you are. Nothing
 MR . BADGER 85

can happen to you , and nothing can get at you.

You're entirely your own master, and you don't
have to consult anybody or mind what they
say. Things go on all the same overhead, and
you let ' em, and don't bother 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,' he replied. " There's no
security, or peace and tranquillity, except
underground. And then, if your ideas get
larger and you want to expand- why, a dig
and a scrape, and there you are ! If you feel
your house is a bit too big, you stop up a hole
or two, and there you are again ! No builders,
no tradesmen, no remarks passed on you by
fellows looking over your wall, and, above all,
no weather. Look at Rat, now. A couple of
feet of flood water, and he's got to move into
hired lodgings ; uncomfortable, inconveniently
situated, and horribly expensive. Take Toad.
I say nothing against Toad Hall ; quite the
best house in these parts, as a house. But
supposing a fire breaks out-where's Toad ?
Supposing tiles are blown off, or walls sink or
crack, or windows get broken- where's Toad ?
86 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Supposing the rooms are draughty-I hate a

draught myself-where's Toad ? No, up and
out of doors is good enough to roam about and
get one's living in ; but underground to come
back to at last- that's my idea of home !'
The Mole assented heartily ; and the Badger
in consequence got very friendly with him.
'When lunch is over,' he said, 'I'll take you all
round this little place of mine. I can see you'll
appreciate it. You understand what domestic
architecture ought to be, you do.'
After luncheon, accordingly, when the other
two had settled themselves into the chimney-
corner and had started a heated argument on
the subject of eels, the Badger lighted a lantern
and bade the Mole follow him . Crossing the
hall, they passed down one of the principal
tunnels, and the wavering light of the lantern
gave glimpses on either side of rooms both
large and small, some mere cupboards, others
nearly as broad and imposing as Toad's dining-
hall. A narrow passage at right angles led
them into another corridor, and here the same
thing was repeated. The Mole was staggered
at the size, the extent, the ramifications of it
all; at the length of the dim passages, the solid
 MR. BADGER 87

vaultings of the crammed store-chambers, the

masonry everywhere, the pillars, the arches, the
pavements. 'How on earth, Badger,' he said
at last, ' did you ever find time and strength to
do all this ? It's astonishing!'
'It would be astonishing indeed,' said the
Badger simply, if I had done it. But as
a matter of fact I did none of it-only cleaned
out the passages and chambers, as far as I had
need of them. There's lots more of it, all round
about. I see you don't understand, and I must
explain it to you. Well, very long ago, on the
spot where the Wild Wood waves now, before
ever it had planted itself and grown up to what
it now is, there was a city- a city of people, you
know. Here, where we are standing, they
lived, and walked, and talked, and slept, and
carried on their business. Here they stabled
their horses and feasted, from here they rode
out to fight or drove out to trade. They were a
powerful people, and rich, and great builders.
They built to last, for they thought their city
would last for ever.'
'But what has become of them all ?' asked
the Mole.
'Who can tell ?' said the Badger. ' People
88 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

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 ever came to
be. And now there are badgers here again.
We are an enduring lot, and we may move out
for a time, but we wait, and are patient, and
back 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 persistent rains 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 level-
ling and disappearance. Then it was all up, up,
up, gradually, as seeds grew to saplings, and
saplings to forest trees, and bramble and fern
came creeping in to help. Leaf- mould rose
and obliterated, streams in their winter freshets
brought sand and soil to clog and to cover, and
in course of time our home was ready for us
again, and we moved in. Up above us, on the
surface, the same thing happened. Animals
arrived, liked the look of the place, took up
 MR. BADGER 89

their quarters, settled down, spread, and flour-

ished. They didn't bother themselves about the
past-they never do ; they're too busy. The
place was a bit humpy and hillocky, naturally,
and full of holes ; but that was rather an
advantage. And they don't bother about the
future, either— the future when perhaps the
people will move in again— for a time—as may
very well be. The Wild Wood is pretty well
populated by now; with all the usual lot, good,
bad, and indifferent-I name no names. It
takes all sorts to make a world . But I fancy
you know something about them yourself by
this time .'
'I do indeed,' said the Mole, with a slight
shiver.
'Well, well, ' said the Badger, patting him on
the shoulder, 'it was your first experience of
them, you see. They're not so bad really ; and
we must all live and let live. But I'll pass the
word around to- morrow, and I think you'll have
no further trouble. Any friend of mine walks
where he likes in this country, or I'll know the
reason why! '
When they got back to the kitchen again,
they found the Rat walking up and down, very
90 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

restless. The underground atmosphere was

oppressing him and getting on his nerves, and
he seemed really to be afraid that the river
would run away if he wasn't there to look after
it. So he had his overcoat on, and his pistols
thrust into his belt again. ' Come along,
Mole,' he said anxiously, as soon as he caught
sight of them. 'We must get off while it's
daylight. Don't want to spend another night
in the Wild Wood again. '
'It'll be all right, my fine fellow ,' said the
Otter. 'I'm coming along with you, and I
know every path blindfold ; and if there's a
head that needs to be punched, you can con-
fidently rely upon me to punch it. '
'You really needn't fret, Ratty,' added the
Badger placidly. ' My passages run further
than you think, and I've bolt-holes to the edge
of the wood in several directions, though I don't
care for everybody to know about them. When
you really have to go, you shall leave by one of
my short cuts. Meantime, make yourself easy,
and sit down again.'
The Rat was nevertheless still anxious to
be off and attend to his river, so the Badger ,
taking up his lantern again, led the way along
 MR. BADGER 91

a damp and airless tunnel that wound and

dipped, part vaulted, part hewn through solid
rock, for a weary distance that seemed to be
miles. At last daylight began to show itself
confusedly through tangled growth overhang-
ing the mouth of the passage ; and the Badger,
bidding them a hasty good-bye, pushed them
hurriedly through the opening, made everything
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 . Rocks and brambles
and tree-roots behind them, confusedly heaped
and tangled; in front, a great space of
quiet fields, hemmed by lines of hedges
black on the snow, and, far ahead, a glint of
the familiar old river, while the wintry sun
hung red and low on the horizon. The Otter,
as knowing all the paths, took charge of the
party, and they trailed out on a bee-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 and made swiftly for home, for
firelight and the familiar things it played on,
92 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

for the voice, sounding cheerily outside their

window, of the river that they knew and trusted
in all its moods , that never made them afraid
with any amazement.
As he hurried along, eagerly anticipating
the moment when he would be at home again
among the things he knew and liked, the Mole
saw clearly that he was an animal of tilled field
.
and hedge-row, linked to the ploughed furrow,
the frequented pasture, the lane of evening
lingerings, the cultivated garden- plot. For
others the asperities, the stubborn endurance,
or the clash of actual conflict, that went with
Nature in the rough; he must be wise, must keep
to the pleasant places in which his lines were
laid and which held adventure enough, in
their way, to last for a lifetime.
 "

DULCE DOMUM

HE sheep ran huddling together against

THE
the hurdles, blowing out thin nostrils and
stamping with delicate fore-feet, their heads
thrown back and 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 and laughter. They were return-
ing across country after a long day's outing
with Otter, hunting and exploring on the wide
uplands where certain streams tributary to
their own River had their first small begin-
nings ; and the shades of the short winter day
were closing in on them, and they had still
some distance to go . Plodding at random
across the plough, they had heard the sheep
and had made for them; and now, leading
from the sheep-pen, they found a beaten track
that made walking a lighter business , and re-
93
94 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

sponded, moreover, to that small inquiring

something which all animals carry inside them,
saying unmistakably, ' Yes, quite right ; this
leads home !'
'It looks as if we were coming to a village,'
said the Mole somewhat dubiously, slackening
his pace, as the track, that had in time become
a path and then had developed into a lane,
now handed them over to the charge of a well-
metalled road. The animals did not hold with
villages, and their own highways, thickly fre-
quented as they were, took an independent
course, regardless of church, post office, or
public-house.
'Oh, never mind ! ' said the Rat. At this
season of the year they're all 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 un-
pleasantness, and we can have a look at them
through their windows if you like, and see what
they're doing.'
The rapid nightfall of mid- December had
quite beset the little village as they approached
it on soft feet over a first thin fall of powdery
snow. Little was visible but squares of a dusky
 DULCE DOMUM 95

orange-red on either side of the street, where

the firelight or lamplight of each cottage over-
flowed through the casements into the dark
world without. Most of the low latticed win-
dows were innocent of blinds, and to the
lookers-in from outside, the inmates, gathered
round the tea-table, absorbed in handiwork,
or talking with laughter and gesture, had each
that happy grace which is the last thing the
skilled actor shall capture-the natural grace
which goes with perfect unconsciousness of
observation. Moving at will from one theatre
to another, the two spectators, so far from
home themselves, had something of wistfulness
in their eyes as they watched a cat being
stroked, a sleepy child picked up and huddled
off to bed, or a tired man stretch and knock
out his pipe on the end of a smouldering log.
But it was from one little window, with its
blind drawn down, a mere blank transparency
on the night, that the sense of home and the
little curtained world within walls-the larger
stressful world of outside Nature shut out and
forgotten- most pulsated. Close against the
white blind hung a bird-cage, clearly silhouet-
ted, every wire, perch, and appurtenance distinct
96 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and recognisable, even to yesterday's dull-edged

lump of sugar. On the middle perch the fluffy
occupant, head tucked well into feathers, seemed
so near to them as to be easily stroked, had they
tried; even the delicate tips of his plumped-out
plumage pencilled plainly on the illuminated
screen . As they looked, the sleepy little fellow
stirred uneasily, woke, shook himself, and raised
his head. They could 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 the ruffled feathers gradu-
ally subsided into perfect stillness. Then a
gust of bitter wind took them in the back of
the neck, a small sting of frozen sleet on the
skin woke them as from a dream, and they
knew their toes to be cold and their legs tired,
and their own home distant a weary way.
Once beyond the village, where the cottages
ceased abruptly, on either side of the road they
could smell through the darkness the friendly
fields again ; and they braced themselves for
the last long stretch, the home stretch, the
stretch that we know is bound to end, some
time, in the rattle of the door-latch, the sudden
firelight, and the sight of familiar things greet-
 DULCE DOMUM 97

ing us as long- absent travellers from far over-

sea. They plodded along steadily and silently,
each of them thinking his own thoughts. 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 he was following
obediently in the wake of the Rat, leaving the
guidance entirely to him. As for the Rat, he
was walking a little way ahead , as his habit
was, his shoulders humped, his eyes fixed on
the straight grey road in front of him ; so he
did not notice poor Mole when suddenly the
summons 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-communica-
tions with his surroundings, living or otherwise,
and have only the word ' smell ,' for instance, to
include the whole range of delicate thrills which
murmur in the nose of the animal night and
day, summoning, warning, inciting, repelling.
It was one of these mysterious fairy calls from
out the void that suddenly reached Mole in the
darkness, making him tingle through and
through with its very familiar appeal, even
98 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

while yet he could not clearly remember what

it was. He stopped dead in his tracks , his nose
searching hither and thither in its efforts to
recapture the fine filament, the telegraphic
current, that had so strongly moved him. A
moment, and he had caught it again ; and with
it this time came recollection in fullest flood.
Home! That was what they meant, those
caressing appeals, those soft touches wafted
through the air, those invisible little hands
pulling and tugging, 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, that day when he first
found the river ! And now it was sending out
its scouts and its messengers to capture him
and bring him in . Since his escape on that
bright morning he had hardly given it a thought,
so absorbed had he been in his new life, in all
its pleasures, its surprises, its fresh and capti-
vating experiences. Now, with a rush of old
memories, how clearly it stood up before him,
in the darkness ! Shabby indeed, and small
and poorly furnished, and yet his, the home he
had made for himself, the home he had been
so happy to get back to after his day's work.
 DULCE DOMUM 99

And the home had been happy with him, too,

evidently, and was missing him, and wanted
him back, and was telling him so, through his
nose, sorrowfully, reproachfully, but with no
bitterness or anger; only with plaintive reminder
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!
Come back! I want you, quick !'
'Oh, come along, Mole, do ! ' replied the Rat
cheerfully, still plodding along.
'Please stop, Ratty ! ' pleaded the poor Mole,
in anguish of heart. 'You don't understand !
It's my home, my old home ! I've just come
across the smell of it, and it's close by here,
really quite close. And I must go to 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 what the Mole was calling,
too far to catch the sharp note of painful appeal
in his voice. And he was much taken up with
the weather, for he too could smell something-
something suspiciously like approaching snow.
'Mole, we mustn't stop now, really ! ' he called
100 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

back. 'We'll come for it to-morrow, whatever

it is you've found. But I daren't stop now-it's
late, and the snow's coming on again, and I'm
not sure of the way! And I want your nose,
Mole, so come on quick, there's a good fellow!'
And the Rat pressed forward on his way
without waiting for an answer.
Poor Mole stood alone in the road, his heart
torn asunder, and a big sob gathering, gathering,
somewhere low down inside him, to leap up to
the surface presently, he knew, in passionate
escape. But even under such a test as this his
loyalty to his friend stood firm. Never for a
moment did he dream of abandoning him.
Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded,
whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him
imperiously. He dared not tarry longer within
their magic circle. With a wrench that tore his
very heartstrings he set his face down the road
and followed submissively in the track of the
Rat, while faint, thin little smells, still dogging
his retreating nose, reproached him for his new
friendship and his callous forgetfulness.
. With an effort he caught up to the unsuspect-
ing Rat, who began chaitering cheerfully about
what they would do when they got back, and
 DULCE DOMUM IOI

how jolly a fire of logs in the parlour would be,

and what a supper he meant to eat; never
noticing his companion's silence and distressful
state of mind. At last, however, when they had
gone some considerable way further, and were
passing some tree-stumps at the edge of a
copse that bordered the road , he stopped and
said kindly, 'Look here, Mole old chap, you
seem dead tired. No talk left in you, and your
feet dragging like lead. We'll sit down here
for a minute and rest. The snow has held off
so far, and the best part of our journey is
over.'
The Mole subsided forlornly on a tree-stump
and tried to control himself, for he felt it surely
coming. The sob he had fought with so long
refused to be beaten. Up and up, it forced its
way to the air, and then another, and another,
and others thick and fast ; till poor Mole at last
gave up the struggle, and cried freely and help-
lessly and openly, now that he knew it was all
over and he had lost what he could hardly
be said to have found.
The Rat, astonished and dismayed at the
violence of Mole's paroxysm of grief, did not
dare to speak for a while. At last he said, very
102 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

quietly and sympathetically, 'What is it, old

fellow ? Whatever can be the matter ? Tell
us your trouble, and let me see what I can
do.'
Poor Mole found it difficult to get any words
out between the upheavals of his chest that
followed one upon another so quickly and held
back speech and choked it as it came. 'I know
it's a- shabby, dingy little place,' he sobbed
forth at last, brokenly : ' not like- your cosy
quarters-or Toad's beautiful hall-or Badger's
great house-but it was my own little home-
and I was fond of it- and I went away and
forgot all about it- and then I smelt it sud-
denly on the road, when I called and you
wouldn't listen, Rat- and everything came back
to me with a rush- and I wanted it ! —O dear,
O dear !-and when you wouldn't turn back,
Ratty and I had to leave it, though I was
smelling it all the time-I thought my heart
would break. We might have just gone and
had one look at it, Ratty-only one look- it
was close by- but you wouldn't turn back,
Ratty, you wouldn't turn back ! O dear, O
dear!'
Recollection brought fresh waves of sorrow,
 DULCE DOMUM 103

and sobs again took full charge of him, pre-

venting further speech.
The Rat stared straight in front of him,
saying nothing, only patting Mole gently on
the shoulder. After a time he muttered
gloomily, ' I see it all now! What a pig I
have been ! A pig-that's me ! Just a pig-
a plain pig! '
He waited till Mole's sobs became gradually
less stormy and more rhythmical ; he waited
till at last sniffs were frequent and sobs only
intermittent. Then he rose from his seat, and,
remarking carelessly, 'Well , now we'd really
better be getting on, old chap ! ' set off up
the road 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 the Rat pleasantly ; ' so
you had better come along, for it will take
some finding, and we shall want your nose.'
'Oh, come back, Ratty, do ! ' cried the Mole,
getting up and hurrying after him. 'It's no
good, I tell you ! It's too late, and too dark,
104 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and the place is too far off, and the snow's

coming ! And-and I never meant to let you
know I was feeling that way about it—it was
all an accident and 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 be dragged back along the
road by his imperious companion, who by a
flow of cheerful talk and anecdote endeavoured
to beguile his spirits back and make the weary
way seem shorter. When at last it seemed
to the Rat that they must be nearing that
part of the road where the Mole had been
' held up,' he said, ' Now, no more talking.
Business ! Use your nose, and give your mind
to it.'
They moved on in silence for some little
way, when suddenly the Rat was conscious,
through his arm that was linked in Mole's,
of a faint sort of electric thrill that was pass-
ing down that animal's body. Instantly he
 DULCE DOMUM 105

disengaged 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 then a slow, steady,
confident advance.
The Rat, much excited, kept close to his
heels as the Mole, with something of the air of
a sleep-walker, crossed a dry ditch, scrambled
through a hedge, and nosed his way over a
field open and trackless and bare in the faint
starlight.
Suddenly, without giving warning, he dived ;
but the Rat was on the alert, and promptly
followed him down the tunnel to which his un-
erring nose had faithfully led him.
It was close and airless, and the earthy smell
was strong, and it seemed a long time to Rat
ere the passage ended and he could stand erect
and stretch and shake himself. The Mole
struck a match, and by its light the Rat saw
that they were standing in an open space,
neatly swept and sanded underfoot, and directly
facing them was Mole's little front door, with
106 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'Mole End' painted, in Gothic lettering, over

the bell-pull at the side.
Mole reached down a lantern from a nail on
the wall and lit it, and the Rat, looking round
him, saw that they were in a sort of fore-court.
A garden-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 having his ground kicked up by other
animals into little runs that ended in earth-
heaps. On the walls hung wire baskets with
ferns in them, alternating with brackets carry-
ing plaster statuary- Garibaldi , and the infant
Samuel, and Queen Victoria, and other heroes
of modern Italy. Down on one side of the fore-
court ran a skittle-alley, with benches along it
and little wooden tables marked with rings that
hinted at beer-mugs. In the middle was a
small round pond containing gold-fish and
surrounded by a cockle-shell border. Out of
the centre of the pond rose a fanciful erection
clothed in more cockle-shells and topped by a
large silvered glass ball that reflected every-
thing all wrong and had a very pleasing effect.
Mole's face beamed at the sight of all these
objects so dear to him, and he hurried Rat
 DULCE DOMUM 107

through the door, lit a lamp in the hall, and

took one glance round his old home. He saw
the dust lying thick on everything, saw the
cheerless, deserted look of the long-neglected
house, and its narrow, meagre dimensions, its
worn and shabby contents - and collapsed again
on a hall-chair, his nose to his paws. 'O
Ratty !' he cried dismally, ' why ever did I do
it ? Why did I bring you to this poor, cold
little place, on a night like this, when you
might have been at River Bank by this time,
toasting your toes before a blazing fire, with all
your own nice things about you!'
The Rat paid no heed to his doleful self-
reproaches. He was running here and there,
opening doors, inspecting rooms and cupboards,
and lighting lamps and candles and sticking
them up everywhere. 'What a capital little
house this is !' he called out cheerily. 'So
compact! So well planned ! Everything here
and everything in its place ! We'll make a jolly
night of it. The first thing we want is a good
fire; I'll see to that-I always know where to
find things. So this is the parlour ? Splendid !
Your own idea, those little sleeping-bunks in
the wall ? Capital ! Now, I'll fetch the wood
108 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and the coals, and you get a duster, Mole-

you'll find one in the drawer of the kitchen
table-and try and smarten things up a bit.
Bustle about, old chap!'
Encouraged by his inspiriting companion,
the Mole roused himself and dusted and pol-
ished with energy and heartiness, while the
Rat, running to and fro with armfuls of fuel,
soon had a cheerful blaze roaring up the
chimney. He hailed the Mole to come and
warm himself ; but Mole promptly had another
fit of the blues, dropping down on a couch in
dark despair and burying his face in his duster.
' Rat,' he moaned, ' how about your supper,
you poor, cold, hungry, weary animal ? I've
nothing to give you- 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,
quite distinctly; and everybody knows that
means there are sardines about somewhere in
the neighbourhood . Rouse yourself ! pull your-
self together, and come with me and forage.'
They went and foraged accordingly, hunting
through every cupboard and turning out every
drawer. The result was not so very depressing
 DULCE DOMUM 109

after all, though of course it might have been

better; a tin of sardines- a box of captain's
biscuits, nearly full-and a German sausage
encased in silver paper. 1

'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 to supper with us to-night !'
'No bread!' groaned the Mole dolorously ;
'no butter, no- '
'No pâté de foie gras, no champagne ! ' con-
tinued the Rat, grinning. ' And that reminds
me-what's that little door at the end of the
passage ? Your cellar, of course ! Every luxury
in this house! Just you wait a minute. '
He made for the cellar-door, and presently
reappeared, somewhat dusty, with a bottle of
beer in each paw and another under each arm ,
'Self-indulgent beggar you seem to be, Mole,'
he observed. ' Deny yourself nothing. This
is really the jolliest little place I ever was in.
Now, wherever did you pick up those prints ?
Make the place look so home-like, they do.
No wonder you're so fond of it, Mole. Tell us
all about it, and how you came to make it what
it is.'
IIO THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Then, while the Rat busied himself fetching

plates, and knives and forks, and mustard which
he mixed in an egg-cup, the Mole, his bosom
still heaving with the stress of his recent
emotion, related-somewhat shyly at first, but
with more freedom as he warmed to his subject
-how this was planned, and how that was
thought out, and how this was got through
a windfall from an aunt, and that was a
wonderful find and a bargain, and this other
thing was bought out of laborious savings and
a certain amount of ' going without.' His
spirits finally quite restored, he must needs go
and caress his possessions, and take a lamp
and show off their points to his visitor and
expatiate on them, quite forgetful of the supper
they both so much needed; Rat, who was
desperately hungry but strove to conceal it,
nodding seriously, examining with a puckered
brow, and saying, ' wonderful,' and ' most re-
markable,' at intervals, when the chance for
an observation was given him.
At last the Rat succeeded in decoying him
to the table, and had just got seriously to work
with the sardine- opener when sounds were heard
from the fore-court without- sounds like the
 DULCE DOMUM III

scuffling of small feet in the gravel and a

confused murmur of tiny voices, while broken
sentences reached 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 of pride in his manner.
"They go round carol-singing regularly at this
time of the year. They're quite an institution
in these parts.
And they never pass me over
-they come to Mole End last of all ; and
I used to give them hot drinks, and supper too
sometimes, when I could afford it. It will be
like old times to hear them again.'
'Let's have a look at them! ' cried the Rat,
jumping up and running to the door.
It was a pretty sight, and a seasonable one,
that met their eyes when they flung the door
open. In the fore-court, lit by the dim rays of
a horn lantern, some eight or ten little field-
mice stood in a semicircle, red worsted com-
forters round their throats, their fore-paws
112 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

thrust deep into their pockets, their feet jigging

for warmth. With bright beady eyes they
glanced shyly at each other, sniggering a little,
sniffing and applying coat-sleeves a good deal.
As the door opened , one of the elder ones 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
in fields that were fallow and held by frost,
or when snow-bound in chimney corners, and
handed down to be sung in the miry street
to lamp-lit windows at Yule-time.

CAROL

Villagers all, thisfrosty 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,
Comefromfar away you to greet-
You bythe 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,
Joyfor every morning!
 DULCE DOMUM 113

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 sidelong glances, and silence
succeeded-but for a moment only. Then, from
up above and far away, down the tunnel they
had so lately travelled was borne to their ears
in a faint musical hum the sound of distant
bells ringing 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 quite like old times ! Shut
the door after you. Pull up that settle to the
fire. Now, you just wait a minute, while we-
O, Ratty!' he cried in despair, plumping down
on a seat, with tears impending. 'Whatever
are we doing? We've nothing to give them !'
114 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'You leave all that to me,' said the master-

ful Rat. ' Here, you with the lantern ! Come
over this way. I want to talk to you. Now,
tell me, are there any shops open at this hour
of the night ?'
'Why, certainly, sir,' replied the field- mouse
respectfully. ' At this time 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 your lantern, and you get
me- "

Here much muttered conversation ensued,

and the Mole only heard bits of it, such as-
'Fresh, mind !-no, a pound of that will do- see
you get Buggins's, for I won't have any other
-no, only the best-if you can't get it there,
try somewhere else—yes, of course, home-made,
no tinned stuff-well then, do the best you
can !' Finally, there was a chink of coin
passing from paw to paw, the field- mouse was
provided with an ample basket for his pur-
chases, and off he hurried, he and his lantern.
The rest of the field- mice, perched in a
row on the settle, their small legs swinging,
gave themselves up to enjoyment of the fire,
and toasted their chilblains till they tingled ;
 DULCE DOMUM 115

while ne Mole, failing to draw them into easy

conversation, plunged into family history and
made each of them recite the names of his
numerous brothers, who were too young, it
appeared, to be allowed to go out a-carolling
this year, but looked forward very shortly to
winning the parental consent.
The Rat, meanwhile, was busy examin-
ing the label on one of the beer-bottles. 'I
perceive this to be Old Burton,' he remarked
approvingly. 'Sensible Mole ! The very
thing ! Now we shall be able to mull 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 well into the red
heart of the fire ; and soon every field- mouse
was sipping and coughing and choking (for
a little mulled ale goes a long way) and wip-
ing his eyes and laughing and forgetting he
nad ever been cold in all his life.
"They act plays too, these fellows,' the Mole
explained to the Rat. 'Make them up all
by themselves, and act them afterwards. And
very well they do it, too ! They gave us a
capital one last year, about a field-mouse who
 16 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

was captured at sea by a Barbary corsair, and

made to row in a galley; and when he escaped
and got home again, his lady- love had gone
into a convent. Here, you ! You were in it,
I remember. Get up and recite a bit.'
The field- mouse addressed got up on his legs,
giggled shyly, looked round the room, and
remained absolutely tongue-tied. His comrades
cheered him on, Mole coaxed and encouraged
him, and the Rat went so far as to take him by
the shoulders and shake him ; but nothing could
overcome his stage- fright.
They were all busily
engaged on him like watermen applying the
Royal Humane Society's regulations to a case
of long submersion , when the latch clicked, the
door opened, and the field-mouse with the
lantern reappeared, staggering under the weight
of his basket.
There was no more talk of play- acting once
the very real and solid contents of the basket
had been tumbled out on the table. Under the
generalship of Rat, everybody was set to do
something or to fetch something. In a very few
minutes supper was ready, and Mole, as he took
the head of the table in a sort of a dream, saw
a lately barren board set thick with savoury
 DULCE DOMUM ΙΙ

comforts ; saw his little friends' faces brighten

and beam as they fell to without delay; and
then let himself loose-for he was famished
indeed-on the provender so magically pro-
vided, thinking what a happy home-coming this
As they ate, they
f had turned out, after all.
talked of old times, and the field- mice gave him
the local gossip up to date, and answered as well
as they could the hundred questions he had to
ask them. The Rat said little or nothing, only
taking care that each guest had what he wanted,
and plenty of it, and that Mole had no trouble
or anxiety about anything.
They clattered off at last, very grateful and
showering wishes of the season, with their jacket
pockets stuffed with remembrances for the
small brothers and sisters at home. When the
door had closed on the last of them and the
chink of the lanterns had died away, Mole and
Rat kicked the fire up, drew their chairs in,
brewed themselves a last nightcap of mulled
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. Sleepy is
simply not the word. That your own bunk over
on that side? Very well, then, I'll take this.
118 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

What a ripping little house this is ! Everything

so handy ! '
He clambered into his bunk and rolled him-
self well up in the blankets, and slumber
gathered him forthwith, as a swathe of barley is
folded into the arms of the reaping machine.
The weary Mole also was glad to turn in
without delay, and soon had his head on his
pillow, in great joy and contentment. But ere he
closed his eyes he let them wander round his
old room, mellow in the glow of the firelight
that played or rested on familiar and friendly
things which had long been unconsciously a
part of him, and now smilingly received him
back, without rancour. He was now in just the
frame of mind that the tactful Rat had quietly
worked to bring about in him. He saw clearly
how plain and simple- how narrow, even- it
all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant
to him, and the special value of some such
anchorage in one's existence. He did not at all
want to abandon the new life and its splendid
spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all
they offered him and creep home and stay
there; the upper world was all too strong, it
called to him still, even down there, and he
 DULCE DOMUM 119

knew he must return to the larger stage. But

it was good to think he had this to come back
to, this place which was all his own, these things
which were so glad to see him again and could
always be counted upon for the same simple
welcome.
 VI

MR . TOAD

T was a bright morning in the early part of

ITsummer; the river had resumed its wonted

banks and its accustomed pace, and a hot sun

seemed to be pulling everything green and
bushy and spiky up out of the earth towards
him, as if by strings. The Mole and the Water
Rat had been up since dawn, very busy on
matters connected with boats and the opening
of the boating season ; painting and varnishing,
mending paddles, repairing cushions, hunting
for missing boat-hooks, and so on; and were
finishing breakfast in their little parlour and
eagerly discussing their plans for the day, when
a heavy knock sounded at the door.
'Bother!' said the Rat, all over egg. 'See
who it is, Mole, like a good chap, since you've
finished.'
The Mole went to attend the summons, and
120
 MR. TOAD 121

the Rat heard him utter a cry of surprise.

Then he flung the parlour door open, and an-
nounced with much importance, ' Mr. Badger!'
This was a wonderful thing, indeed, that the
Badger should pay a formal call on them, or
indeed on anybody. He generally had to be
caught, if you wanted him badly, as he slipped
quietly along a hedgerow of an early morning
or a late evening, or else hunted up in his own
house in the middle of the Wood, which was a
serious undertaking .
The Badger strode heavily into the room,
and stood looking at the two animals with an
expression full of seriousness . The Rat let his
egg-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, glanc-
ing at the clock on the mantelpiece.
'Whose hour, you should rather say,' replied
the Badger. ' Why, Toad's hour ! The hour
of Toad! I said I would take him in hand as
soon as the winter was well over, and I'm going
to take him in hand to- day!'
'Toad's hour, of course ! ' cried the Mole de-
122 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

lightedly. ' Hooray ! I remember now! We'll

teach him to be a sensible Toad!'
'This very morning,' continued the Badger,
taking an arm-chair, ' as I learnt last night
from a trustworthy source, another new and
exceptionally powerful motor-car will arrive at
Toad Hall on approval or return. At this
very moment, perhaps, Toad is busy arraying
himself in those singularly hideous habiliments
so dear to him, which transform him from a
(comparatively) good-looking Toad into an
Object which throws any decent-minded animal
that comes across it into a violent fit. We
must be up and doing, ere it is too late. You
two animals will accompany me instantly to
Toad Hall, and the work of rescue shall be
accomplished.'
'Right you are ! ' cried the Rat, starting up.
'We'll rescue the poor unhappy animal ! We'll
convert him ! He'll be the most converted
Toad that ever was before we've done with
him!'
They set off up the road on their mission
of mercy, Badger leading the way. Animals
when in company walk in a proper and sensible
manner, in single file, instead of sprawling all
 MR. TOAD 123

across the road and being of no use 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 had anticipated,
a shiny new motor-car, of great size, painted
a bright red (Toad's favourite colour) , standing
in front of the house. As they neared the
door it was flung open, and Mr. Toad, arrayed
in goggles, cap, gaiters, and enormous over-
coat, came swaggering down the steps, drawing
on his gauntleted gloves.
'Hullo ! come on, you fellows ! ' he cried
cheerfully on catching sight of them. 'You're
just in time to come with me for a jolly-to
come for a jolly-for a-er-jolly—— '
His hearty accents faltered and fell away as
he noticed the stern unbending look on the
countenances of his silent friends, and his
invitation remained unfinished.
The Badger strode up the steps. "Take him
inside,' he said sternly to his companions.
Then, as Toad was hustled through the door,
struggling and protesting, he turned to the
chauffeur in charge of the new motor-car.
'I'm afraid you won't be wanted to-day,' he
124 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

said. ' Mr. Toad has changed his mind. He

will not require the car. Please understand
that this is final. You needn't wait.' Then he
followed the others inside and shut the door.
'Now then !' he said to the Toad, when the
four of them stood together in the Hall, ' first
of all , take those ridiculous things off !'
'Shan't! ' replied Toad, with great spirit.
'What is the meaning of this gross 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 of names, 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 stood him
up on his legs again. A good deal of his
blustering spirit seemed to have evaporated
with the removal of his fine panoply. Now
that he was merely Toad, and no longer the
Terror of the Highway, he giggled feebly and
looked from one to the other appealingly,
seeming quite to understand the situation.
'You knew it must come to this, sooner or
later, Toad,' the Badger explained severely.
 MR. TOAD 125

You've disregarded all the warnings we've

given you, you've gone on squandering the
money your father left you, and you're getting
us animals a bad name in the district by your
furious driving and your smashes and your rows
with the police. Independence is all very well,
but we animals never allow our friends to make
fools of themselves beyond a certain limit; and
that limit you've reached. Now, you're a good
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 with me
into the smoking-room, and there you will
hear some facts about yourself; and we'll see
whether you come out of that room the same
Toad that you went in.'
He took Toad firmly by the arm, led him
into the smoking-room, and closed the door
behind them.
'That's no good !' said the Rat contemptu-
ously. 'Talking to Toad'll never cure him.
He'll say anything.'
They made themselves comfortable in arm-
chairs and waited patiently. Through the
closed door they could just hear the long con-
tinuous drone of the Badger's voice, rising
126 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and falling in waves of oratory; and presently

they noticed that the sermon began to be
punctuated at intervals by long-drawn sobs,
evidently proceeding from the bosom of Toad,
who was a soft-hearted and affectionate fellow,
very easily converted-for the time being-to
any point of view.
After some three-quarters of an hour the
door opened, and the Badger reappeared,
solemnly leading by the paw a very limp and
dejected Toad. His skin hung baggily about
him, his legs wobbled, and his cheeks were
furrowed by the tears so plentifully called
forth by the Badger's moving discourse.
'Sit down there, Toad,' said the Badger
kindly, pointing to a chair. ' My friends,' he
went on, 'I am pleased to inform you that
Toad has at last seen the error of his ways.
He is truly sorry for his misguided conduct
in the past, and he has undertaken to give
up motor-cars entirely and for 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—if only—— ›
 MR. TOAD 127

He was looking very hard at Toad as he said

this, and could not help thinking he perceived
something vaguely resembling a twinkle in that
animal's still sorrowful eye.
"There's only one thing more to be done,'
continued the gratified Badger. 'Toad, I want
you solemnly to repeat, before your friends
here, what you fully admitted to me in the
smoking-room just now. First, you are 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 it wasn't folly at all ! It
was simply glorious ! '
'What?' cried the Badger, greatly scandal-
ised. 'You backsliding animal, didn't you tell
me just now, in there '
'Oh, yes, yes, in there,' said Toad im-
patiently. 'I'd have said anything in there.
You're so eloquent, dear Badger, and so
moving, and so convincing, and put all your
points so frightfully well- you can do what you
128 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

like with me in there, and you know it. But

I've been searching my mind since, and going
over things in it, and I find that I'm not a bit
sorry or repentant really, so it's no earthly
good saying I am; now, is it ?'
"Then you don't promise,' said the Badger,
'never to touch a motor-car again ? '
'Certainly not ! ' replied Toad emphatically.
'On the contrary, I faithfully promise that the
very first motor-car I see, poop-poop ! off I go
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. 'Since you won't yield to
persuasion, we'll try what force can do. I
feared it would come to this all along. You've
often asked us three to come and stay with you,
Toad, in this handsome house of yours; well,
now we're going to. When we've converted
you to a proper point of view we may quit, but
not before. Take him upstairs, you two, and
lock him up in his bedroom, while we arrange
matters between ourselves.'
'It's for your own good, Toady, you know,'
said the Rat kindly, as Toad, kicking and
 MR. TOAD 129

struggling, was hauled up the stairs by his two

faithful friends. "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 the Rat, 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 the keyhole ; and the
three friends then met in conference on the
situation.
'It's going to be a tedious business ,' said the
Badger, sighing. 'I've never seen Toad so
determined. However, we will see it out. He
must never be left an instant unguarded. We
shall have to take it in turns to be with him,
till the poison has worked itself out of his
system.'
130 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

They arranged watches accordingly. Each

animal took it in turns to sleep in Toad's room
at night, and they divided the day up between
them. At first Toad was undoubtedly very
trying to his careful guardians. When his
violent paroxysms possessed him he would
arrange bedroom chairs in rude resemblance
of a motor-car and would crouch on the fore-
most of them, bent forward and staring fixedly
ahead, making uncouth and ghastly noises, till
the climax was reached, when, turning a com-
plete somersault, 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 friends strove to divert
his mind into fresh channels. But his interest
in other matters did not seem to revive, and he
grew apparently languid and depressed.
One fine morning the Rat, whose turn it was
to go on duty, went upstairs to relieve Bad-
ger, whom he found fidgeting to be off and
stretch his legs 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 get much out of him, except, "O leave
 MR. TOAD I3I

nim alone, he wants nothing, perhaps he'll be

better presently, it may pass off in time, don't
be unduly anxious, " and so on. Now, you look
out, Rat! When Toad's quiet and submissive,
and playing at being the hero of a Sunday-
school prize, then he'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 he approached Toad's
bedside.
He had to wait some minutes for an answer.
At last a feeble voice replied , ' Thank you so
much, dear Ratty ! So good of you to inquire !
But first 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 luncheon
time, so you and I will spend a pleasant morn-
ing together, and I'll do my best to amuse you.
Now jump up, there's a good fellow, and don't
lie moping 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
132 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

not trouble about me. I hate being a burden

to my friends, and I do not expect to be one
much longer . Indeed, I almost hope not.'
'Well, I hope not, too,' said the Rat heartily.
'You've been a fine bother to us all this time,
and I'm glad to hear it's going to stop. And
in weather like this, and the boating season
just beginning ! It's too bad of you, Toad !
It isn't the trouble we mind, but you're making
us miss such an awful lot.'
'I'm afraid it is the trouble you mind, though,'
replied the Toad languidly. ' I can quite
understand it. It's natural enough. You're
tired of bothering about me. I mustn't ask
you to do anything further. I'm a nuisance,
I know .'
'You are, indeed,' said the Rat. ' But I tell
you , I'd take any trouble on earth for you, if
only you'd be a sensible animal. '
'If I thought that, Ratty,' murmured Toad,
more feebly than ever, ' then I would beg you
-for the last time, probably- to step round to
the village as quickly as possible—even now
it may be too late and fetch the doctor. But
don't you bother. It's only a trouble, and per-
haps we may as well let things take their course.'
 MR . TOAD 133

'Why, what do you want a doctor for ? '

inquired the Rat, coming closer and examining
him. He certainly lay very still and flat, and
his voice was weaker and his manner much
changed.
'Surely you have noticed of late- ' mur-
mured Toad. ' But, no- why should you?
Noticing things is only a trouble. To- morrow,
indeed, you may be saying to yourself, " O,
if only I had noticed sooner ! If only I had
done something !" But no ; it's a trouble.
Never mind-forget that I asked .'
'Look here, old man,' said the Rat, beginning
to get rather alarmed, of course I'll fetch a
doctor to you, if you really think you want him.
But you can hardly be bad enough for that
yet. Let's talk about something else.'
'I fear, dear friend ,' said Toad, with a sad
smile, 'that " talk " can do little in a case like
this-or doctors either, for that matter ; still ,
one must grasp at the slightest straw. And ,
by the way- while you are about it-I hate to
give you additional trouble, but I happen to
remember that you will pass the door- would
you mind at the same time asking the lawyer
to step up ? It would be a convenience to me,
134 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and there are moments -perhaps I should say

there is a moment- when one must face dis-
agreeable tasks , at whatever cost to exhausted
nature !'
'A lawyer ! O, he must be really bad ! '
the affrighted Rat said to himself, as he hurried
from the room, not forgetting, however, to lock
the door carefully behind him.
Outside, he stopped to consider. The other
two were far away, and he had no one to
consult.
'It's best to be on the safe side, ' he said, on
reflection. 'I've known Toad fancy himself
frightfully bad before, without the slightest
reason; but I've never heard him ask for a
lawyer ! If there's nothing really the matter,
the doctor will tell him he's an old ass, and
cheer him up ; and that will be something
gained. I'd better humour him and go ; it
won't take 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 the key turned in the
lock, watched him eagerly from the window till
he disappeared down the carriage- drive. Then,
laughing heartily, he dressed as quickly as
 MR. TOAD 135

possible in the smartest suit he could lay hands

on at the moment, filled his pockets with
cash which he took from a small drawer
in the dressing-table, and next, knotting the
sheets from his bed together and tying one end
of the improvised rope round the central mullion
of the handsome Tudor window which formed
such a feature of his bedroom, he scrambled
out, slid lightly to the ground, and, taking the
opposite direction to the Rat, marched off light-
heartedly, whistling a merry tune.
It was a gloomy luncheon for Rat when the
Badger and the Mole at length returned, and he
had to face them at table with his pitiful and
unconvincing story. The Badger's caustic, not
to say brutal, remarks may be imagined, and
therefore passed over ; but it was painful to the
Rat that 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, talking won't mend
matters. He's got clear away for the time,
136 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

that's certain ; and the worst of it is, he'll be so

conceited with what he'll think is his cleverness
that he may commit any folly. One comfort
is, we're free now, 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
two policemen.'
So spoke the Badger, not knowing what the
future held in store, or how much water, and
of how turbid a character, was to run under
bridges before Toad should sit at ease again in
his ancestral Hall.

Meanwhile, Toad, gay and irresponsible, was

walking briskly along the high road, some miles
from home. At first he had taken by-paths,
and crossed many fields , and changed his course
several times, in case of pursuit ; but now, feel-
ing by this time safe from recapture, and the
sun smiling brightly on him, and all Nature
joining in a chorus of approval to the song of
self-praise that his own heart was singing to
him, he almost danced along the road in his
satisfaction and conceit.
 MR. TOAD 137

'Smart piece of work that ! ' he remarked to

himself chuckling. ' Brain against brute force
-and brain came out on the top-as it's bound
to do. Poor old Ratty ! My ! won't he catch
it when the Badger gets back ! A worthy
fellow, Ratty, with many good qualities, but
very little intelligence and absolutely no educa-
tion. I must take him in hand some day, and
see if I can make something of him.'
Filled full of conceited thoughts such as
these he strode along, his head in the air, till
he reached a little town, where the sign of
'The Red L'on,' swinging across the road half-
way down the main street, reminded him that
he had not breakfasted that day, and that he
was exceedingly hungry after his long walk.
He marched into the Inn, ordered the best
luncheon that could be provided at so short a
notice, and sat down 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 all over. The poop-poop ! drew
nearer and nearer, the car could be heard to
turn into the inn-yard and come to a stop, and
138 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Toad had to hold on to the leg of the table to

conceal his over-mastering emotion. Presently
the party entered the coffee-room, hungry,
talkative, and gay, voluble on their experiences
of the morning and the merits of the chariot
that had brought them along so well. Toad
listened eagerly, all ears, for a time ; at last he
could stand it no longer. He slipped out of
the room quietly, paid his bill at the bar, and as
soon as he got outside sauntered round quietly
to the inn-yard. "There cannot be any harm,'
he said to himself, ' in my only just looking at
it!'
The car stood in the middle of the yard,
quite unattended, the stable- helps and other
hangers-on being all at their dinner. Toad
walked slowly round it, inspecting, criticising,
musing deeply.
'I wonder,' he said to himself presently, ' I
wonder if this sort of car starts easily ?'
Next moment, hardly knowing how it came
about, he found he had hold of the handle and
was turning it. As the familiar sound broke
forth, the old passion seized on Toad and com-
pletely mastered him, body and soul . As if in a
dream he found himself, somehow, seated in the
 MR. TOAD 139

driver's seat; as if in a dream, he pulled the

lever and swung the car round the yard and
out through the archway; and, as if in a dream ,
all sense of right and wrong, all fear of obvious
consequences, seemed temporarily suspended.
He increased his pace, and as the car devoured
the street and leapt forth on the high road
through the open country, he was only con-
scious that he was Toad once more, Toad at
his best and highest, Toad the terror, the
traffic- queller, the Lord of the lone trail, before
whom all must give way or be smitten into
nothingness and everlasting night. He chanted
as he flew, and the car responded with sonorous
drone ; the miles were eaten up under him as
he sped he knew not whither, fulfilling his
instincts, living his hour, reckless of what
might come to him.
* * * *
"To my mind,' observed the Chairman of
the Bench of Magistrates cheerfully, ' the only
difficulty that presents itself in this otherwise
very clear case is , how we can possibly make
it sufficiently hot for the incorrigible rogue and
hardened ruffian whom we see cowering in the
dock before us. Let me see : he has been
140 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

found guilty, on the clearest evidence, first, of

stealing a valuable motor-car; secondly, of
driving to the public danger ; and, thirdly, of
gross impertinence to the rural police. Mr.
Clerk, will you tell us, please, what is the very
stiffest penalty 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 so it is. But cheeking the police
undoubtedly carries the severest penalty ; and
so it ought. Supposing you were to say twelve
months for the theft, which is mild ; and three
years for the furious driving, which is lenient;
and fifteen years for the cheek, which was
pretty bad sort of cheek, judging by what we've
heard from the witness-box, even if you only
believe one-tenth part of what you heard, and
I never believe more myself- those figures, if
added together correctly, tot up to nineteen
years-
'First-rate!' said the Chairman.
-So you had better make it a round
 MR. TOAD 141

twenty years and be on the safe side,' con-

Icluded the Clerk.
'An excellent suggestion !' said the Chair-
man approvingly. ' Prisoner ! Pull yourself
together and try and stand up straight. It's
going to be twenty years for you this time.
And mind, if you appear before us again, upon
any charge whatever. we shall have to deal
with you very seriously !'
Then the brutal minions of the law fell upon
the hapless Toad ; loaded him with chains,
and dragged him from the Court House, shriek-
ing, praying, protesting; across the market-
place, where the playful populace , always as
severe upon detected crime as they are
sympathetic and helpful when one is merely
'wanted,' assailed him with jeers, carrots, and
popular catch- words ; past hooting school
children, their innocent faces lit up withthe
pleasure they ever derive from the sight of
a gentleman in difficulties ; across the hollow-
sounding drawbridge, below the spiky portcullis,
under the frowning archway of the grim old
castle, whose ancient towers soared high over-
head; past guardrooms full of grinning soldiery
off duty, past sentries who coughed in a horrid,
142 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

sarcastic way, because that is as much as a

sentry on his post dare do to show his contempt
and abhorrence of crime ; up time- worn winding
stairs, past men- at-arms in casquet and corselet
of steel, darting threatening looks through
their vizards ; across courtyards, where mastiffs
strained at their leash and pawed the air to
get at him ; past ancient warders, their halberds
leant against the wall , dozing over a pasty and
a flagon of brown ale ; on and on, past the
rack-chamber and the thumbscrew -room , past
the turning that led to the private scaffold , till
they reached the door of the grimmest dungeon
that lay in the heart of the innermost keep.
There at last they paused, where an ancient
gaoler sat fingering a bunch of mighty keys.
'Oddsbodikins !' said the sergeant of police,
taking off his helmet and wiping his forehead.
'Rouse thee, old loon, and take over from us
this vile Toad, a criminal of deepest guilt and
matchless artfulness and resource. Watch and
ward him with all thy skill ; and mark thee
well , greybeard, should aught untoward befall,
thy old head shall answer for his- and a
murrain on both of them !'
The gaoler nodded grimly, laying his withered
 MR. TOAD 143

hand on the shoulder of the miserable Toad.

The rusty key creaked in the lock, the great door
clanged behind them ; and Toad was a helpless
prisoner in the remotest dungeon of the best-
guarded keep of the stoutest castle in all the
length and breadth of Merry England.
 VII

THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF

DAWN

HE Willow-Wren was twittering his thin

THE
little song, hidden himself in the dark
selvedge of the river bank. Though it was past
ten o'clock at night, the sky still clung to and
retained some lingering skirts of light from
the departed day; and the sullen heats of the
torrid afternoon broke up and rolled away at
the dispersing touch of the cool fingers of the
short midsummer night. Mole lay stretched
on the bank, still panting from the stress of the
fierce day that had been cloudless from dawn to
late sunset, and waited for his friend to return.
He had been on the river with some com-
panions, leaving the Water Rat free to keep an
engagement of long standing with Otter; and
he had come back to find the house dark and
deserted, and no sign of Rat, who was doubtless
144
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 145

keeping it up late with his old comrade. It

was still too hot to think of staying indoors , so
he lay on some cool dock-leaves, and thought
over the past day and its doings, and how very
good they all had been.
The Rat's light footfall was presently heard
approaching over the parched grass. ' O,
the blessed coolness ! ' he said, and sat down,
gazing thoughtfully 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 me as ever they could, right
up to the moment I left. But I felt a brute all
the time, as it was clear to me they were very
unhappy, though they tried to hide it. Mole,
I'm afraid they're in trouble. Little Portly is
missing again ; and you know what a lot his
father thinks of him, though he never says
much about it.'
'What, that child ?' said the Mole lightly.
'Well, suppose he is ; why worry about it ? He's
always straying off and getting lost, and turn-
146 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

ing up again ; he's so adventurous. But no

harm ever happens to him. Everybody here-
abouts 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 bring him
back again all right. Why, we've found him
ourselves , miles from home, and quite self-
possessed and cheerful !'
'Yes; but this time it's more serious,' said
the Rat gravely. 'He's been missing for some
days now, and the Otters have hunted every-
where, high and low, without finding the
slightest trace. And they've asked every
animal, 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 that young Portly hasn't learnt to swim
very well yet, and I can see he'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 fascination for 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's time. And now
he is nervous . When I left, he came out with
me-said he wanted some air, and talked about
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 147

stretching his legs. But I could see it wasn't

that, so I drew him out and pumped him, and
got it all from him at last. He was going to
spend the night watching by the ford . You
know the place where the old ford used to be,
in by-gone days before they built the bridge ? '
'I know it well,' said the Mole. ' But why
should Otter choose to watch there ? '
'Well, it seems that it was there he gave
Portly his first swimming-lesson,' continued the
Rat. 'From that shallow, gravelly spit near the
bank. And it was there he used to teach him fish-
ing, and there young Portly caught his first fish,
of which he was so very proud . The child loved
the spot, and Otter thinks that if he came wan-
dering back from wherever he is—if he is any-
where by this time, poor little chap- he might
make for the ford he was so fond of; or if he
came across it he'd remember it well, and stop
there and play, perhaps. So Otter goes there
every night and watches- on the chance, you
know, just on the chance ! '
They were silent for a time, both thinking of
the same thing-the lonely, heart-sore animal,
crouched by the ford, watching and waiting, the
long night through- on the chance.
148 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'Well , well,' said the Rat presently, ' I sup-

pose we ought to be thinking about 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 be
done. We'll get the boat out, and paddle up
stream . The moon will be up' in an hour or so,
and then we will search as well as we can-
anyhow, it will be better than going to bed and
doing nothing.'
'Just what I was thinking myself,' said the
Rat. 'It's not the sort of night for bed any-
how; and daybreak is not so very far off, and
then we may 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 with caution . Out in mid-
stream , there was a clear, narrow track that
faintly reflected the sky; but wherever shadows
fell on the water from bank, bush, or tree, they
were as solid to all appearance as the banks
themselves, and the Mole had to steer with
judgment accordingly. Dark and deserted as
it was, the night was full of small noises, sorg
and chatter and rustling, telling of the busy
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 149

little population who were up and about, plying

their trades and vocations through the night till
sunshine should fall on them at last and send
them off to their well-earned repose . The
water's own noises, too, were more apparent
than by day, its gurglings and ' cloops ' more
unexpected and near at hand ; and constantly
they started at what seemed a sudden clear call
from an actual articulate voice.
The line of the horizon was clear and hard
against the sky, and in one particular quarter it
showed black against a silvery climbing phos-
phorescence that grew and grew. At last, over
the rim of the waiting earth the moon lifted
with slow majesty till it swung clear of the
horizon and rode off, free of moorings ; and
once more they began to see surfaces- meadows
wide-spread, and quiet gardens, and the river
itself from bank to bank, all softly disclosed, all
washed clean of mystery and terror, all radiant
again as by day, but with a difference that was
tremendous. Their old haunts greeted them
again in other raiment, as if they had slipped
away and put on this pure new apparel and
come quietly back, smiling as they shyly waited
to see if they would be recognised again under it.
150 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

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
stream in 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; till her hour came and she sank earth-
wards reluctantly, and left them, and mys-
tery once more held field and river.
Then a change began slowly to declare itself.
The horizon became clearer, field and tree came
more into sight, and somehow with a different
look; the mystery began to drop away from
them . A bird piped suddenly, and was still ;
and a light breeze sprang up and set the reeds
and bulrushes rustling. Rat, who was in the
stern of the boat, while Mole sculled, sat up
suddenly and listened with a passionate intent-
ness. Mole, who with gentle strokes was just
keeping the boat moving while he scanned the
banks with care, looked at him with curiosity.
'It's gone !' sighed the Rat, sinking back in
his seat again. ' So beautiful and strange and
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 151

new! Since it was to end so soon, I almost

wish I had never heard it. For it has roused a
longing in me that is pain, and nothing seems
worth while but just to hear that sound once
more and go on listening to it for ever. No!
There it is again ! ' he cried, alert once more.
Entranced, he was silent for a long space, spell-
bound.
'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 call
of the distant piping ! Such music I never
dreamed of, and the call in it is stronger even
than the music is sweet ! Row on, Mole, row !
For the music 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 thing that
caught up his helpless soul and swung and
dandled it, a powerless but happy infant in a
strong sustaining grasp .
In silence Mole rowed steadily , and soon they
came to a point where the river divided, a long
152 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

backwater branching off to one side. With a

slight movement of his head Rat, who had long
dropped the rudder-lines, directed the rower to
take the backwater. The creeping tide of light
gained and gained, and now they could see the
colour of the flowers that gemmed the water's
edge.
'Clearer and nearer still,' cried the Rat joy-
ously. 'Now you must surely hear it ! Ah-
at last-I see you do!'
Breathless and transfixed the Mole stopped
rowing as the liquid run of that glad piping
broke on him like a wave, caught him up, and
possessed him utterly. He saw the tears on his
comrade's cheeks, and bowed his head and
understood. For a space they hung there,
brushed by the purple loose-strife that fringed
the bank ; then the clear imperious summons
that marched hand-in-hand with the intoxicating
melody imposed its will on Mole, and mechani-
cally he bent to his oars again. And the light
grew steadily stronger, but no birds sang as they
were wont to do at the approach of dawn ; and
but for the heavenly music all was marvellously
still.
On either side of them, as they glided onwards,
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 153

the rich meadow-grass seemed that morning of

a freshness and a greenness unsurpassable.
Never had they noticed the roses so vivid, the
willow-herb so riotous, the meadow-sweet so
odorous and pervading. Then the murmur of
the approaching weir began to hold the air, and
they felt a consciousness that they were nearing
the end, whatever it might be, that surely
awaited their expedition.
A wide half-circle of foam and glinting lights
and shining shoulders of green water, the great
weir closed the backwater from bank to bank,
troubled all the quiet surface with twirling
eddies and floating foam-streaks, and deadened
all other sounds with its solemn and soothing
rumble. In midmost of the stream, embraced
in the weir's shimmering arm-spread, a small
island lay anchored, fringed close with willow
and silver birch and alder. Reserved, shy, but
full of significance, it hid whatever it might
hold behind a veil, keeping it till the hour
should come, and, with the hour, those who
were called and chosen.
Slowly, but with no doubt or hesitation what-
ever, and in something of a solemn expectancy,
the two animals passed through the broken
154 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

tumultuous water and moored their boat at the

flowery margin of the island . In silence they
landed, and pushed through the blossom and
scented herbage and undergrowth that led up
to the level ground, till they stood on a little
lawn of a marvellous green, set round with
Nature's own orchard -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 if anywhere, surely we shall find
Him !'
Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall
upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to
water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to
the ground. It was no panic terror-indeed he
felt wonderfully at peace and happy-but it
was an awe that smote and held him and, with-
out seeing, he knew 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 his side cowed, stricken, and
trembling violently. And still there was utter
silence in the populous bird- haunted branches
around them ; and still the light grew and grew.
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 155

Perhaps he would never have dared to raise

his eyes, but that, though the piping was now
hushed, the call and the summons seemed still
dominant and imperious. He might not refuse,
were Death himself waiting to strike him in-
stantly, once he had looked with mortal eye
on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he
obeyed, and raised his humble head ; and then,
in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn,
while Nature, flushed with fulness of incredible
colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event,
he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and
Helper ; saw the backward sweep of the curved
horns, gleaming in the growing daylight ; saw
the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes
that were looking down on them humourously,
while the bearded mouth broke into a half-
smile at the corners ; saw the rippling muscles
on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the
long supple hand still holding the pan-pipes
only just fallen away from the parted lips ; saw
the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs dis-
posed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last
of all, nestling between his very hooves, sleep-
ing soundly in entire peace and contentment,
the little, round, podgy, childish form of the
156 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment

breathless and intense, vivid on the morning
sky; and still , as he looked, he lived; and still ,
as he lived, 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 am afraid !'
Then the two animals, crouching to the
earth, bowed their heads and did worship .
Sudden and magnificent, the sun's broad
golden disc showed itself over the horizon
facing them ; and the first rays, shooting across
the level water- meadows, took the animals full
in the eyes and dazzled them. When they were
able to look once more, the Vision had vanished,
and the air was full of the carol of birds that
hailed the dawn.
As they stared blankly, in dumb misery
deepening as they slowly realised all they had
seen and all they had lost, a capricious little
breeze, dancing up from the surface of the
water, tossed the aspens, shook the dewy roses,
and blew lightly and caressingly in their faces ;
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 157

and with its soft touch came instant oblivion.

For this is the last best gift that the kindly
demi-god is careful to bestow on those to whom
he has revealed himself in their helping : the
gift of forgetfulness. Lest the awful remem-
brance should remain and grow, and over-
shadow mirth and pleasure, and the great
haunting memory should spoil all the after-
lives of little animals helped out of difficulties,
in order that they should be happy and light-
hearted as before.
Mole rubbed his eyes and stared at Rat, who
was looking about him in a puzzled sort of
way. 'I beg your pardon ; what did you say,
Rat ?' he asked.
'I think I was only remarking,' said Rat
slowly, ' that this was the right sort of place,
and that here, if anywhere, we should find him.
And look! Why, there he is, the little fellow ! '
And with a cry of delight he ran towards the
slumbering Portly.
But Mole stood still a moment, held in
thought. As one wakened suddenly from a
beautiful dream , who struggles to recall it, and
can re-capture nothing but a dim sense of the
beauty of it, the beauty! Till that , too , fades
158 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

away in its turn, and the dreamer bitterly

accepts the hard, cold waking and all its
penalties; so Mole, after struggling with his
memory for a brief space, shook his head sadly
and followed the Rat.
Portly woke up with a joyous squeak, and
wriggled with pleasure at the sight of his
father's friends , who had played with him so
often in past days. In a moment, however, his
face grew blank, and he fell to hunting round in
a circle with pleading whine. As a child that
has fallen happily asleep in its nurse's arms, and
wakes to find itself alone and laid in a strange
place, and searches corners and cupboards, and
runs from room to room, despair growing
silently in its heart, even so Portly searched the
island and searched, dogged and unwearying,
till at last the black moment came for giving it
up, and sitting down and crying bitterly.
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 and thoughtfully ; and stood
musing, musing ; his mind strangely stirred.
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 159

'Come along, Rat ! ' called the Mole. "Think

of poor Otter, waiting up there by the
ford! '
Portly had soon been comforted by the
promise of a treat-a jaunt on the river in Mr.
Rat's real boat ; and the two animals conducted
him to the water's side, placed him securely
between them in the bottom of the boat, and
paddled off down the backwater. The sun was
fully up by now, and hot on them, birds sang
lustily and without restraint, and flowers smiled
and nodded from either bank, but somehow- so
thought the animals--with less of richness and
blaze of colour than they seemed to remember
seeing quite recently somewhere- they won-
dered where.
The main river reached again, they turned
the boat's head upstream, towards the point
where they knew their friend was keeping his
lonely vigil. As they drew near the familiar
ford, the Mole took the boat in to the bank, and
they lifted Portly out and set him on his legs
on the tow-path, gave him his marching orders
and a friendly farewell pat on the back, and
shoved out into mid-stream . They watched
the little animal as he waddled along the path
160 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

contentedly and with importance ; watched him

till they saw his muzzle suddenly lift and his
waddle break into a clumsy amble as he
quickened his pace with shrill whines and
wriggles of recognition. Looking up the river,
they could see Otter start up, tense and 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 the
osiers 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 again
whither it would , their quest now happily
ended.
'I feel strangely tired, Rat,' said the Mole,
leaning wearily over his oars 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 this time of the year. No ; I
feel as if I had been through something very
exciting and rather terrible, and it was just
over; and yet nothing particular has happened.'
'Or something very surprising and splendid
and beautiful,' murmured the Rat, leaning back
and closing his eyes. 'I feel just as you do,
Mole; simply dead tired, though not body-
 THE PIPER AT THE GATES 161

tired. It's lucky we've got the stream 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
with words in it, too- it passes into words and
out of them again-I catch them at intervals—
then it is dance-music once more, and then
nothing but the reeds ' soft thin whispering.'
'You hear better than I,' said the Mole
sadly. ' I cannot catch the words.'
' Let me try and give you them ,' said the
Rat softly, his eyes still closed . 'Now it is
turning into words again- faint but clear-
Lest the awe should dwell— And turn your frolic
to fret-You shall look on my power at the help-
ing hour-But then you shall forget ! Now the
reeds take it up-forget, forget, they sigh, and it
dies away in a rustle and a whisper. Then the
voice returns—
'Lest limbs be reddened and rent-I spring
the trap that is set-As I loose the snare you may
162 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

glimpse me there-For surely you shall forget !

Row nearer, Mole, nearer to the reeds! It is
hard to catch, and grows each minute fainter.
'Helper and healer, I cheer-Small waifs in
the woodland wet- Strays I find 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 you as they reached me.
Ah ! now they return again, and this time full
and clear ! This time, at last, it is the real, the
unmistakable thing, simple- passionate-per-
fect-- '
'Well , let's have it, then,' said the Mole, after
he had waited patiently for a few minutes, half-
dozing in the hot sun.
But no answer came. He looked, and under-
stood the silence. With a smile of much
happiness on his face, and something of a
listening look still lingering there, the weary
Rat was fast asleep.
 VIII

TOAD'S ADVENTURES

THEN Toad found himself immured in a

WHEN
dank and noisome dungeon, and knew
that all the grim darkness of a medieval for-
tress lay between him and the outer world of
sunshine and well- metalled high roads where
he had lately been so happy, disporting him-
self as if he had bought up every road in
England, he flung himself at full length on the
floor, and shed bitter tears, and abandoned
himself to dark despair. "This is the end of
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 and
hospitable Toad, the Toad so free and careless
and debonair ! How can I hope to be ever set
at large again ' (he said) , ' who have been im-
prisoned so justly for stealing so handsome
a motor-car in such an audacious manner, and
163
164 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

for such lurid and imaginative cheek, bestowed

upon such a number of fat, red-faced police-
men!' (Here his sobs choked him .) ' Stupid
animal that I was ' (he said) , ' now I must
languish in this dungeon, till people who were
proud to say they knew me, have forgotten the
very name of Toad! O wise old Badger!' (he
said) , ' O clever, intelligent Rat and sensible
Mole ! What sound judgments, what a knowl-
edge of men and matters you possess ! O un-
happy and forsaken Toad!' With lamentations
such as these he passed his days and nights
for several weeks, refusing his meals or inter-
mediate light refreshments, though the grim
and ancient gaoler, knowing that Toad's pockets
were well lined, frequently pointed out that
many comforts, and indeed luxuries, could by
arrangement be sent in- at a price-from out-
side.
Now the gaoler had a daughter, a pleasant
wench and good- hearted, who assisted her father
in the lighter duties of his post. She was par-
ticularly fond of animals, and, besides her
canary, whose cage hung on a nail in the
massive wall of the keep by day, to the great
annoyance of prisoners who relished an after-
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 165

dinner nap, and was shrouded in an antimacas-

sar on the parlour table at night, she kept
several piebald mice and a restless revolving
squirrel. This kind-hearted girl , pitying the
misery of Toad, said to her father one day,
'Father ! I can't bear to see that poor beast so
unhappy, and getting so thin ! You let me have
the managing of him. You know how fond
of animals I am. I'll make him eat from my
hand, and sit up, and do all sorts of things.'
Her father replied that she could do what she
liked with him. He was tired of Toad, and his
sulks and his airs and his meanness. So that
day she 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 up and dry your eyes and
be a sensible animal. And do try and eat a bit
of dinner. See, I've brought you some of mine,
hot from the oven !'
It was bubble-and-squeak, between two plates ,
and its fragrance filled the narrow cell. The
penetrating smell of cabbage reached the nose
of Toad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the
floor, and gave him the idea for a moment that
perhaps life was not such a blank and desperate
166 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

thing 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, and gradually began to think new and
inspiring thoughts : of chivalry, and poetry,
and deeds still to be done ; of broad meadows,
and cattle browsing in them, raked by sun and
wind; of kitchen-gardens, and straight herb-
borders, and warm snap- dragon beset by bees ;
and of the comforting clink of dishes set down
on the table at Toad Hall , and the scrape of
chair-legs on the floor as every one pulled him-
self close up to his work. The air of the
narrow cell took a rosy tinge ; be began to
think 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
ass he had been not to get in a few; and lastly,
he thought of his own great cleverness and
resource, and all that he was capable of if he
only gave his great mind to it; and the cure
was almost complete.
When the girl returned, some hours later, she
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 167

carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steam-

ing on it; and a plate piled up with very hot
buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both
sides, with the butter running through the holes
in it in great golden drops , like honey from the
honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast
simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain
voice ; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts
on bright frosty mornings , of cosy parlour fire-
sides on winter evenings, when one's ramble
was over and slippered feet were propped on
the fender ; of the purring of contented cats ,
and the twitter of sleepy canaries . Toad sat
up on end once more, dried his eyes, sipped his
tea and munched his toast, and soon began
talking freely about himself, and the house he
lived in, and his doings there, and how import-
ant 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 as the 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-contained gentleman's residence,
168 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

very unique; dating in part from the fourteenth

century, but replete with every modern con-
venience. Up-to-date sanitation. Five min-
utes 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 some
more tea and toast.'
Sbe tripped away, and presently returned
with a fresh trayful ; and Toad, pitching into
the toast with avidity, his spirits quite restored
to their usual level, told her about the boat-
house, and the fish-pond , and the 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 the wash- house,
and the china- cupboards, and the linen-presses
(she liked that bit especially) ; and about the
banqueting-hall, and the fun they had there
when the other animals were gathered round
the table and Toad was at his best, singing
songs, telling stories, carrying on generally.
Then she wanted to know about his animal-
friends, and was very interested in all he had to
tell her about them and how they lived, and
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 169

what they did to pass their time. Of course, she

did not say she was fond of animals as pets,
because she had the sense to see that Toad
would be extremely offended. When she said
good night, having filled his water-jug and
shaken up his straw for him, Toad was very
much the same sanguine, self- satisfied animal
that he had been of old. He sang a little 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 and the pleasantest of
dreams.
They had many interesting talks together,
after that, as the dreary days went on; and the
gaoler's daughter grew very sorry for Toad , and
thought it a great shame that a poor little
animal should be locked up in prison for what
seemed to her a very trivial offence. Toad, of
course, in his vanity, thought that her interest
in him proceeded from a growing tenderness ;
and he could not help half-regretting that the
social gulf between them was so very wide, for
she was a comely lass, and evidently admired
him very much.
One morning the girl was very thoughtful,
and answered at random, and did not seem to
170 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Toad to be paying proper attention to his witty

sayings and sparkling comments.
"Toad,' she said presently, ' just listen, please.
I have an aunt who is a washerwoman.'
'There, there,' said Toad, graciously and
affably, ' never mind ; think no more about it.
I have several aunts who ought to be washer-
women.'
'Do be quiet a minute, Toad,' said the girl.
'You talk too much, that's your chief fault, and
I'm trying to think, and you hurt my head.
As I said, I have an aunt who is a washer-
woman; she does the washing for all the
prisoners in this castle-we try to keep any
paying business of that sort in the family, you
understand. She takes out the washing on
Monday morning, 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 always telling me so- and she's very
poor. A few pounds wouldn't make any differ-
ence to you, and it would mean a lot to her.
Now, I think if she were properly approached-
squared, I believe is the word you animals use
-you could come to some arrangement by
which she would let you have her dress and
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 171

bonnet and so on, and you could escape from

the castle as the official washerwoman. You're
very alike in many respects- particularly about
the figure.'
'We're not,' said the Toad in a huff. 'I have
a very elegant figure-for what I am. '
'So has my aunt,' replied the girl, ' for what
she is. But have it your own 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 Toad hurriedly. ' But
look here ! you wouldn't surely have Mr. Toad,
of Toad Hall, going about the country dis-
guised 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 a good, kind,
clever girl,' he said , ' and I am indeed a proud
and a stupid toad. Introduce me to your worthy
aunt, if you will be so kind, and I have no doubt
that the excellent lady and I will be able to
arrange terms satisfactory to both parties.'
Next evening the girl ushered her aunt into
472 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Toad's cell, bearing his week's washing pinned

up in a towel. The old lady had been prepared
beforehand for the interview, and the sight
of certain gold sovereigns that Toad had
thoughtfully placed on the table in full view
practically completed the matter and left little
further to discuss. In return for his cash, Toad
received a cotton print gown, an apron, a shawl,
and a rusty black bonnet ; the only stipulation
the old lady made being that she should be
gagged and bound and dumped down in a
corner. By this not very convincing artifice,
she explained, aided by picturesque fiction
which she could supply herself, she hoped
to retain her situation , in spite of the suspicious
appearance of things.
Toad was delighted with the suggestion. It
would enable him to leave the prison in some
style, and with his reputation for being a des-
perate and dangerous fellow untarnished ; and
he readily helped the gaoler's daughter to make
her aunt appear as much as possible the victim
of circumstances over which she had no control.
'Now it's your turn , Toad,' said the girl.
"Take off that coat and waistcoat of yours;
you're fat enough as it is.'
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 173

Shaking with laughter, she proceeded to

'hook-and- eye ' him into the cotton print
gown, arranged the shawl with a professional
fold, and tied the strings of the rusty bonnet
under his chin.
'You're the very image of her,' she giggled,
'only I'm sure you never looked half so re-
spectable in all your life before. Now, good- bye,
Toad, and good luck. Go straight down the
way you came up ; and if any one says any-
thing to you, as they probably will, being but
men, you can chaff back a bit, of course, but
remember you're a widow woman, quite alone
in the 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 and
hazardous undertaking; but he was soon agree-
ably surprised to find how easy everything was
made for him, and a little humbled at the
thought that both his popularity, and the sex
that seemed to inspire it, were really another's.
The washerwoman's squat figure in its familiar
cotton print seemed a passport for every barred
door and grim gateway ; even when he hesi-
iated , uncertain as to the right turning to take,
174 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

he found himself 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 not keep him waiting there all night. The
chaff and the humourous sallies to which he was
subjected, and to which, of course, he had to
provide prompt and effective reply, formed,
indeed, his chief danger ; for Toad was an
animal with a strong sense of his own dig-
nity, and the chaff was mostly (he thought)
poor and clumsy, and the humour of the sallies
entirely lacking. However, he kept his temper,
though with great difficulty, suited his retorts
to his company and his supposed character, and
did his best not to overstep the limits of good
taste.
It seemed hours before he crossed the last
courtyard, rejected the pressing invitations from
the last guardroom, and dodged the outspread
arms of the last warder, pleading with simu-
lated passion for just one farewell embrace.
But at last he heard the wicket-gate in the
great outer door click behind him, felt the fresh
air of the outer world upon his anxious brow,
and knew that he was free!
Dizzy with the easy success of his daring
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 175

exploit, he walked quickly towards the lights of

the town, not knowing in the least what he
should do next, only quite certain of one thing,
that he must remove himself as quickly as
possible from the neighbourhood where the lady
he was forced to represent was so well-known
and so popular a character.
As he walked along, considering, his attention
was caught by some red and green lights a little
way off, to one side of the town , and the sound
of the puffing and snorting of engines and the
banging of shunted trucks 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 this moment ; and what's
more, I needn't go through the town to get it ,
and shan'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, and found that a train ,
bound more or less in the direction of his home,
was due to start in half-an-hour. ' More luck !'
said Toad, his spirits rising rapidly, and went
off to the booking-office to buy his ticket.
176 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

He gave the name of the station that he

knew to be nearest to the village of which Toad
Hall was the principal feature, and mechanically
put his fingers, in search of the necessary money,
where his waiscoat pocket should have been.
But here the cotton gown, which had nobly
stood by him so far, and which he had basely
forgotten, intervened , and frustrated his efforts.
In a sort of nightmare he struggled with the
strange uncanny thing that seemed to hold his
hands, turn all muscular strivings to water, and
laugh at him all the time ; while other travellers,
forming up in a line behind, waited with
impatience, making suggestions of more or less
value and comments of more or less stringency
and point. At last-somehow- he never rightly
understood how- he burst the barriers, attained
the goal, arrived at where all waistcoat pockets
are eternally situated , and found- not only no
money, but no pocket to hold it, and no waist-
coat to hold the pocket !
To his horror he recollected that he had left
both coat and waistcoat behind him in his cell ,
and with them his pocket-book, money, keys,
watch, matches , pencil-case- all that makes life
worth living, all that distinguishes the many-
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 177

pocketed animal, the lord of creation, from the

inferior one- pocketed or no-pocketed produc-
tions that hop or trip about permissively , un-
equipped 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 the
College Don- he said, ' Look here ! I find I've
left my purse behind. Just give me that ticket,
will you, and I'll send the money on to- morrow ?
I'm well-known in these parts.'
The clerk stared at him and the rusty black
bonnet a moment, and then laughed. ' 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 the window,
please, madam ; you're obstructing the other
passengers ! '
An old gentleman who had been prodding
him in the back for some moments here thrust
him away, and, what was worse, addressed him
as his good woman, which angered Toad more
than anything that had occurred that evening.
Baffled and full of despair, he wandered
blindly down the platform where the train was
standing, and tears trickled down each side of
178 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

his nose. It was hard , he thought , to be within

sight of safety and almost of home, and to be
baulked by the want of a few wretched shillings
and by the pettifogging mistrustfulness of paid
Very soon his escape would be dis-
officials .
covered , the hunt would be up, he would be
caught , reviled , loaded with chains , dragged
back again to prison and bread -and -water and
straw ;his guards and penalities would be
doubled ; and O, what sarcastic remarks the
girl would make ! What was to be done ? He
was not swift of foot ; his figure was unfortu-
nately recognisable. Could he not squeeze
under the seat of a carriage ? He had seen
this method adopted by schoolboys , when the
journey- money provided by thoughtful parents
had been diverted to other and better ends .
As he pondered , he found himself opposite
the engine , which was being oiled , wiped , and
generally caressed by its affectionate driver , a
burly man with an oil-can in one hand and
a lump of cotton-waste in the other.
'Hullo, mother !' said the engine-driver,
'what's the trouble ? You don't look par-
ticularly cheerful .'
'O, sir!' said Toad, crying afresh, 'I am a
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 179

poor unhappy washerwoman , and I've lost all

my money, and can't pay for a ticket, and I
must get home to-night somehow, and whatever
I am to do I don't know. O dear, O dear !'
"That's a bad business, indeed ,' said the
engine-driver reflectively. ' Lost your money
-and can't get home-and got some kids, too,
waiting for you, I dare say ? '
'Any amount of ' em,' sobbed Toad. 'And
they'll be hungry-and playing with matches-
and upsetting lamps, the little innocents !-and
quarrelling, and going on generally. O dear,
O dear!'
'Well, I'll tell you what I'll do , ' said the good
engine-driver. 'You're a washerwoman to your
trade, says you. Very well, that's that. And
I'm an engine-driver, as you well may see,
and there's no denying it's terribly dirty work.
Uses up a power of shirts, it does , till my
missus is fair tired of washing of ' em. If you'll
wash a few shirts for me when you get home,
and send ' em along, I'll give you a ride on my
engine. It's against the Company's regula-
tions, but we're not so very particular in these
out-of-the-way parts.'
The Toad's misery turned into rapture as he
180 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

eagerly scrambled up into the cab of the engine.

Of course, he had never washed a shirt in his
life, 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
money again, and pockets to put it in, I will
send the engine- driver enough to pay for quite
a quantity of washing, and that will be the
same thing, or better.'
The guard waved his welcome flag, the
engine-driver whistled in cheerful response, and
the train moved out of the station . As the
speed increased, and the Toad could see on
either side of him real fields, and trees, and
hedges, and cows, and horses, all flying past
him, and as he thought how every minute was
bringing him nearer to Toad Hall, and sym-
pathetic friends, and money to chink in his
pocket, and a soft bed to sleep in, and good
things to eat, and praise and admiration at the
recital of his adventures and his surpassing
cleverness, he began to skip up and down and
shout and sing snatches of song, to the great
astonishment of the engine- driver, who had
come across washerwomen before, at long in-
tervals, but never one at all like this.
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 181

They had covered many and many a mile,

and Toad was already considering what he
would have for supper as soon as he got home,
when he noticed that the engine- driver, with
a puzzled expression on his face, was leaning
over the side of the engine and listening hard.
Then he saw him climb on to the coals and gaze
out over the top of the train ; then he returned
and said to Toad : ' It's very strange ; we're the
last train running in this direction to-night, yet I
could be sworn that I heard another 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 to his legs, made him want to sit down and
try desperately not to think of all the possi-
bilities.
By this time the moon was shining brightly,
and the engine-driver, steadying himself on the
coal, could command a view of the line behind
them for a long distance.
Presently he called out, 'I can see it clearly
now! It is an engine, on our rails, coming
along at a great pace ! It looks as if we were
being pursued ! '
The miserable Toad, crouching in the coal-
182 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

dust, tried hard to think of something to do,

with dismal want of success.
"They are gaining on us fast !' cried the
engine-driver. And the engine is crowded with
the queerest lot of people ! Men like ancient
warders, waving halberds ; policemen in their
helmets, waving truncheons ; and shabbily
dressed men in pot-hats, obvious and unmis-
takable plain-clothes detectives 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 clasped paws in suppli-
cation, cried, ' Save me, only save me, dear kind
Mr. Engine-driver, and I will confess everything !
I am not the simple washerwoman I seem to
be! I have no children waiting for me, innocent
or otherwise ! I am a toad- the well- known
and popular Mr. Toad, a landed proprietor ; I
have just escaped, by my great daring and
cleverness, from a loathsome dungeon into
which my enemies had flung me ; and if those
fellows on that engine recapture me, it will be
chains and bread-and-water and straw and mis-
ery once more for poor, unhappy, innocent Toad !'
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 183

The engine-driver looked down upon him very

sternly, and said, 'Now tell the truth ; what were
you put in prison for ? '
'It was nothing very much,' said poor Toad,
colouring deeply. ' I only borrowed a motor-
car while the owners were at lunch; they had
no need of it at the time. I didn't mean to
steal it, really ; but people-especially magis-
trates-take such harsh views of thoughtless and
high-spirited actions.'
The engine-driver looked very grave and
said, ' I fear that you have been indeed a wicked
toad, and by rights I ought to give you up
to offended justice. But you are evidently in
sore trouble and distress, so I will not desert
you. I don't hold with motor-cars, for one
thing; and I don't hold 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 feel queer and soft-
hearted. So cheer up, Toad ! I'll do my best,
and we may beat them yet ! '
They piled on more coals, shovelling furiously;
the furnace roared, the sparks flew, the engine
leapt and swung. but still their pursuers slowly
gained. The engine-driver, with a sigh, wiped
184 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

his brow with a handful of cotton-waste, and

said, 'I'm afraid it's no good, Toad. You see,
they are running light, and they have the
better engine. There's just one thing left for
us to do, and it's your only chance, so attend
very carefully 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 the tunnel, but
the other fellows will slow down a bit, naturally,
for fear of an accident. When we are through,
I will shut off steam and put on brakes as hard
as I can, and the moment it's safe to do so you
must jump and 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 they like, for as long as they like,
and as far as they like. Now mind and be
ready to jump when I tell you ! '
They piled on more coals, and the train shot
into the tunnel, and the engine rushed and
roared and rattled , till at last they shot out
at the other end into fresh air and the peaceful
moonlight, and saw the wood lying dark and
helpful upon either side of the line. The driver
 TOAD'S ADVENTURES 185

shut off steam and put on brakes, the Toad got

down on the step, and as the train slowed down
to almost a walking pace he heard the driver
call out, ' Now, jump !'
Toad jumped, rolled down a short embank-
ment, picked himself up unhurt, scrambled into
the wood and hid.
Peeping out, he saw his train get up speed
again and disappear at a great pace. Then
out of the tunnel burst the pursuing engine,
roaring and whistling, her motley crew waving
their various weapons and shouting, ' Stop !
stop ! stop !' When they were past, the Toad
had a hearty laugh-for the first time since he
was thrown into prison.
But he soon stopped laughing when he came
to consider that it was now very late and dark
and cold, and he was in an unknown wood,
with no money and no chance of supper, and
still far from friends and home; and the 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 far as possible behind him.
After so many weeks within walls, he found
186 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the wood strange and unfriendly and inclined,

he thought, to make fun of him. Night-jars,
sounding their mechanical rattle, made him
think that the wood was full of searching
warders, closing in on him. An owl, swooping
noiselessly towards him, brushed his shoulder
with its wing, making him jump with the
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. Once
he met a fox, who stopped, looked him up and
down in a sarcastic sort of way, and said,
'Hullo, washerwoman ! Half a pair of socks
and a pillow-case short this week ! Mind it
doesn't occur again !' and swaggered off,
sniggering. Toad looked about for a stone
to throw at him, but could not succeed in
finding one, which vexed him more than any-
thing. At last, cold, hungry, and tired out,
he sought the shelter of a hollow tree, where
with branches and dead leaves he made himself
as comfortable a bed as he could, and slept
soundly till the morning.
 IX

WAYFARERS ALL

HE Water Rat was restless, and he did

THE
not exactly know why. To all appearance
the summer's pomp was still at fullest height,
and although in the tilled acres green had given
way to gold, though rowans were reddening,
and the woods were dashed here and there with
a tawny fierceness, yet light and warmth and
colour were still present in undiminished
measure, clean of any chilly premonitions of
the passing year. But the constant chorus of
the orchards and hedges had shrunk to a casual
evensong from a few yet unwearied performers ;
the robin was beginning to assert himself once
more; and there was a feeling in the air of
change and departure. The cuckoo, of course,
had long been silent ; but many another feathered
friend, for months a part of the familiar land-
scape and its small society, was missing too,
187
188 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and it seemed that the ranks thinned steadily

day by day. Rat, ever observant of all winged
movement, saw that it was taking daily a
southing tendency ; and even as he lay in bed
at night he thought he could make out, passing
in the darkness overhead, the beat and quiver
of impatient pinions, obedient to the peremp-
tory call.
Nature's Grand Hotel has its Season, like the
others. As the guests one by one pack, pay,
and depart, and the seats at the table-d'hôte
shrink pitifully at each succeeding meal; as
suites of rooms are closed, carpets taken up,
and waiters sent away ; those boarders who are
staying on, en pension, until the next year's full
re-opening, cannot help being somewhat affected
by all these flittings and farewells, this eager
discussion of plans, routes, and fresh quarters,
this daily shrinkage in the stream of comrade-
ship. One gets unsettled, depressed, and in-
clined to be querulous. Why this craving for
change? Why not stay on quietly here, like us,
and be jolly ? You don't know this hotel out of
the season, and what fun we have among our-
selves, we fellows who remain and see the whole
Interesting year out. All very true, no doubt,
 WAYFARERS ALL 189

the others always reply ; we quite envy you-

and some other year perhaps- but just now we
have engagements - and there's the bus at the
door-our time is up ! So they depart, with a
smile and a nod, and we miss them, and feel
resentful.The Rat was a self- sufficing sort of
animal, rooted to the land, and , whoever went,
he stayed ; still, he could not help noticing
what was in the air, and feeling some of its
influence in his bones.
It was difficult to settle down to anything
seriously, with all this flitting going on. Leav-
ing the water-side, where rushes stood thick
and tall in a stream that was becoming sluggish
and low, he wandered country-wards, crossed a
field or two of pasturage already looking dusty
and parched, and thrust into the great sea of
wheat, yellow, wavy, and murmurous, full of
quiet motion and small whisperings. Here he
often loved to wander, through the forest of
stiff strong stalks that carried their own
golden sky away over his head-a sky that
was always dancing, shimmering , softly talk-
ing; or swaying strongly to the passing wind
and recovering itself with a toss and a merry
laugh, Here, too, he had many small friends,
190 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

a society complete in itself, leading full and

busy lives, but always with a spare moment to
gossip, and exchange news with a visitor. To-
day, however, though they were civil enough,
the field-mice and harvest-mice seemed pre-
occupied. Many were digging and tunnelling
busily; others, gathered together in small
groups, examined plans and drawings of small
flats, stated to be desirable and compact, and
situated conveniently near the Stores. Some
were hauling out dusty trunks and dress-
baskets, others were already elbow- deep pack-
ing their belongings ; 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 a hand , Rat,
and don't stand about idle !'
'What sort of games are you up to ?' said the
Water Rat severely. ' You know it isn't time
to be thinking of winter quarters yet, by a long
way!'
'O yes, we know that,' explained a field-
mouse rather shamefacedly; ' but it's always as
well to be in good time, isn't it? We really
must get all the furniture and baggage and
 WAYFARERS ALL 191

stores moved out of this before those horrid

machines begin clicking round the fields ; and
then, you know, the best flats get picked up
so quickly nowadays, and if you're late you
have 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- mouse hurriedly. ' Perhaps some other
day when we've more time—— '
The Rat, with a snort of contempt, swung
round to go, tripped over a hat-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
-and forget themselves. Mind that hold-all ,
Rat! You'd better sit down somewhere. In
an hour or two we may be more free to attend
to you.'
'You won't be "free" as you call it, much
192 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

this side of Christmas, I can see that,' retorted

the Rat grumpily, as he picked his way out of
the field.
He returned somewhat despondently to his
river again- his faithful, steady-going old river,
which never packed up, flitted, or went into
winter 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 first swallow. '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, and so on. That's
half the fun !'
'Fun ? ' said the Rat ; ' now that's just what I
don't understand. If you've got 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 hour strikes I've no
 WAYFARERS ALL 193

doubt you'll go bravely, and face all the trouble

and discomfort and change and newness , and
make believe that you're not very unhappy.
But to want to talk about it, or even think
about it, till you really need-— '
'No, you don't understand, naturally,' said
the second swallow. ' First, we feel it stirring
within us, a sweet unrest ; then back come the
recollections one by one, like homing pigeons.
They flutter through our dreams at night, they
fly with us in our wheelings and circlings by
day. We hunger to inquire of each other, to
compare notes and assure ourselves that it was
all really true, as one by one the scents and
sounds and names of long-forgotten places come
gradually back and beckon to 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
no idea what good times we have here, while
you are far away.'
"I tried " stopping on " one year,' said the
third swallow. 'I had grown so fond of the
place that when the time came I hung back and
let the others go on without me. For a few
weeks it was all well enough, but afterwards, O
194 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the weary length of the nights ! The shivering,

sunless days ! 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 I took 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
the blissful feeling of the hot sun again on my
back as I sped down to the lakes that lay so
blue and placid below me, and the taste of my
first fat insect ! The past was like a bad
dream ; the future was all happy holiday as I
moved southwards week by week, easily, lazily,
lingering as long as I dared , but always heed-
ing 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 two dreamily. 'Its songs
its hues, its radiant air ! O , do you remember
and, forgetting the Rat, they slid into
passionate reminiscence, while he listened
fascinated, and his heart burned within him.
In himself, too, he knew that it was vibrating
at last, that chord hitherto dormant and
 WAYFARERS ALL 195

unsuspected . The mere chatter of these

southern- bound birds, their pale and second-
hand reports , had yet power to awaken this
wild new sensation and thrill him through and
through with it ; what would one moment of
the real thing work in him- one passionate
touch of the real southern sun, one waft of the
authentic odor ?With closed eyes he dared
to dream a moment in full abandonment, and
when he looked again the river seemed steely
and chill, the green fields grey and lightless .
Then his 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 swallows jealously. 'What
do you find to attract you in this poor drab
little country ?'
'And do you think,' said the first swallow,
'that the other call is not for us too, in its due
season ? The call of lush meadow-grass, wet
orchards, warm, insect- haunted ponds, of brows-
ing cattle, of haymaking, and all the farm-
buildings clustering round the House of the
perfect Eaves ?'
'Do you suppose, ' asked the second one,
'that you are the only living thing that craves
196 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

with a hungry longing to hear the cuckoo's

note again ? '
'In due time,' said the third, 'we shall be
home-sick once more for quiet water-lilies
swaying on the surface of an English stream.
But to-day all that seems pale and thin and
very far away. Just now our blood dances to
other music.'
They fell a-twittering among themselves once
more, and this time their intoxicating babble
was of violet seas, tawny sands, and lizard-
haunted walls.
Restlessly the Rat wandered off once more,
climbed the slope that rose gently from the
north bank of the river, and lay looking out
towards the great ring of Downs that barred
his vision further southwards- his simple hori-
zon hitherto, his Mountains of the Moon, his
limit behind which lay nothing he had cared
to see or to know. To -day, to him gazing South
with a new-born need stirring in his heart, the
clear sky over their long low outline seemed to
pulsate with promise ; to-day, the unseen was
everything, the unknown the only real fact of
life. On this side of the hills was now the real
blank, on the other lay the crowded and coloured
 WAYFARERS ALL 197

panorama that his inner eye was seeing so

clearly. What seas lay beyond, green, leaping,
and crested ! What sun-bathed coasts, along
which the white villas glittered against the olive
woods ! What quiet harbours , thronged with
gallant shipping bound for purple islands of
wine and spice, islands set low in languorous
waters !
He rose and descended river-wards once more ;
then changed his mind and sought the side of
the dusty lane. There, lying half-buried in the
thick, cool under- hedge tangle that bordered it,
he could muse on the metalled road and all the
wondrous world that it led to ; on all the way-
farers, too, that might have trodden it, and the
fortunes and adventures they had gone to seek
or found unseeking-out there , beyond- beyond !
Footsteps fell on his ear, and the figure of
one that walked somewhat wearily came into
view; and he saw that it was a Rat, and a
very dusty one. The wayfarer, as he reached
him, saluted with a gesture of courtesy that
had something foreign about it- hesitated a
moment-then with a pleasant smile turned
from the track and sat down by his side in
the cool herbage. He seemed tired, and the
198 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Rat let him rest unquestioned, understanding

something of what was in his thoughts ; know-
ing, too, the value all animals attach at times.
to mere silent companionship , when the weary
muscles slacken and the mind marks time.
The wayfarer was lean and keen-featured,
and somewhat bowed at the shoulders ; his
paws were thin and long, his eyes much wrinkled
at the corners, and he wore small gold ear rings
in his neatly-set well -shaped ears. His knitted
jersey was of a faded blue, his breeches, patched
and stained, were based on a blue foundation,
and his small belongings that he carried were
tied up in a blue cotton handkerchief.
When he had rested awhile the stranger
sighed, snuffed the air, and looked about
him.
"That was clover, that warm whiff on the
breeze,' he remarked ; ' and those are cows
we hear cropping the grass behind us and
blowing softly between mouthfuls. There is
a sound of distant reapers, and yonder rises
a blue line of cottage smoke against the wood-
land. The river runs somewhere close by, for
I hear the call of a moorhen, and I see by
your build that you're a freshwater mariner.
 WAYFARERS ALL 199

Everything seems asleep, and yet going on

all the time. It is a goodly life that you lead,
friend ; no doubt the best in the world , if
only you are strong enough to lead it!'
'Yes, it's the life, the only life, to live,' re-
sponded the Water Rat dreamily, and without
his usual whole-hearted conviction.
'I did not say exactly that,' replied the
stranger cautiously; ' but no doubt it's the best.
I've tried it, and I know. And because I've
just tried it- six months of it—and know it's
the best, here am I, footsore and hungry, tramp-
ing away from it, tramping southward, following
the old call, back to the old life, the life which
is mine and which will not let me go.'
'Is this, then, yet another of them ?' mused
the Rat. 'And where have you just come
from ?' he asked . He hardly dared to ask
where he was bound for ; he seemed to know
the answer only too well.
'Nice little farm ,' replied the wayfarer, briefly.
'Upalong in that direction ' -he nodded north-
wards. 'Never mind about it. I had every-
thing I 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,
200 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

glad to be here ! So many miles further on

the road, so many hours nearer to my heart's
desire!'
His shining eyes held fast to the horizon,
and he seemed to be listening for some sound
that was wanting from that inland acreage,
vocal as it was with the cheerful music of
pasturage and farmyard.
'You are not one of us ,' said the Water Rat,
'nor yet a farmer; nor even, I should judge, of
this country.'
'Right,' replied the stranger. 'I'm a sea-
faring rat, I am , and the port I originally hail
from is Constantinople, though I'm a sort of
a foreigner there too, in a manner of speaking.
You will have heard of Constantinople, friend ?
A fair city, and an ancient and glorious one.
And you may have heard, too, of Sigurd,
King of Norway, and how he sailed thither
with sixty ships, and how he and his men
rode up through streets all canopied in their
honour with purple and gold ; and how the
Emperor and Empress came down and ban-
queted with him on board his ship. When
Sigurd returned home, many of his Northmen
remained behind and entered the Emperor's
 WAYFARERS ALL 201

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 my
birth is no more my home than any pleasant
port between there and the London River.
I know them all, and they know me. Set
me down on any of their quays or foreshores ,
and I am home again.'
'I suppose you go great voyages ,' said the
Water Rat with growing interest. ' Months
and months out of sight of land, and provisions
running short, and allowanced as to water, and
your mind communing with the mighty ocean,
and all that sort of thing ?'
'By no means,' said the Sea Rat frankly.
' Such a life as you describe would not suit
me at all. I'm in the coasting trade, and rarely

out of sight of land. It's the jolly times on

shore that appeal to me, as much as any sea-
faring. O, those southern seaports ! The
smell of them, the riding-lights at night, the
glamour!'
'Well, perhaps you have chosen the better
way,' said the Water Rat, but rather doubtfully.
"Tell me something of your coasting, then, if
202 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

you have a mind to, and what sort of harvest

an animal of spirit might hope to bring home
from it to warm his latter days with gallant
memories by the fireside ; for my life, I confess
to you, feels to me to-day somewhat narrow
and circumscribed.'
'My last voyage, ' began the Sea Rat, 'that
landed me eventually in this country, bound
with high hopes for my inland farm, will serve
as a good example of any of them, and, indeed,
as an epitome of my highly-coloured life.
Family troubles, as usual, began it. The
domestic storm-cone was hoisted, and I
shipped myself on board a small trading
vessel bound from Constantinople, by classic
seas whose every wave throbs with a deathless
memory, to the Grecian Islands and the Levant.
Those were golden days and balmy nights !
In and out of harbour all the time- old friends
everywhere-sleeping in some cool temple or
ruined cistern during the heat of the day-
feasting and song after sundown, under great
stars set in a velvet sky! Thence we turned
and coasted up the Adriatic, its shores swim-
ming in an atmosphere of amber, rose, and
aquamarine ; we lay in wide land -locked har-
 WAYFARERS ALL 203

bours, we roamed through ancient and noble

ities, until at last one morning, as the sun rose
royally behind us, we rode into Venice down a
path of gold. O, Venice is a fine city, wherein
a rat can wander at his ease and take his
pleasure ! Or, when weary of wandering, can
sit at the edge of the Grand Canal at night,
feasting with his friends, when the air is full of
music and the sky full of stars, and the lights
flash and shimmer on the polished steel prows
of the swaying gondolas, packed so that you
Icould walk across the canal on them from side
to side! And then the food- do you like shell-
fish ? 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
between vaporous grey wave-lapped walls.
'Southwards we sailed again at last,' con-
tinued the Sea Rat, ' coasting down the Italian
shore, till finally we made Palermo, and there I
quitted for a long, happy spell on shore. I
never stick too long to one ship ; one gets
narrow- minded and prejudiced . Besides, Sicily
is one of my happy hunting-grounds. I know
204 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

everybody there, and their ways just suit me. I

spent many jolly weeks in the island, staying
with friends up country. When I grew restless
again I took advantage of a ship that was
trading to Sardinia and Corsica ; and very glad
I was to feel the fresh breeze and the sea- spray
in my face once more.'
'But isn't it very hot and stuffy, down in the
-hold, I think you call it ?' asked the Water
Rat.
The seafarer looked at him with the suspicion
of a wink. 'I'm an old hand,' he remarked
with much simplicity. "The captain's cabin's
good enough for me.'
'It's a hard life, by all accounts,' murmured
the Rat, sunk in deep thought.
' For the crew it is,' replied the seafarer
gravely, again with the ghost of a wink.
'From Corsica,' he went on, ' I made use of a
ship that was taking wine to the mainland.
We made Alassio in the evening, lay to, hauled
up our wine-casks, and hove them overboard,
tied one to the other by a long line. Then the
crew took to the boats and rowed shorewards,
singing as they went, and drawing after them
the long bobbing procession of casks, like a
 WAYFARERS ALL 205

mile of porpoises . On the sands they had

horses waiting, which dragged the casks up the
steep street of the little town with a fine rush
and clatter and scramble. When the last cask
was in, we went and refreshed and rested, and
sat late into the night, drinking with our
friends, and next morning I took to the great
olive-woods for a spell and a rest. For now I
had done with islands for the time, and ports
and shipping were plentiful ; so I led a lazy life
among the peasants, lying and watching them
work, or stretched high on the hillside with the
blue Mediterranean far below me. And so at
length, by easy stages, and partly on foot,
partly by sea, to Marseilles, and the meeting
of old shipmates, and the visiting of great
ocean-bound vessels, and feasting once more.
Talk of shell-fish ! Why, sometimes I dream of
the shell-fish of Marseilles, and wake up crying!'
"That reminds me,' said the polite Water
Rat; ' you happened to mention that you were
hungry, and I ought to have spoken earlier.
Of course, you will stop and take your midday
meal with me ? My hole is close by ; it is some
time past noon, and you are very welcome to
whatever there is.'
206 THF WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'Now I call that kind and brotherly of you,'

said the Sea Rat. 'I was indeed hungry when
I sat down, and ever since I inadvertently
happened to mention shell-fish, my pangs have
been extreme. But couldn't you fetch 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 more concerning my
voyages and the pleasant life I lead—at least, it
is very pleasant 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
presently fall asleep . '
"That is indeed an excellent suggestion,' said
the Water Rat, and hurried off home. There
he got out the luncheon-basket and packed a
simple meal, in which, remembering the
stranger's origin and preferences, he took care
to include a yard of long French bread, a
sausage out of which the garlic sang, some
cheese which lay down and cried, and a long-
necked straw-covered flask wherein lay bottled
sunshine shed and garnered on far Southern
slopes. Thus laden, he returned with all speed ,
and blushed for pleasure at the old seaman's
commendations of his taste and judgment, as
 WAYFARERS ALL 207

together they unpacked the basket and laid out

the contents on the grass by the roadside.
The Sea Rat, as soon as his hunger was some-
what assuaged, continued the history of his
latest voyage, conducting his simple hearer
from port to port of Spain, landing him at
Lisbon, Oporto, and Bordeaux, introducing
him to the pleasant harbours of Cornwall and
Devon, and so up the Channel to that final
quayside, where, landing after winds long con-
trary, storm-driven and weather-beaten, he had
caught the first magical hints and heraldings of
another Spring, and, fired by these, had sped on
a long tramp inland, hungry for the experiment
of life on some quiet farmstead, very far from
the weary beating of any sea.
Spell- bound and quivering with excitement,
the Water Rat followed the Adventurer league
by league, over stormy bays, through crowded
roadsteads, across harbour bars on a racing tide,
up winding rivers that hid their busy little towns
round a sudden turn ; and left him with a
regretful sigh planted at his dull inland farm ,
about which he desired to hear nothing.
By this time their meal was over, and the Sea-
farer, refreshed and strengthened, his voice more
208 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

vibrant, his eye lit with a brightness that

seemed caught from some far- away sea-beacon,
filled his glass with the red and glowing vintage
of the South, and, leaning towards the Water
Rat, compelled his gaze and held him , body and
soul, while he talked . Those eyes were of the
changing foam -streaked grey-green of leaping
Northern seas ; in the glass shone a hot ruby
that seemed the very heart of the South,
beating for him who had courage to respond to
its pulsation. The twin lights, the shifting grey
and the steadfast red, mastered the Water Rat
and held him bound, fascinated, powerless. The
quiet world outside their rays receded far away
and ceased to be. And the talk, the wonderful
talk flowed on-or was it speech entirely, or
did it pass at times into song-chanty of the
sailors weighing the dripping anchor, sonorous
hum of the shrouds in a tearing North- Easter,
ballad of the fisherman hauling his nets at sun-
down against an apricot sky, chords of guitar
and mandoline from gondola or caique ? Did
it change into the cry of the wind, plaintive at
first, angrily shrill as it freshened , rising to a
tearing whistle, sinking to a musical trickle of
air from the leech of the bellying sail ? All
 WAYFARERS ALL 209

these sounds the spell-bound listener seemed to

hear, and with them the hungry complaint of
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, and
with beating heart he was following the adven-
tures of a dozen seaports, the fights, the es-
capes, the rallies , the comradeships, the gallant
undertakings ; or he searched islands for treasure,
fished in still lagoons and dozed day-long on
warm white sand . Of deep-sea fishings he
heard tell, and mighty silver gatherings of the
mile-long net ; of sudden perils , noise of breakers
on a moonless night, or the tall bows of the
great liner taking shape overhead through the
fog; of the merry home-coming, the headland
rounded, the harbour lights opened out ; the
groups seen dimly on the quay, the cheery hail,
the splash of the hawser; the trudge up the
steep little street towards the comforting glow
of red-curtained windows.
Lastly, in his waking dream it seemed to him
that the Adventurer had risen to his feet, but
was still speaking, still holding him fast with
his sea-grey eyes.
'And now,' he was softly saying, 'I take to
210 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

the road again, holding on southwestwards for

many a long and ducty day; till at last I reach
the little grey sea town I know so well, that
clings along one steep side of the harbour.
There through dark doorways you look down
flights of stone steps, overhung by great pink
tufts of valerian and ending in a patch of
sparkling blue water. The little boats that lie
tethered to the rings and stanchions of the old
sea-wall are gaily painted as those I clambered
in and out of in my own childhood ; the salmon
leap on the flood tide, schools of mackerel flash
and play past quay-sides and foreshores, 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
destined hour, the ship of my choice will let
go its anchor. I shall take my time, I shall
tarry and bide, till at last the right one lies
waiting for me, warped out into midstream,
loaded low, her bowsprit pointing down harbour.
I shall slip on board, by boat or along hawser;
and then one morning I shall wake to the song
and tramp of the sailors, the clink of the
capstan, and the rattle of the anchor-chain
 WAYFARERS ALL 211

coming merrily in. We shall break out the jib

and the foresail, the white houses on the harbour
side will glide slowly past us as she gathers
steering-way, and the voyage will have begun !
As she forges towards the headland she will
clothe herself with canvas; and then, once
outside, the sounding slap of great green seas
as she heels to the wind, pointing South !
'And you, you will come too, young brother ;
for the days pass, and never return, and the
South still waits for you . Take the Adventure,
heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment
passes !' 'Tis but a banging of the door behind
you, a blithesome step forward, and you are
out of the old life and into the new ! Then
some day, some day long hence, jog home here if
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 for
company. You can easily overtake me on the
road, for you are young, and I am ageing and
go softly. I will linger, and look back ; and at
last I will surely see you coming, eager and
light-hearted, with all the South in your face ! '
The voice died away and ceased as an in-
sect's tiny trumpet dwindles swiftly into silence;
212 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

and the Water Rat, paralysed and staring, saw

at last but a distant speck on the white surface
of the road.
Mechanically he rose and proceeded to re-
pack the luncheon- basket, carefully and without
haste. Mechanically he returned home, gath-
ered together a few small necessaries and
special treasures he was fond of, and put them
in a satchel ; acting with slow deliberation,
moving about the room like a sleep- walker ;
listening ever with parted lips. He swung the
satchel over his shoulder, carefully selected a
stout stick for his wayfaring, and with no haste,
but with no hesitation at all, he stepped across
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,' mur-
mured the Rat in a dreamy monotone, 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 dogged fixity of purpose ; but
 WAYFARERS ALL 213

the Mole, now thoroughly alarmed, placed him-

self in front of him, and looking into his eyes
saw that they were glazed and set and turned a
streaked and shifting grey- not his friend's
eyes, but the eyes of some other animal !
Grappling with him strongly he dragged him
inside, threw him down, and held him.
The Rat struggled desperately for a few
moments, and then his strength seemed sud-
denly to leave him, and he lay still and ex-
hausted, with closed eyes, trembling. Presently
the Mole assisted him to rise and placed him in
a chair, where he sat collapsed and shrunken
into himself, his body shaken by a violent
shivering, passing in time into an hysterical fit
of dry sobbing. Mole made the door fast,
threw the satchel into a drawer and locked it,
and sat down quietly on the table by his friend,
waiting for the strange seizure to pass. Gradu-
ally the Rat sank into a troubled doze, broken
by starts and confused murmurings of things
strange and wild and foreign to the unen-
lightened Mole ; and from that he passed into
a deep slumber.
Very anxious in mind, the Mole left him for
a time and busied himself with household
214 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

matters ; and it was getting dark when he

returned to the parlour and found the Rat
where he had left him, wide awake indeed, but
listless,silent, and dejected. He took one
hasty glance at his eyes ; found them, to his
great gratification, clear and dark and brown
again as before ; and then sat down and tried
to cheer him up and help him to relate what
had happened to him.
Poor Ratty did his best, by degrees, to
explain things; but how could he put into cold
words what had mostly been suggestion ? How
recall, for another's benefit, the haunting sea
voices that had sung to him, how reproduce at
second- hand the magic of the Seafarer's hundred
reminiscences ? Even to himself, now the spell
was broken and the glamour gone, he found it
difficult to account for what had seemed, some
hours ago, the inevitable and only thing. It is
not surprising, then, that he failed to convey to
the Mole any clear idea of what he had been
through that day.
To the Mole this much was plain: the fit, or
attack, had passed away, and had left him sane
again, though shaken and cast down by the
reaction. But he seemed to have lost all inter-
 WAYFARERS ALL 215

est for the time in the things that went to make

up his daily life, as well as in all pleasant fore-
castings of the altered days and doings that the
changing season was surely bringing.
Casually, then, and with seeming indifference,
the Mole turned his talk to the harvest that
was being gathered in, the towering wagons
and their straining teams, the growing ricks ,
and the large moon rising over bare acres
dotted with sheaves. He talked of the redden-
ing apples around, of the browning nuts, of jams
and preserves and the distilling of cordials ; till
by easy stages such as these he reached mid-
winter, its hearty joys and its snug home life,
and then he became simply lyrical.
By degrees the Rat began to sit up and to
join in. His dull eye brightened, and he lost
some of his listening air.
Presently the tactful Mole slipped away and
returned with a pencil and a few half-sheets of
paper, which he placed on the table at his
friend's elbow.

' It's quite a long time since you did any

poetry,' he remarked. 'You might have a try
at it this evening, instead of—well, brooding
over things so much. I've an idea that you'll
216 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

feel a lot better when you've got something

jotted down-if it's only just the rhymes.'
The Rat pushed the paper away from him
wearily, but the discreet Mole took occasion to
leave the room, and when he peeped in again
some time later, the Rat was absorbed and
deaf to the world ; alternately scribbling and
sucking the top of his pencil. It is true that
he sucked a good deal more than he scribbled ;
but it was joy to the Mole to know that the
cure had at least begun.
 X

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES

OF TOAD

HE front door of the hollow tree faced

THE
eastwards, so Toad was called at an
early hour; partly by the bright sunlight
streaming in on him, partly by the exceeding
coldness of his toes, which made him dream
that he was at home in bed in his own handsome
room with the Tudor window, on a cold winter's
night, and his bedclothes had got up, grumbling
and protesting they couldn't stand the cold any
longer, and had run downstairs to the kitchen
fire to warm themselves ; and he had followed,
on bare feet, along miles and miles of icy stone-
paved passages, arguing and beseeching them
to be reasonable. He would probably have
been aroused much earlier, had he not slept for
some weeks on straw over stone flags, and
217
218 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

almost forgotten the friendly feeling of thick

blankets pulled well up 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 familiar stone
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 was warm from end to
end as he thought of the jolly world outside,
waiting eagerly for him to make his triumphal
entrance, ready to serve him and play up to
him, anxious to help him and to keep him com-
pany, as it always had been in days of old before
misfortune fell upon him. He shook himself
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 yesterday dispelled by rest and sleep
and frank and heartening sunshine.
He had the world all to himself, that early
summer morning. The dewy woodland, as he
threaded it, was solitary and still : the green
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 219

fields that succeeded the trees were his own to

do as he liked with; the road itself, 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 clearly
which way he ought to go. It is all very well,
when you have a light heart, and a clear
conscience, and money in your pocket, and
nobody scouring the country for you to drag
you off to prison again, to follow where the road
beckons and points, not caring whither. The
practical Toad cared very much indeed, and he
could have kicked the road for its helpless silence
when every minute was of importance to him.
The reserved rustic road was presently joined
by a shy little brother in the shape of a canal,
which took its hand and ambled along by its
side in perfect confidence, but with the same
tongue-tied, uncommunicative attitude towards
strangers. ' Bother them! ' said Toad to him-
self. '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 he marched on patiently by
the water's edge.
220 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Round a bend in the canal came plodding

a solitary horse, stooping forward as if in
anxious thought. From rope traces attached to
his collar stretched a long line, taut, but dipping
with his stride, the further part of it dripping
pearly drops. Toad let the horse pass, and stood
waiting for what the fates were sending him.
With a pleasant swirl of quiet water at its
blunt bow the barge slid up alongside of him,
its gaily painted gunwale level with the towing-
path, its sole occupant a big stout woman
wearing a ' inen sun-bonnet, one brawny arm
laid along e tiller.
'A nice morning, ma'am ! ' she remarked to
Toad, as she drew up level with him.
'I dare say it is, ma'am! ' responded Toad
politely, as he walked along the tow-path
abreast of her. 'I dare it is a nice morn-
ing to them that's not in sore trouble, like
what I am. Here's my married daughter, she
sends off to me post-haste to come to her at
once ; so off I comes, not knowing 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
my business to look after itself-I'm in the
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 221

washing and laundering line, you must know,

ma'am—and I've left my young children to look
after themselves, and a more mischievous and
troublesome set of young imps doesn't exist,
ma'am ; and I've lost all my money, and lost
my way, and as for what may be happening to
my married daughter, why, I don't like to think
of it, ma'am !'
'Where might your married daughter be
living, ma'am ?' asked the barge-woman.
'She lives near to the river, ma'am,' replied
Toad. ' Close to a fine house 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 Toad Hall ; 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 and grateful
acknowledgments, stepped lightly on board
and sat down with great satisfaction. "Toad's
luck again ! ' thought he. 'I always come out
on top!'
222 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'So you're in the washing business , ma'am ? '

said the barge-woman politely, as they glided
along. ' And a very good business you've got
too, I dare say, if I'm not making too free in
saying so.'
'Finest business in the whole country,' said
Toad airily. ' All the gentry come to me-
wouldn't go to any one else if they were paid,
they know me so well. You see, I understand
my work thoroughly, and attend to it all myself.
Washing, ironing, clear-starching, making up
gents' fine shirts for evening wear - everything's
done under my own eye!'
'But surely you don't do all that work yourself,
ma'am?' asked the barge-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 little

hussies, that's what I call ' em!'
'So do I, too,' said the barge-woman with
great heartiness. ' But I dare say you set yours
to rights, the idle trollops ! And are you very
fond of washing ?'
'I love it,' said Toad. 'I simply dote on it.
Never so happy as when I've got both arms in
the wash-tub. But, then, it comes so easy to
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 223

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 or not I have got to do all my own, naturally,
moving about as I do. Now my husband , he's
such a fellow for shirking his work and leaving
the barge to me, that never a moment do I get
for seeing to my own affairs. By rights he
ought to be here now, either steering or attend-
ing to the horse, 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 pick up a rabbit for dinner somewhere.
Says he'll catch me up at the next lock. Well,
that's as may be-I don't trust him, once he
gets off with that dog, who's worse than he is.
But meantime, how am I to get on with my
washing ?'
'O, never mind about the washing ' said
224 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Toad, not liking the subject. "Try and fix your

mind on that rabbit. A nice fat young rabbit,
I'll be bound. 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 joy-
ful prospect before you. There's a heap of
things of mine that you'll find in a corner of
the cabin. If you'll just take one or two of
the most necessary sort-I won't venture to
describe them to a lady like you, but you'll
recognise them at a glance and put them
through the wash-tub as we go along, why, it'll
be a pleasure to you , as you rightly say, and a
real help to me. You'll find a tub handy, and
soap, and a kettle on the stove, and a bucket to
haul up water from the canal with. Then I
shall know you're enjoying yourself, instead
of sitting here idle, looking at the scenery and
yawning your head off.'
'Here, you let me steer ! ' said Toad, now
thoroughly frightened, ' and then you can get
on with your washing your own way. I might
spoil your things, or not do ' em as you like.
I'm more used to gentlemen's things myself.
It's my special line.'
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 225

'Let you steer ? ' replied the barge-woman,

laughing. ' It takes some practice to steer a
barge properly. Besides, it's dull work, and I
want you to be happy. No, you shall do the
washing you are so fond of, and I'll stick to
the steering that I understand . Don't try and
deprive me of 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 sullenly
resigned himself to his fate. 'If it comes to
that,' he thought in desperation, 'I suppose any
fool can wash! '
He fetched tub, soap, and other necessaries
from the cabin, selected a few garments at ran-
dom, tried to recollect what he had seen in
casual glances through laundry windows, and
set to.
A long half- hour passed, and every minute of
it saw Toad getting crosser and crosser. Nothing
that he could do to the things seemed to please
them or do them good. He tried coaxing, he
tried slapping, he tried punching; they smiled
back at him out of the tub unconverted, happy
in their original sin. Once or twice he looked
226 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

nervously over his shoulder at 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 with dismay that his paws
were beginning to get all crinkly. Now Toad
was very proud of his paws. He muttered
under his breath words that should never 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. The barge-woman
was leaning back and laughing unrestrainedly,
till the tears ran down her cheeks.
'I've been watching you all the time,' she
gasped. 'I thought you must be a humbug
all along, from the conceited way you talked.
Pretty washerwoman 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, now fairly boiled over,
and he lost all control of himself.
'You common, low, fat barge-woman ! ' he
shouted ; ' don't you dare to talk to your betters
like that! Washerwoman indeed ! I would
have you to know that I am a Toad, a very
well-known, respected, distinguished Toad!
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 227

I may be under a bit of a cloud at present,

but I will not be laughed at by a barge-
woman !'
The woman moved nearer to him and peered
under his bonnet keenly and closely. '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 I
will not have.'
She relinquished the tiller for a moment.
One big mottled arm shot out and caught Toad
by a fore-leg, while the other gripped him fast
by a hind-leg. Then the world turned suddenly
upside down, the barge seemed to fit lightly
across the sky, the wind whistled in his ears,
and Toad found himself flying through the air,
revolving rapidly as he went.
The water, when he eventually reached it
with a loud splash, proved quite cold enough
for his taste, though its chill was not sufficient
to quell his proud spirit, or slake the heat of
his furious temper. He rose to the surface
spluttering, and when he had wiped the duck-
weed out of his eyes the first thing he saw was
the fat barge-woman looking back at him over
the stern of the retreating barge and laughing ;
228 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

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 his efforts, and when at
length he touched land he found it hard to climb
up the steep bank unassisted. He had to take
a minute or two's rest to recover 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. 'Put yourself through
your mangle, washerwoman,' she called out,
'and iron your face and crimp it, and you'll
pass for quite a decent-looking Toad!'
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 that he would have liked to say. He saw
what he wanted ahead of him. Running swiftly
on he overtook the horse, unfastened the tow-
rope and cast off, jumped lightly on the horse's
back, and urged it to a gallop by kicking it
vigorously in the sides. He steered for the
open country, abandoning the tow-path, and
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 229

swinging his steed down a rutty lane. Once he

looked back, and saw that the barge had run
aground on the other side of the canal, and
the barge-woman was gesticulating wildly and
shouting, ' Stop, stop, stop ! ' 'I've heard that
song before,' said Toad, laughing, as he con-
tinued to spur his steed onward in its wild
career.
The barge-horse was not capable of any very
sustained effort, and its gallop soon subsided
into a trot, and its trot into an easy walk; but
Toad was quite contented with this, knowing
that he, at any rate, was moving, and the barge
was not. He had quite recovered his temper,
now that he had done something he thought
really clever ; and he was satisfied to jog along
quietly in the sun, steering his horse along
by-ways and bridle-paths, and trying to forget
how very long it was since he had had a square
meal, till the canal had been left very far
behind him.
He had travelled some miles, his horse and he,
and he was feeling drowsy in the hot sunshine,
when the horse stopped, lowered his head, and
began to nibble the grass ; and Toad, waking
up, just saved himself from falling off by an
230 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

effort. He looked about him and found he was

on a wide common, 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 on a bucket turned upside
down, very busy smoking and staring into the
wide world. A fire of sticks was burning
near by, and over the fire hung an iron pot, and
out of that pot came forth bubblings and
gurglings, and a vague suggestive steaminess.
Also smells- warm, rich, and varied smells-
that twined and twisted and wreathed them-
selves at last into one complete, voluptuous,
perfect smell that seemed like the very soul
of Nature taking form and appearing to her
children, a true Goddess, a mother of solace
and comfort. Toad now knew well that he had
not been really hungry before. What he had
felt earlier in the day had been a mere 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 be trouble 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
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 231

at the gipsy ; and the gipsy sat and smoked,

and looked at him.
Presently the gipsy took his pipe out of his
mouth and remarked in a careless way, 'Want
to sell that there horse of yours ?'
Toad was completely taken aback. He did
not know that gipsies were very fond of horse-
dealing, and never missed an opportunity, and
he had not reflected that caravans were always
on the move and took a deal of drawing. It
had not occurred to him to turn the horse into
cash, but the gipsy's suggestion seemed to
smooth the way towards the two things he
wanted 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 my
customers every week ? Besides, I'm too fond
of him, and he simply dotes on 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 mine is a cut above you
altogether. He's a blood horse, he is, partly ;
not the part you see, of course - another part.
232 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

And he's been a Prize Hackney, too , in his time

-that was the time before you knew him, but
you can still tell it on him at a glance, if you
understand anything about 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 young horse of mine ? '
The gipsy looked the horse over, and then he
looked Toad over with equal care, 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 out of countenance.
'A shilling a leg ? ' cried Toad. 'If you
please, I must take a little time 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 the gipsy, and did sums
on his fingers, and at last he said, ' A shilling a
leg ? Why, that comes to exactly four shillings ,
and no more. O, no ; I could not think of
accepting four shillings for this beautiful young
horse of mine.'
'Well ,' said the gipsy, 'I'll tell you what I
will do. I'll make it five shillings, and that's
three- and-sixpence more than the animal's
worth. And that's my last word.'
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 233

Then Toad sat and pondered long and

deeply. For he was hungry and quite penni-
less, and still some way-he knew not how far
-from home, and enemies might still be looking
for him.To one in such a situation, five shil-
lings 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 horse hadn't cost him anything ; so what-
ever he got was all clear profit. At last he said
firmly, ' Look here, gipsy ! I tell you what we
will do ; and this 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 much breakfast as I can pos-
sibly eat, at one sitting of course, out of that
iron pot of yours that keeps sending forth such
delicious and exciting smells. In return, I will
make over to you my spirited young horse, with
all the beautiful harness and trappings that are
on him, freely thrown in. If that's not good
enough for you, say so, and I'll be getting on.
I know 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 deals of that sort he'd be
234 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

ruined. But in the end he lugged a dirty

canvas bag out of the depths of his trouser
pocket, and counted out six shillings and six-
pence into Toad's paw. Then he disappeared
into the caravan for an 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 stew gurgled into the plate.
It was, indeed, the most beautiful stew in the
world, being made of partridges, and pheasants,
and chickens, and hares, and rabbits, and pea-
hens, and guinea-fowls, and one or two other
things. Toad took the plate on his lap, almost
crying, and stuffed , and stuffed, and stuffed, and
kept asking for more, and the gipsy never
grudged it him. He thought that he had never
eaten so good a breakfast in all his life.
When Toad had taken as much stew on board
as he thought he could possibly hold, he got up
and said good-bye to the gipsy, and took an
affectionate farewell of the horse; and the gipsy,
who knew the riverside well, gave him direc-
tions which way to go, and he set forth on his
travels again in the best possible spirits. He
was, indeed, a very different Toad from the
animal of an hour ago. The sun was shining
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 235

brightly, his wet clothes were quite dry again,

he had money in his pocket once more, he was
nearing home and friends and safety, and, most
and best of all, he had had a substantial meal,
hot and nourishing, and felt big, and strong,
and careless, and self-confident.
As he tramped along gaily, he thought of his
adventures and escapes, and how when things
seemed at their worst he had always managed
to find a way out ; and his pride and conceit be-
gan to swell within him. ' Ho, ho! ' he said
to himself as he marched along with his chin
in the air, 'what a clever Toad I am! There
is surely no animal equal to me for cleverness
in the whole world ! My enemies shut me up
in prison, encircled by sentries, 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, unfortu-
nately, thrown into a canal by a woman fat of
body and very evil-minded. What of it? I
swim ashore, I seize her horse, I ride off in
triumph, and I sell the horse for a whole pocket-
ful of money and an excellent breakfast! Ho,
236 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

ho! I am The Toad, the handsome, the popu-

lar, the successful Toad !' He got so puffed
up with 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
hear it but him. It was perhaps the most con-
ceited song that any animal ever composed.

"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."
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 237

There was a great deal more of the same

sort, but too dreadfully conceited 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 inflated every minute. But
his pride was shortly to have a severe fall.
After some miles of country lanes he reached
the high road, and as he turned into it and
glanced along its white length, he saw ap-
proaching him a speck that turned into a dot
and then into a blob, and then into some-
thing very familiar ; and a double note of
warning, only too well known, fell on his de-
lighted ear.
"This is something like !' said the excited
Toad. "This is real life again, this is once
more the great world from which I have been
missed so long ! I will hail them, my brothers
of the wheel, and pitch them a yarn, of the
sort that has been so successful hitherto ; and
they will give 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 a motor-car ! That will be
one in the eye for Badger !'
He stepped confidently out into the road to
238 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

hail the motor-car, which came along at an easy

pace, slowing down as it neared the lane; when
suddenly he became very pale, his heart turned
to water, mis knees shook and yielded under
him , and he doubled up and collapsed with a
sickening pain in his interior. And well he
might, the unhappy animal ; for the approach-
ing car was the very one he had stolen out of
the yard of the Red Lion Hotel on that fatal
day when all his troubles began ! And the
people in it were the very same people he had
sat and watched at luncheon in the coffee-
room !
He sank down in a shabby, miserable heap
in the road, murmuring to himself in his
despair, ' It's all up ! It's all over now ! Chains
and policemen again ! Prison again ! Dry
bread and water again ! O , what a fool 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 high
road, instead of hiding till nightfall and slipping
home quietly by back ways ! O hapless Toad !
O ill-fated animal !'
The terrible motor-car drew slowly nearer
and nearer, till at last he heard it stop just short
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 239

of him. Two gentlemen got out and walked

round the trembling heap of crumpled misery
lying in the road, and one of them said, ' O
dear ! this is very sad ! Here is a poor old
thing-a washerwoman apparently- who has
fainted in the road ! Perhaps she is overcome
by the heat, poor creature; or possibly she has
not had any food to-day. Let us lift her into
the car and take her to the nearest village,
where doubtless she has friends.'
They tenderly lifted Toad into the motor- car
and propped him up with soft cushions, and
proceeded on their way.
When Toad heard them talk in so kind and
sympathetic a way, and knew that he was not
recognised, his courage began to revive, and
he cautiously opened first one eye and then
the other.
'Look!' said one of the gentlemen, ' she is
better already. The fresh air is doing her good.
How do you feel now, ma'am ? '
"Thank you kindly, Sir,' said Toad in a
feeble voice, 'I'm feeling a great deal better ! '
"That's right,' said the gentleman. ' Now
keep quite still, and, above all, don't try to
talk.'
240 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'I won't,' said Toad. 'I was only thinking,

if I might sit on the front seat there, beside
the driver, where I could get the fresh air full
in my 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, and on they went again.
Toad was almost himself again by now. He
sat up, looked about him, and tried to beat
down the tremors, the yearnings, the old
cravings that rose up and beset him and took
possession of him entirely.
'It is fate !' he said to himself. 'Why strive ?
why struggle ?' and he turned to the driver
at his side.
'Please, Sir,' he said, 'I wish you would
kindly let me try and drive the car for a little.
I've been watching you carefully, and it looks
so easy and so interesting, and I should like
to be able to tell my friends that once I had
driven a motor- car !'
The driver laughed at the proposal, so
heartily that the gentleman inquired what the
mattter was. When he heard, he said, to Toad's
delight, ' Bravo, ma'am! I like your spirit.
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 241

Let her have a try, and look after her. She

won't do any harm .'
Toad eagerly scrambled into the seat vacated
by the driver, took the steering-wheel in his
hands, listened with affected humility to the
instructions given him, and set the car in
motion, but very slowly and carefully at first,
for he was determined to be prudent.
The gentlemen behind clapped their hands
and applauded, and Toad heard them saying,
'How well she does it ! Fancy a washerwoman
driving a car as well 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 an-
noyed him, and he began to lose his head.
The driver tried to interfere, but he pinned
him down in his seat with one elbow, and put
on full speed. The rush of air in his face,
the hum of the engines, and the light jump
of the car beneath him intoxicated his weak
brain. 'Washerwoman, indeed ! ' he shouted
recklessly. Ho ! ho
''Ho ho ! I am the Toad, the
motor-car snatcher, the prison -breaker, the
Toad who always escapes ! Sit still, and you
242 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

shall know what driving really is, for you are

in the hands of the famous, the skilful, the
entirely fearless 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
who stole our motor-car ! Bind him, chain him,
drag him to the nearest police-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 playing any pranks of that sort. With a
half-turn of the wheel the Toad sent the car

crashing through the low hedge that ran along

the roadside. One mighty bound, a violent
shock, and the wheels of the car were churning
up the thick mud of a horse-pond.
Toad found himself flying through the air
with the strong upward rush and delicate curve
of a swallow. He liked the motion, and was
just beginning to wonder whether it would go
on until he developed wings and turned into
a Toad-bird, when he landed on his back with a
thump, in the soft rich grass of a meadow.
Sitting up, he could just see the motor-car in
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 243

the pond, nearly submerged ; the gentlemen

and the driver, encumbered by their long coats,
were floundering helplessly in the water.
He picked himself up rapidly, and set off
running across country as hard as he could,
scrambling through hedges, jumping ditches,
pounding across fields , till he was breathless and
weary, and had to settle down into an easy
walk. When he had recovered his breath some-
what, and was able to think 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 ! ' he cried, 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? Who managed to get on
the front seat for the sake of fresh air ? Who
persuaded them into letting him see if he could
drive ? Who landed them all in a horse-pond ?
Who escaped, flying gaily and unscathed
through the air, leaving the narrow- minded,
grudging, timid excursionists in the mud where
they should rightly be ? Why, Toad, of course;
clever Toad, great Toad, good Toad ! '
Then he burst into song again, and chanted
with uplifted voice-
244 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

"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 large rural policemen were
visible, running towards him as hard as they
could go !
Poor Toad sprang to his feet and pelted away
again, his heart in his mouth. O , my ! ' he
gasped, as he panted along, ' what an ass I am!
What a conceited and heedless ass ! Swaggering
again ! Shouting and singing songs again !
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 des-
perately, but kept looking back, and saw that
they still gained steadily. He did his best, but
he was a fat animal, and his legs were short , and
still they gained. He could hear them close
 ADVENTURES OF TOAD 245

behind him now. Ceasing to heed where he

was going, he struggled on blindly and wildly,
looking back over his shoulder at the now
triumphant enemy, when suddenly 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 he
knew 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 that grew along the
water's edge close under the bank, but the
stream was so strong 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 conceited song '-then down he went,
and came up breathless and spluttering. Pres-
ently 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 with
a paw and caught hold of the edge and held
on. Then slowly and with difficulty he drew
himself up out of the water, till at last he
was able to rest his elbows on the edge of
the hole. There he remained for some min-
246 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

utes, puffing and panting, for he was quite

exhausted.
As he sighed and blew and stared before him
into the dark hole, some bright small thing
shone and twinkled in its depths, moving
towards him. As it approached , a face grew up
gradually around it, and it was a familiar 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 '

HE Rat put out a neat little brown paw,

THE
gripped Toad firmly by the scruff of the
neck, and gave a great hoist and a pull ; and
the water-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 and weed to be sure, and with the water
streaming off him, but happy and high-spirited
as of old, now that he found himself once more
in the house of a friend, and dodgings and
evasions were over, and he could lay aside a
disguise that was unworthy of his position and
wanted such a lot of living up to.
'O, Ratty!' he cried. 'I've been through
such times since I saw you last, you can't think !
Such trials, such sufferings, and all so nobly
borne ! Then such escapes , such disguises
247
248 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

such subterfuges, and all so cleverly planned

and carried out ! Been in prison- got out of it,
of course! Been thrown into a canal- swam
ashore ! Stole a horse-sold him for a large
sum of money! Humbugged everybody-made
'em all do exactly what I wanted ! Oh, I am a
smart Toad, and no mistake ! What do you

think my last exploit was ? Just hold on till I

tell you-

'Toad,' said the Water Rat, gravely and

firmly, ' you go off upstairs at once, and take
off that old cotton rag that looks as if it might
formerly have belonged to some washerwoman,
and clean yourself thoroughly, and put on
some of my clothes, and try and come down
looking like a gentleman if you can; for a more
shabby, bedraggled , disreputable-looking object
than you are I never set eyes on in my whole
life ! Now, stop swaggering and arguing, and
be off ! I'll have something to say to you later!'
Toad was at first inclined to stop and do
some talking back at him. He had had enough
of being ordered about when he was in prison,
and here was the thing being begun all over
again, apparently ; and by a Rat, too ! However,
he caught sight of himself in the looking-glass
 ' LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 249

over the hat-stand, with the rusty black bonnet

perched rakishly over one eye, and he changed
his mind and went very quickly and humbly up-
stairs to the Rat's dressing-room. There he had
a thorough wash and brush-up, changed his
clothes, and stood for a long time before the
glass , contemplating himself with pride and
pleasure, and thinking what utter idiots all the
people must have been to have ever mistaken
him for one moment for a washerwoman.
By the time he came down again luncheon
was on the table, and very glad Toad was to see
it, for he had been through some trying experi-
ences and had taken much hard exercise since
the excellent breakfast provided for him by the
gipsy. While they ate Toad told the Rat all
his adventures , dwelling chiefly on his own
cleverness, and presence of mind in emergencies,
and cunning in tight places ; and rather making
out that he had been having a gay and highly-
coloured experience. But the more he talked
and boasted, the more grave and silent the Rat
became.
When at last Toad had talked himself to a
standstill, there was silence for a while ; and
then the Rat said, ' Now, Toady, I don't want
250 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

to give you pain, after all you've been through

already; but, seriously, don't you see what an
awful ass you've been making of yourself? On
your own admission you have been hand-
cuffed, imprisoned, starved, chased, terrified
out of your life, insulted, jeered at, and
ignominiously flung into the water-by a
woman, too! Where's the amusement in that?
Where does the fun come in ? And all because
you must needs go and steal a motor-car. You
know that you've never had anything but
trouble from motor-cars from the moment you
first set eyes on one. But if you will be mixed
up with them as you generally are, five minutes
after you've started- why steal them ? Be a
cripple, if you think it's exciting ; be a bank-
rupt, for a change, if you've set your mind on it :
but why choose to be a convict ? When are you
going to be sensible, and think of your friends,
and try and be a credit to them? Do you
suppose it's any pleasure 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 a thoroughly
good- hearted animal, and never minded being
 ' LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS' 251

jawed by those who were his real friends. And

even when most set upon a thing, he was
always able to see the other side of the
question. So although, while the Rat was
talking so seriously, he kept saying to himself
mutinously, ' But it was fun, though ! Awful
fun ! ' and making strange suppressed noises
inside him, k-i-ck-ck-ck, and poop-p-p , and
other sounds resembling stifled snorts, or the
opening of soda-water bottles, yet when the
Rat had quite finished, he heaved a deep sigh
and said, very nicely 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 going to be a good Toad, and not
do it any more. As for motor- cars, I've not
been at all so keen about them since my last
ducking in that river of yours. The fact is,
while I was hanging on to the edge of your
hole and getting my breath, I had a sudden
idea-a really brilliant idea-connected with
motor-boats- there, there ! don't take on so , old
chap, and stamp, and upset things ; it was only
an idea, and we won't talk any more about it
now . We'll have our coffee, and a smoke,

and a quiet chat, and then I'm going to

252 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

stroll quietly down to Toad Hall, and get

into clothes of my own, and set things going
again on the old lines. I've had enough of ad-
ventures. I shall lead a quiet, steady, respect-
able life, pottering about my property, and im-
proving it, and doing a little landscape garden-
ing at times. There will always be a bit of
dinner for my friends when they come to see
me; and I shall keep a pony-chaise to jog about
the country in, just as I used to in the good old
days, before I 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 little fist upon the table,
'that you've heard nothing about the Stoats
and Weasels ?'
'What, the Wild Wooders ?' cried Toad,
trembling in every limb. ' No , not a word
What have they been doing?'
 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 253

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 a large tear welled up in
each of his eyes, overflowed and splashed on the
table, 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, slowly and impressively ;
'I mean, when you- disappeared from society
for a time, over that misunderstanding about a
-a machine, you know- '
Toad merely nodded.
'Well, it was a good deal talked about down
here, naturally,' continued the Rat, ' not only
along the river-side, but even in the Wild
Wood. Animals took sides, as always happens .
The River- bankers stuck up for you, and said
you had been infamously treated, and there was
no justice to be had in the land nowadays. But
the Wild Wood animals said hard things, and
served you right, and it was time this sort of
thing was stopped .And they got very cocky,
and went about saying you were done for this
254 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

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 Mole and Badger, they
stuck out, through thick and thin, that you
would come back 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 that no criminal laws had ever
been known to prevail against cheek and plausi-
bility such as yours, combined with the power of
a long purse. So they arranged to move their
things in to Toad Hall, and sleep there, and
keep it aired, and have it all ready for you when
you turned up. They didn't guess what was
going to happen, of course ; still, they had their
suspicions of the Wild Wood animals. Now
I come to the most painful and tragic part of
my story. One dark night—it was a very dark
night, and blowing hard, too , and raining simply
cats and dogs - a band of weasels, armed to the
teeth, crept silently up the carriage- drive to the
front entrance. Simultaneously , a body of
 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS' 255

desperate ferrets, advancing through the kitchen-

garden, possessed themselves of the backyard
and offices ; while a company of skirmishing
stoats who stuck at nothing occupied the con-
servatory and the billiard-room, and held the
French windows opening on 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 any
animals to be out in , when those bloodthirsty
villains broke down the doors and rushed in
upon them from every side. They made the
best fight they could , but what was the good ?
They were unarmed , and taken by surprise, and
what can two animals do against hundreds ?
They took and beat them severely with sticks,
those two poor faithful creatures, and turned
them out into the cold and the wet, with many
insulting and uncalled-for remarks !'
Here the unfeeling Toad broke into a snigger,
and then pulled himself together 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
the day, and breakfast at all hours, and the
256 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

place in such a mess (I'm told) it's not fit to be

seen! Eating your grub, and drinking your
drink, and making bad jokes about you , and
singing vulgar songs, about-well, about prisons
and magistrates , and policemen ; horrid personal
songs, with no humour in them. And they're
telling the tradespeople and everybody that
they've come to stay for good.'
'O, have they!' said Toad getting up and
seizing a stick. 'I'll jolly soon see about
that !'
'It's no good, Toad ! ' called the Rat after
him. 'You'd better come back and sit down ;
you'll only get into trouble.'
But the Toad was off, and there was no
holding him. He marched rapidly down the
road, his stick over his shoulder, fuming and
muttering to himself in his anger, till he got
near his front gate, when suddenly there 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 by talking like that to me ?
Come out of that at once, or I'll—— '
The ferret said never a word, but he brought
 ' LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 257

his gun up to his shoulder. Toad prudently

dropped flat in the road, and Bang! a bullet
whistled over his head.
The startled Toad scrambled to his feet and
scampered off down the road as hard as he
could; and as he ran he heard the ferret laughing
and other 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 sentries posted, and
they are all armed. You must just wait.'
Still, Toad was not inclined to give in all at
once. So he got out the boat, and set off
rowing up the river to where the garden front
of Toad Hall came down to the waterside.
Arriving within sight of his old home, he
rested on his oars and surveyed the land
cautiously. All seemed very peaceful and
deserted and quiet. He could see the whole
front of Toad Hall, glowing in the evening
sunshine, the pigeons settling by twos and
threes along the straight line of the roof ; the
garden, a blaze of flowers ; the creek that led
up to the boat-house, the little wooden bridge
258 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

that crossed it ; all tranquil, uninhabited , ap-

parently waiting for his return . He would try
the boat-house first, he thought. Very warily
he paddled up to the mouth of the creek , and
was just passing under the bridge, when . . .
Crash !
A great stone, dropped from above, smashed
through the bottom of the boat. It filled and
sank, and Toad found himself struggling in
deep water. Looking up, he saw two stoats
leaning over the parapet of the bridge and
watching him with great glee. 'It will be
your head next time, Toady !' they called out
to him. The indignant Toad swam to shore,
while the stoats laughed and laughed , support-
ing each other, and laughed again, till they
nearly had two fits- that is, one fit each, of
course.
The Toad retraced his weary way on foot,
and related his disappointing experiences to
the Water Rat once more .
'Well, what did I tell you ?' said the Rat
very crossly. ' And, now, look here ! See what
you've been and done ! Lost me my boat that I
was so fond of, that's what you've done ! And
simply ruined that nice suit of clothes that I
 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 259

lent you! Really, Toad, of all the trying ani-

mals-I wonder you manage to keep any friends
at all!'
The Toad saw at once how wrongly and
foolishly he had acted . He admitted his errors
and wrong-headedness and made a full apology
to Rat for losing his boat and spoiling his
clothes. And he wound up by saying, with
that frank self-surrender which always disarmed
his friend's criticism and won them back to his
side, ' Ratty ! I see that I have been a head-
strong and a wilful Toad! Henceforth, believe
me, I will be humble and submissive, and will
take no action without your kind advice and
full 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 sit
down and have your supper, which will be on
the table in a minute, and be very patient. For
I am convinced that we can do nothing until
we have seen the Mole and the Badger, and
heard their latest news, and held conference
and taken their advice in this difficult matter.'
'Oh, ah, yes, of course, the Mole and the
Badger,' said Toad, lightly. 'What's become
260 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

of them, the dear fellows ? I had forgotten all

about them .'
'Well may you ask ! ' said the Rat reproach-
fully. 'While you were riding about the country
in expensive motor- cars, and galloping proudly
on blood - horses, and breakfasting on the fat of
the land, those two poor devoted animals have
been camping out in the open, in every sort of
weather, living very rough by day and lying
very hard by night ; watching over your house,
patrolling your boundaries, keeping a constant
eye on the stoats and the weasels, scheming
and planning and contriving how to get your
property back for you. You don't deserve to
have such true and loyal 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 share their hardships, and try and prove
by--- Hold on a bit ! Surely I heard the chink
of dishes on a tray ! Supper's here at last,
hooray! Come on, Ratty!'
The Rat remembered that poor Toad had
 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS' 261

been on prison fare for a considerable time, and

that large allowances had therefore to be made.
He followed him to the table accordingly, and
hospitably encouraged him in his gallant efforts
to make up for past privations.
They had just finished their meal and re-
sumed their arm-chairs, when there came a
heavy knock at the door.
Toad was nervous , but the Rat, nodding
mysteriously at him, went straight 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 away from home .
and all its little comforts and conveniences.
His shoes were covered with mud, and he was
looking very rough and touzled ; but then he
had never been a very smart man, the Badger,
at the best of times. He came solemnly up to
Toad, shook him by the paw, and said, ' Wel-
come 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 of greeting; but the Rat
262 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

whispered to him, ' Never mind ; don't take any

notice ; and don't say anything to him just yet.
He's always rather low and despondent when
he's wanting his victuals. In half an hour's
time he'll be quite a different animal. '
So they waited in silence, and presently there
came another and a lighter knock. The Rat,
with a nod to Toad, went to the door and
ushered in the Mole, very shabby and un-
washed, with bits of hay and straw sticking in
his fur.
'Hooray! Here's old Toad ! ' cried the Mole,
his face beaming. ' Fancy having you back
again!' And he began to dance round him.
'We never dreamt 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 was puffing and
swelling already.
'Clever? O, no !' he said. 'I'm not really
clever, according to my friends . I've only
broken out of the strongest prison in England,
that's all !And captured a railway train and
escaped on it, that's all ! And disguised myself
and gone about the country humbugging every-
 ' LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 263

body, that's all ! O , no ! I'm a stupid ass, I am!

I'll tell you one or two of my little adventures,
Mole, and you shall judge for yourself!'
'Well, well,' said the Mole, moving towards
the supper-table ; ' supposing you talk while
I eat. Not a bite since breakfast ! O my!
O my!' And he sat down and helped himself
liberally to cold beef and pickles.
Toad straddled on the hearth-rug, thrust his
paw into his trouser-pocket and pulled out
a handful of silver. 'Look at that !' he cried,
displaying it. "That's not so bad, is it, for
a few minutes' work ? And how do you think
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
possible what the position is, and what's best
to be done, now that Toad is back at 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 I have been round and round the place, by
264 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

night and by day; always the same thing.

Sentries posted everywhere, guns poked out at
us, stones thrown 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. ' But I think I see now, in
the depths of my mind, what Toad really
ought to do. I will tell you. He ought to ›
'No, he oughtn't ! ' shouted the Mole, with
his mouth full. 'Nothing of the 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 not going to be ordered
about by you fellows ! It's my house we're
talking about, and I know exactly what to do,
and I'll tell you. I'm going to--'
By this time they were all three talking at
once, at the top of their voices, and the noise
was simply deafening, when a thin, dry voice
made itself heard, saying, ' Be quiet at once, all
of you !' and instantly every one was silent.
It was the Badger, who, having finished his
pie, had turned round in his chair and was
looking at them severely. When he saw that
 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 265

he had secured their attention, and that they

were evidently waiting for him to address them,
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
that admirable animal, that not another word
was uttered until he had quite finished his
repast and brushed the crumbs from his knees.
The Toad fidgeted a good deal, but the Rat
held him firmly down.
When the Badger had quite done, he got up
from his seat and stood before the fireplace,
reflecting deeply. At last he spoke.
'Toad ! ' he said severely. 'You bad, trouble-
some little animal ! Aren't you ashamed of
youself? What do you think your father, my
old friend, would have said if he had been here
to-night, and had known of all your goings on ?'
Toad, who was on the sofa by this time, with
his legs up, rolled over on his face, shaken by
sobs of contrition.
"There, there!' went on the Badger, more
kindly. ' Never mind. Stop crying. We're
going to let bygones be bygones, and try and
turn over a new leaf. But what the Mole says
is quite true. The stoats are on guard, at every
266 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

point, and they make the best sentinels in the

world. It's quite useless to think of attacking
the place. They're too strong for us.'
'Then it's all over,' sobbed the Toad, crying
into the sofa cushions. 'I shall go and enlist
for a soldier, and never see my dear Toad Hall
any more !'
'Come, cheer up, Toady ! ' said the Badger.
"There are more ways of getting back a place
than taking it by storm. I haven't said my last
word yet. Now I'm going to tell you a great
secret.'
Toad sat up slowly and dried his eyes.
Secrets had an immense attraction for him,
because he never could keep one, and he en-
joyed the sort of unhallowed thrill he experi-
enced 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
the middle of Toad Hall.'
'O, nonsense ! Badger,' said Toad, rather
airily. 'You've been listening to some of the
yarns they spin in the public- houses about
here. I know every inch of Toad Hall, inside
 LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 267

and out. Nothing of the sort, I do assure

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- was a particular friend of mine, and
told me a great deal he wouldn't have dreamt
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 live
there and he repaired it and cleaned it out,
because he thought it might come in useful
some day, in case of trouble or danger ; and
he showed it to me. "Don't let my son know
about it," he said. " He's a good boy, but very
light and volatile in character , and simply can-
not hold his 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. Toad was inclined
to be sulky at first ; but he brightened up im-
mediately, like the good fellow he was.
'Well, well, ' he said ; ' perhaps I am a bit of
a talker. A popular fellow such as I am- my
friends get round me--we chaff, we sparkle, we
268 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

tell witty stories- and somehow my tongue gets

wagging. I have the gift of conversation. I've
been told I ought to have a salon, whatever that
may be. Never mind. Go on, Badger. How's
this passage of yours going to help us ??
'I've found out a thing or two lately,' con-
tinued the Badger . 'I got Otter to disguise
himself as a sweep and call at the back-door
with brushes over his shoulder, asking for a job.
There's going to be a big banquet to-morrow
night. It's somebody's birthday—the Chief
Weasel's, I believe-and all the weasels will be
gathered together in the dining-hall, eating and
drinking and laughing and carrying on, suspect-
ing nothing. No guns, no swords, no sticks, no
arms of any sort whatever ! '
'But the sentinels will be posted as usual,'
remarked the Rat.
'Exactly,' said the Badger; 'that is my point.
The weasels will trust entirely to their excellent
sentinels . And that is where the passage comes
in. That very useful tunnel leads right up
under the butler's pantry, next to the dining-
hall!'
'Aha ! that squeaky board in the butler's
pantry! ' said Toad. 'Now I understand it !'
 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 269

'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 in ecstasy, running round
and round the room, and jumping over the chairs.
'Very well , then,' said the Badger, resuming
his usual dry manner, ' our plan is settled, and
there's nothing more for you to argue and
squabble about. So, as it's getting very late,
all of you go right off to bed at once. We will
make all the necessary arrangements in the
course of the morning to-morrow .'
Toad, of course, went off to bed dutifully
with the rest- he knew better than to refuse-
though he was feeling much too excited to
sleep. But he had had a long day, with many
events crowded into it ; and sheets and blankets
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 was snoring happily. Naturally, he dreamt
a good deal; about roads that ran away from
270 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

him just when he wanted them, and canals that

chased him and caught him, and a barge that
sailed into the banqueting-hall with his week's
washing, just as he was giving a dinner-party;
and he was alone in the secret passage, pushing
onwards, but it twisted and turned round and
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 his friends
gathered round about him, earnestly assuring
him that he really was a clever Toad.
He slept till a late hour next morning, and by
the time he got down he found that the other
animals had finished their breakfast some time
.
before. The Mole had slipped off somewhere
by himself, without telling any one where he was
going to. The Badger sat in the arm-chair,
reading the paper, and not concerning himself in
the slightest about what was going to happen
that very evening. The Rat , on the other hand,
was running round the room busily, with his
arms full of weapons of every kind, distributing
them in four little heaps on the floor, and saying
excitedly 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-
 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 271

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, rhythmical way, while
the four little heaps gradually grew and grew.
"That's all very well, Rat,' said the Badger
presently, looking at the busy 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 of theirs, and I assure
you we shan't want any swords or pistols. We
four, with our sticks, once we're inside the din-
ing-hall, why, we shall clear the floor of all the
lot of them in five minutes. I'd have done the
whole thing by myself, only I didn't want to
deprive you fellows of the fun !'
'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 and swung it vigorously,
belabouring imaginary animals. I'll learn ' em
to steal 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 not good English.'
272 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

'What are you always nagging at Toad

for ?' inquired the Badger, rather peevishly.
'What's the matter with his English ? It's the
same what I use myself, and if it's good enough
for me, it ought to be good enough for you ! '
'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 getting rather 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 pleased with himself.
'I've been having such fun !' he began at once;
'I've been getting 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 con-
fidently. 'I got the idea when I went into the
 ' LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 273

kitchen, to see about Toad's breakfast being

kept hot for him . I found that old washer-
woman-dress that he came home in yesterday,
hanging on a towel-horse before the fire. So I
put it on, and the bonnet as well, and the shawl,
and off I went to Toad Hall, as bold as you
please. The sentries were on the look-out, of
course, with their guns and their " Who comes
there ?" and all the rest of their nonsense.
"Good morning, gentlemen ! " says I, very re-
spectful. "Want any washing done 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 ?" says I. Ho , ho, ho! Wasn't I
funny, Toad ?'
'Poor, frivolous animal ! ' said Toad, very
loftily. The fact is, he felt exceedingly jealous
of Mole for what he had just done. It was
exactly what he would have liked to have done
himself, if only he had thought of it first, and
hadn't gone and overslept himself.
'Some of the stoats turned quite pink,' con-
tinued the Mole, ' and the Sergeant in charge,
he said to me, very short, he said, " Now run
away, my good woman, run away! Don't keep
274 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

my men idling and talking on their posts."

"Run away?" says I ; " it won't be me that'll be
running away, in a very short time from now! """
'O Moly, how could you ? ' said the Rat, dis-
mayed.
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;
she doesn't know what she's talking about.”’
"
"O! don't I ?" said I. ""Well, let me tell
you this. My daughter, she washes for Mr. Bad-
ger, and that'll show you whether I know what
I'm talking about ; and you'll know pretty soon,
too ! A hundred bloodthirsty badgers, armed
with rifles, are going to attack Toad Hall this
very night, by way of the paddock. Six boat-
loads of Rats, with pistols and cutlasses, will
come up the river and effect a landing in the
garden; while a picked body of Toads, known
at the Die-hards, or the Death-or- Glory Toads,
will storm the orchard and carry everything
before them, yelling for vengeance. There
won't be much left of you to wash, by the time
they've done with you, unless you clear out
while you have the chance!" Then I ran away,
 'LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 275

and when I was out of sight I hid ; and pres-

ently I came creeping back along the ditch
and took a peep at them through the hedge.
They were all as nervous and flustered as could
be, running all ways at once, and falling over
each other, and every one giving orders to every-
body else and not listening ; and the Sergeant
kept sending off parties of stoats to distant
parts of the grounds, and then sending other
fellows to fetch ' em back again; and I heard
them saying to each other, " That's just like the
weasels ; they're to stop comfortably in the
banqueting-hall, and have feasting and toasts
and songs and all sorts of fun, while we must
stay on guard in the cold and the dark, and in
the end be cut to pieces by bloodthirsty Bad-
gers !"'
'Oh, you silly ass, Mole!' cried Toad,
'You've been and spoilt everything! '
'Mole,' said the Badger, in his dry, quiet way,
'I perceive you have more sense in your little
finger than some other animals have in the
whole of their fat bodies. You have managed
excellently, and I begin to have great hopes of
you. Good Mole ! Clever Mole !'
The Toad was simply wild with jealousy,
276 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

more especially as he couldn't make out for

the life of him what the Mole had done that
was so particularly clever ; but, fortunately for
him, before he could show temper or expose
himself to the Badger's sarcasm, the bell rang
for luncheon.
It was a simple but sustaining meal- bacon
and broad beans, and a macaroni pudding ; and
when they had quite done, the Badger settled
himself into an arm-chair, and said, 'Well ,
we've got our work cut out for us to-night, and
it will probably be pretty late before we're quite
through with it ; so I'm just going to take forty
winks, while I can.' And he drew a handker-
chief 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 really no end ; so the Mole drew his
arm through Toad's, led him out into the open
air, shoved him into a wicker chair, and made
him tell him all his adventures from beginning
 ' LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS ' 277

to end, which Toad was only too willing to do.

The Mole was a good listener, and Toad, with
no one to check his statements or to criticise in
an unfriendly spirit, rather let himself go.
Indeed, much that he related belonged more
properly to the category of what- might-have-
happened - had - I - only - thought - of - it - in - time-
instead-of-ten- minutes-afterwards. Those are
always the best and the raciest adventures ; and
why should they not be truly ours, as much as
the somewhat inadequate things that really
come off?
 XII

THE RETURN OF ULYSSES

HEN it began to grow dark, the Rat,

WHEN
with an air of excitement and mystery,
summoned them back into the parlour, stood
each of them up alongside of his little heap,
and proceeded to dress them up for the coming
expedition. He was very earnest and thorough-
going about it, and the affair took quite a long
time. First, there was a belt to go round each
animal, and then a sword to be stuck into each
belt, and then a cutlass on the other side to
balance it. Then a pair of pistols, a policeman's
truncheon, several sets of handcuffs, some
bandages and sticking- plaster, and a flask and
a sandwich-case. The Badger laughed good-
humouredly and said, ' All right, Ratty ! It
amuses you and it doesn't hurt me, I'm
going to do all I've got to do with this here
.
stick.' But the Rat only said, ' Please, Badger .
278
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 279

You know I shouldn't like you to blame me

afterwardsand say I had forgotten any-
thing!'
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. And look here,
Toady! Don't you chatter so much as usual,
or you'll be sent back, as sure as fate !'
The Toad was so anxious not to be left
out that he took up the inferior position as-
signed to him without a murmur, and the
animals set off. The Badger led them along
by the river for a little way, and then suddenly
swung himself over the edge into a hole in the
river-bank, a little above the water. The Mole
and the Rat followed silently, swinging them-
selves 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
fall into the water with a loud splash and a
squeal of alarm. He was hauled out by his
friends, rubbed down and wrung out hastily,
comforted, and set on his legs ; but the Badger
was seriously angry, and told him that the
280 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

very next time he made a fool of himself he

would most certainly be left behind.
So at last they were in the secret passage,
and the cutting-out expedition had really
begun !
It was cold, and dark, and damp, and low,
and narrow, and poor Toad began to shiver,
partly from dread of what might be before
him , partly because he was wet through. The
lantern was far ahead, and he could not help
lagging behind a little in the darkness. Then
he heard the Rat call out warningly, ' Come on,
Toad!' and a terror seized him of being left
behind, alone in the darkness, and he ' came on'
with such a rush that he upset the Rat into the
Mole and the Mole into the Badger, and for
a moment all was confusion. The Badger
thought they were being attacked from behind,
and, as there was no room to use a stick or a
cutlass, drew a pistol, and was on the point
of putting a bullet into Toad. When he found
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 be answerable for
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 281

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 their paws on their
pistols, till at last the Badger said, ' We ought
by now to be pretty nearly under the Hall.'
Then suddenly they heard, far away as it
might be, and yet apparently nearly over
their heads, a confused murmur of sound, as
if people were shouting and cheering and
stamping on the floor and hammering on
tables. The Toad's nervous terrors all returned,
but the Badger only remarked placidly, "They
are going it, the Weasels !'
The passage now began to slope upwards ;
they groped onward a little further, and then
the noise broke out again, quite distinct this
time, and very close above them. ' Ooo-ray - 00-
ray-oo-ray-ooray ! ' they heard , and the stamp-
ing of little feet on the floor , and the clinking
of glasses as little fists pounded on the table.
'What a time they're having !' said the Badger.
'Come on!' They hurried along the passage

till it came to a full stop, and they found them-

282 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

selves standing under the trap-door that led

up into the butler's pantry.
Such a tremendous noise was going on in
the banqueting-hall that there was little danger
of their being overheard. The Badger said,
'Now, boys, all together!' and the four of
them put their shoulders to the trap-door and
heaved it back. Hoisting each other up, they
found themselves standing in the pantry, with
only a door between them and the banqueting-
hall, where their unconscious enemies were
carousing.
The noise, as they emerged from the passage,
was simply deafening. At last, as the cheering
and hammering slowly subsided, a voice could
be made out saying, 'Well, I do not propose
to detain you much longer ' -(great applause)
-'but before I resume my seat' - (renewed
cheering)-'I should like to say one word
about our kind host, Mr. Toad. We all
know Toad!'- (great laughter) - ' Good Toad,
modest Toad, honest Toad ! ' (shrieks of merri-
ment) .
'Only just let me get at him! ' muttered
Toad, grinding his teeth.
'Hold hard a minute! ' said the Badger,
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 283

restraining him with difficulty. 'Get ready, all

of you !'
'-Let me sing you a little song,' went on
the voice, ' which I have composed 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 both paws, 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 madly up at the windows !
Well might the ferrets rush wildly for the
fireplace and get hopelessly jammed in the
chimney ! Well might tables and chairs be
upset, and glass and china be sent crashing on
the floor, in the panic of that terrible moment
when the four Heroes strode wrathfully into
the room! The mighty Badger, his whiskers
284 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

bristling, his great cudgel whistling through

the air; Mole, black and grim, brandishing his
stick and shouting his awful war-cry, ' A Mole !
A Mole ! ' Rat, desperate and determined, his
belt bulging with weapons of every age and
every variety; Toad, frenzied with excitement
and injured pride, swollen to twice his ordinary
size, leaping into the air and emitting Toad-
whoops that chilled them to the marrow !
"Toad he went a-pleasuring ! ' he yelled. 'I'l
pleasure ' em !' and he went straight for the
Chief Weasel. They were but four in all, but
to the panic-stricken weasels the hall seemed
full of monstrous animals, grey, black, brown
and yellow, whooping and flourishing enormous
cudgels ; and they broke and fled with squeals
of terror and dismay, this way and that,
through the windows, up the chimney, any-
where 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 that showed itself; and in five minutes
the room was cleared . Through the broken
windows the shrieks of terrified weasels es-
caping across the lawn were borne faintly
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 285

to their ears ; on the floor lay prostrate some

dozen or so of the enemy, on whom the Mole
was busily engaged in fitting handcuffs. The
Badger, resting from his labours, leant on his
stick and wiped his honest brow.
'Mole,' he said,' 'you're the best of fellows!
Just cut along outside and look after those
stoat-sentries of yours, and see what they're
doing. I've an idea that, thanks to you, we
shan't have much trouble from them to-night!'
The Mole vanished promptly through a
window; and the Badger bade the other two
set a table on its legs again, pick up knives and
forks and plates and glasses from the débris on
the floor, and see if they could find materials
for a supper. 'I want some grub, I do ,' he said,
in that rather common way he had of speaking.
'Stir your stumps, Toad, and look lively!
We've got your house back for you, and you
don't offer us so much as a sandwich.'
Toad felt rather hurt that the Badger didn't
say pleasant things to him, as he had to the
Mole, and tell him what a fine fellow he was,
and how splendidly he had fought; for he was
rather particularly pleased with himself and the
way he had gone for the Chief Weasel and sent
286 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

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 guava jelly in a
glass dish, and a cold chicken, a tongue that
had hardly been touched, some trifle, and quite
a lot of lobster salad ; and in the pantry they
came upon a basketful of French rolls and
any quantity of cheese, butter, and celery.
They were just about to sit down when the
Mole clambered in through the window, chuck-
ling, with an armful of rifles.
'It's all over,' he reported . ' From what I can
make out, as soon as the stoats, who were
very nervous and jumpy already, heard the
shrieks and the yells and the uproar inside the
hall, some of them threw down their rifles and
fled. The others stood fast for a bit, but
when the weasels came rushing out upon them
they thought they were betrayed ; and the
stoats grappled with the weasels, andthe
weasels fought to get away, and they wrestled
and wriggled and punched each other, and
rolled over and over, till most of ' em rolled into
the river! They've all disappeared by now,
one way or another ; and I've got their rifles.
So that's all right!'
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 287

'Excellent and deserving animal !' said the

Badger, his mouth full of chicken 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't trouble you only I
know I can trust you to see a thing done, and I
wish I could say the same of every one I know.
I'd send Rat, if he wasn't a poet. I want you
to take those fellows on the floor there upstairs
with you, and have some bedrooms cleaned out
and tidied up and made really comfortable.
See that they sweep under the beds, and put
clean sheets and pillow-cases on, and turn down
one corner of the bed-clothes, just as you know
it ought to be done ; and have a can of hot
water, and clean towels, and fresh cakes of soap,
put in each room. And then you can give them
a licking a-piece, if it's any satisfaction to you,
and put them out by the back- door, and we
shan't see any more of them, I fancy. And
then come along and have some of this cold
tongue. It's first rate. I'm very pleased with
you, Mole!'
The goodnatured Mole picked up a stick,
formed his prisoners up in a line on the floor,
gave them the order 'Quick march!' and led
288 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

his squad off to the upper floor. After a time,

he appeared again, smiling, and said that every
room was ready, and as clean as a new pin.
'And I didn't have to lick them, either,' he
added . ' I thought, on the whole, they had had
licking enough for one night, and the weasels,
when I put the point to them, quite agreed with
me, and said they wouldn't think of troubling
me. They were very penitent, and said they
were extremely sorry for what they had done,
but it was all the fault of the Chief Weasel and
the stoats, and if ever they could do anything
for us at any time to make up, we had only got
to mention it. So I gave them a roll a-piece,
and let 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 the cold tongue; and Toad,
like the gentleman he was, put all his jealousy
from him, and said heartily, "Thank you kindly,
dear Mole, for all your pains and trouble to--
night, and especially for your cleverness this
morning!' The Badger was pleased at that,
and said, "There spoke my brave Toad !' So
they finished their supper in great joy and
contentment, and presently retired to rest
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 289

between clean sheets, safe in Toad's ancestral

home, won back by matchless valour, consum-
mate strategy , and a proper handling of sticks.
The following morning, Toad, who had over-
slept himself as usual, came down to breakfast
disgracefully late, and found on the table a cer-
tain quantity of egg-shells, some fragments of
cold and leathery toast, a coffee-pot three-
fourths empty, and really very little else ; which
did not tend to improve his temper, considering
that, after all, it was his own house. Through
the French windows of the breakfast-room he
could see the Mole and the Water Rat sitting
in wicker-chairs out on the lawn, evidently
telling each other stories ; roaring with laughter
and kicking their short legs up in the air. The
Badger, who was in an arm-chair and deep in
the morning paper, merely looked up and
nodded when Toad entered the room. But
Toad knew his man , so he sat down and made
the best breakfast he could, merely observing
to himself that he would get square with the
others sooner or later. When he had nearly
finished, the Badger looked up and remarked
rather shortly: 'I'm sorry, Toad, but I'm afraid
there's a heavy morning's work in front of you.
290 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

You see, we really ought to have a Banquet at

once, to celebrate this affair. It's expected of
you-in fact, it's the rule.'
'O, all right !' said the Toad, readily. ' Any-
thing to oblige. Though why on earth you
should want to have a Banquet in the morning
I cannot understand. But you know I do not
live to please myself, but merely to find out
what my friends want, and then try and
arrange it for ' em, you dear 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're
talking ; 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
at once, and you've got to write ' em. Now, sit
down at that table-there's stacks of letter-
paper on it, with "Toad Hall" at the top in
blue and gold - and write invitations to all our
friends, and if you stick to it we shall get them
out before luncheon . And I'll bear a hand , too;
and take my share of the burden. I'll order
the Banquet .'
'What !' cried Toad, dismayed . ' Me stop
indoors and write a lot of rotten letters on
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 291

jolly morning like this, when I want to go

around my property, and set everything and
everybody to rights, and swagger about and
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 con-
venience compared 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 young friends outside in their innocent
mirth, oblivious of me and my cares and toils .
I sacrifice this fair morning on the altar of duty
and friendship ! '
The Badger looked at him very suspiciously,
but Toad's frank, open countenance made it
difficult to suggest any unworthy motive in this
change of attitude. He quitted the room,
accordingly, in the direction of the kitchen, and
as soon as the door had closed behind him ,
Toad hurried to the writing-table . A fine idea
had occurred to him while he was talking. He
would write the invitations ; and he would take
care to mention the leading part he had taken
in the fight, and how he had laid the Chief
Weasel flat ; and he would hint at his adven-
tures, and what a career of triumph he had to
292 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

tell about ; and on the fly-leaf he would set out

a sort of a programme of entertainment for the
evening-something like 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 Water-
ways 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 mightly, and he

worked very hard and got all the letters fin-
ished by noon, at which hour it was reported
to him that there was a small and rather
bedraggled weasel at the door, inquiring
timidly whether he could be of any service
to the gentlemen. Toad swaggered out and
found it was one of the prisoners of the pre-
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 293

vious evening, very respectful and anxious to

please. He patted him on the head, shoved
the bundle of invitations into his paw, and told
him to cut along quick and deliver them as fast
as he could, and if he liked to come back again
in the evening, perhaps there might be a shil-
ling for him, or, again, perhaps there mightn't;
and the poor weasel seemed really quite grate-
ful, and hurried off eagerly to do his mission.
When the other animals came back to
luncheon, very boisterous and breezy after
a morning on the river, the Mole, whose
conscience had been pricking him, looked
doubtfully at Toad, expecting to find him
sulky or depressed . Instead, he was so uppish
and inflated that the Mole began to suspect
something; while the Rat and the Badger ex-
changed significant glances.
As soon as the meal was over, Toad thrust
his paws deep into his trouser-pockets, re-
marked casually, 'Well, look after yourselves,
you fellows ! Ask for anything you want !'
and was swaggering off in the direction of the
garden, where he wanted to think out an idea
or two for his coming speeches, when the Rat
caught him by the arm.
294 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

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 see that the game was up. The two
animals conducted him between them into the
small smoking-room that opened out of the
entrance- hall, shut the door, and put him into a
chair. Then they both stood in front of him,
while Toad sat silent and regarded them with
much suspicion and ill-humour.
'Now, look here, Toad,' said the Rat. 'It's
about this Banquet, and very sorry I am to
have to speak to you like this. But we want
you to understand clearly, once and for all, that
there are going to be no speeches and no songs.
Try and grasp the fact that on this occasion
we're not arguing with you ; we're just telling
you.'
Toad saw that he was trapped. They under-
stood him, they saw through him, they had got
ahead of him. His pleasant dream was shat-
tered.
'Mayn't I sing them just one little song ?'
he pleaded piteously.
'No, not one little song,' replied the Rat
firmly, though his heart bled as he noticed the
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 295

trembling lip of the poor disappointed Toad.

'It's no good, Toady; you know well that your
songs are all conceit and boasting and vanity;
and your speeches are all self-praise and- and
-well, and gross 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 must turn over a new
leaf sooner or later, and now seems a splendid
time to begin; a sort of turning- point in your
career, Please don't think that saying all this
doesn't hurt me more than it hurts you.'
Toad remained a long while plunged in
thought. At last he raised his head, 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
blossom and expand for yet one more evening,
to let myself go and hear the tumultuous
applause that always seems to me-- somehow-
to bring out my best qualities. However, you
are right, I know, and I am wrong. Hence-
forth I will be a very different Toad. My
friends, you shall never have occasion to blush
296 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

for me again. But, O dear, O dear, this is a

hard world!'
And, pressing his handkerchief to his face, he
left the room, with faltering footsteps.
'Badger,' said the Rat, 'I feel like a brute ; I
wonder what you feel like ? '
'O, I know, I know,' said the Badger
gloomily. ' But the thing had to be done. This
good fellow has got to live here, and hold his
own, and be respected. Would you have him a
common laughing-stock, mocked and jeered at
by stoats and weasels ? '
'Of course not,' said the Rat. 'And, talking
of weasels, it's lucky we came upon that little
weasel, just as he was setting out with Toad's
invitations. I suspected something from what
you told me, and had a look at 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 on leaving the others
had retired to his bedroom, was still sitting
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 297

there, melancholy and thoughtful. His brow

resting on his paw, he pondered long and
deeply. Gradually his countenance cleared,
and he began to smile long, slow smiles. Then
he took to giggling in a shy, self- conscious
manner. At last he got up, locked the door,
drew the curtains across the windows, collected
all the chairs in the room and arranged them in
a semicircle, and took up his position in front
of them , swelling visibly. Then he bowed,
coughed twice, and, letting himself go, with
uplifted voice he sang, to the enraptured
audience that his imagination so clearly 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 shriek-
ing in the stalls,
When the Toad-came-home !

When the Toad-came-home!

There was smashing in of window and crash-
ing in of door,
There was chivvying of weasels that fainted on
the floor,
When the Toad-came--home:
298 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

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 he had 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 the middle, and plastered
it down very straight and sleek on each side of
his face ; and, unlocking the door, went quietly
down the stairs to greet his guests, who he
knew must be assembling in the drawing-room.
All the animals cheered when he entered,
and crowded round to congratulate him and
say nice things about his courage, and his
cleverness, and his fighting qualities ; but Toad
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 299

only smiled faintly, and murmured , ' Not at

all!' Or, sometimes, for a change, ' On the
contrary!' Otter, who was standing on the
hearthrug, describing to an admiring circle of
friends exactly how he would have managed
things had be been there, came forward with a
shout, threw his arm round Toad's neck, and
tried to take him round the room in triumphal
progress ; but Toad, in a mild way, was rather
snubby to him, remarking gently, as he dis-
engaged • himself, ' Badger's was the master-
mind ; the Mole and the Water Rat bore the
brunt of the fighting; I merely served in the
ranks and did little or nothing.' The animals
were evidently puzzled and taken aback by this
unexpected attitude of his ; and Toad felt,
as he moved from one guest to the other,
making his modest responses, that he was an
object of absorbing interest to every one.
The Badger had ordered everything of the
best, and the banquet was a great success.
There was much talking and laughter and chaff
among the animals, but through it all Toad ,
who of course was in the chair , looked down his
nose and murmured pleasant nothings to the
animals on either side of him. At intervals he
300 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

stole a glance at the Badger and the Rat, and

always when he looked they were staring at
each other with their mouths open; and this
gave him the greatest satisfaction. Some of
the younger and livelier animals, as the evening
wore on, got whispering to each other that
things were not so amusing as they used to be
in the good 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 only shook his
head gently, raised one paw in mild protest,
and, by pressing delicacies on his guests, by
topical small-talk, and by earnest inquiries after
members of their families not yet old enough
to appear at social functions, managed to
convey to them that this dinner was being 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, undis-
turbed by further risings or invasions. Toad,
after due consultation with his friends, selected
a handsome gold chain and locket set with
 THE RETURN OF ULYSSES 301

pearls, which he dispatched to the gaoler's

daughter with a letter that even the Badger
admitted to be modest, grateful, and apprecia-
tive ; and the engine-driver, in his turn , was
properly thanked and compensated for all his
pains and trouble. Under severe compulsion
from the Badger, even the barge-woman was,
with some trouble, sought out and the value
of her horse discreetly made good to her;
though Toad kicked terribly at this, holding
himself to be an instrument of Fate, sent to
punish fat women with mottled arms who
couldn't tell a real gentleman when they saw
one. The amount involved, it was true, was
not very burdensome, the gipsy's valuation
being admitted by local assessors to be ap-
proximately correct.
Sometimes, in the course of long summer
evenings, the friends would take a stroll
together in the Wild Wood, now successfully
tamed so far as they were concerned ; and it
was pleasing to see how respectfully they were
greeted by the inhabitants , and how the mother-
weasels would bring their young ones to the
mouths of their holes, and say, pointing,
' Look, baby ! There goes the great Mr. Toad !
302 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

And that's the gallant Water Rat, a terrible

fighter, walking along o' him! And yonder
comes the famous Mr. Mole, of whom you so
often have heard your father tell !' But when
their infants were fractious and quite beyond
control , they would quiet them by telling how,
if they didn't hush them and not fret them, the
terrible grey 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 ; but it never failed to have its full
effect.

*
 DATE DUE

1211515
10887

1-24-86

7-14-45
5·5-91

5.26.94
3.2196

GAYLORD PRINTED IN U 3.A

YX 000 305 287