CHAPTER II
THE WATER-RAT PLAYS HIDE-AND-SEEK WITH THE OWL
THE raft was quite big enough for them to sit side by side, but of course there was not very much room for them to move about. They were quite content, however, to sit quite still, and to watch the banks slipping past them.
Several times they had narrow escapes from being drowned, for as they had no means of guiding their little raft they had to go wherever the stream took them, and once it bumped them right up against a big stone that rose out of the water. This made the raft tilt to one side so much, that if Fuzz and Buzz had not held tightly to one another they would have slid off into the water. But before either of them had time to feel frightened, they were carried safely past the big stone and were floating down the stream again.
As the morning went on, Fuzz and Buzz began to get very hungry. So when the raft floated to one side of the stream and got caught by some tall reeds which grew at the edge, Fuzz and Buzz made up their minds to land, and go into the wood and see if they could find something to eat.
Leaving their raft among the reeds, they climbed up the banks and went into the wood. And as just in that part of it some fine beech-trees were growing, Fuzz and Buzz, to their great delight, found several beech-nuts lying underneath the leaves. They sat down and ate a good dinner, and then, taking the rest of the beech-nuts with them, they went back to their raft and were soon sailing down the stream again.
Winter afternoons are very short, and not long after Fuzz and Buzz had had their dinner the sun began to turn into a great red ball, and to sink behind the trees.
"But we need not stop even when it does get dark," said Buzz, "for we can float along in the night just as well as in the day, and perhaps in the morning we shall find ourselves at Aunt Patty's barn."
"Not you!" said a hoarse voice so close to them that Fuzz and Buzz gave a little start, and then, looking down into the stream, they saw that a big water-rat was swimming along beside their raft.
"What did you say, please?" Fuzz asked politely.
"I said that if you went on floating after dark you would never get to wherever you are going," said the water-rat; "for in the hollow tree at the edge of the wood a big owl lives, and if he sees you he will have you for his supper, as sure as I am swimming here. Two such tender, fat young field-mice as you are don't come his way every night, and would be a rare treat for him."
But as neither Fuzz nor Buzz wished to be a rare treat for anybody, at least not in that way, they looked at one another, and a cold shiver ran down their backs. Fuzz was the first to feel brave again, or at least to pretend that he felt brave, and he said to the water-rat:
"But owls never come out in the daytime, they only fly about at night."
"Well, of course I know that," said the rat.
But Fuzz and Buzz, at any rate, did not want to be eaten by the owl who lived in the hollow tree, and they thanked the water-rat so much for his advice that he was quite pleased.
"Would you like some of our beech-nuts?" said Buzz.
"No, thank you," said the water-rat, whose voice, like the voices of all water-rats, was very gruff and hoarse; "I never eat that sort of thing. But it is very polite of you to ask me to have some, all the same."
Then, swimming sometimes beside them, and sometimes behind them, and sometimes in front of them, the rat went with them down the stream, and they told him where they were going and why they had to go.
"No food at all in your larder!" said the rat. "Dear me, that's bad. That is the worst of living on nuts and things of that sort. Now, I catch my food when I want it, and very good food it is too. Bacon and candle-ends are what I like best, but of course, living in the country as I do, I don't very often find any. In the spring, though, I eat a good many birds' eggs; and that reminds me that I know of an empty wren's nest near the edge of the wood. You might sleep there to-night, and go on to the barn in the morning. I will come with you and show it to you."
Fuzz and Buzz, whose mother had taught them very nice manners, thanked him again, and the three went down the stream together, and the rat talked away so fast that none of them saw that it was growing darker and darker. But soon the low hooting of an owl broke the silence that had fallen over the wood, and Fuzz and Buzz looked at one another in a great fright.
"Let's get into the wood and hide,—quick, quick!" said Buzz.
But the rat, who did not seem to be in the least afraid, laughed at her.
"Look how high the banks are," he said. "Long before we could get to the top of them the owl would swoop down on us. But a little farther on there are some thick bushes, and if we can get under them before he sees us, we shall be quite safe."
But it was doubtful whether they would be able to reach the bushes in time, for when the owl hooted again, they could hear that he was very much nearer to them than before.
"Don't be afraid," said the rat, who now seemed to be quite enjoying the adventure. But Fuzz and Buzz, who could neither swim nor dive like the water-rat, were not able to help being afraid.
Again and again the owl hooted, and each time the cry sounded nearer.
"Never you mind," said the rat, as he dived right underneath their raft and came up on the other side, "he sha'n't catch you."
But Fuzz and Buzz did mind, and they thought as they crept close to each other in a great fright, that it would be sad indeed if the owl had them for his supper that night.
"He wouldn't look at you if he thought there was a chance of his getting me," said the rat. "You see, I am so much bigger that I would do for his breakfast next morning as well. Hullo! There he is, right overhead. Now, you watch, and you will see some fun."
And the rat suddenly swam about two or three yards in front of the raft, and made such a loud splashing with his paws and his tail that the owl could not help seeing him. In a moment he swooped down upon the water, and Buzz and Fuzz squeaked with terror. For they thought that their friend must have been caught. But not a bit of it. Just as the owl made that quick swoop the rat dived beneath the water, and the owl rose again without having caught him.
But the owl had heard their squeak, and he said to himself, that if he could not get a rat for his supper a mouse would do just as well. So down he flew again, and Fuzz and Buzz thought that their last moment had come. But when the owl was so close to them that they could see his sharp beak and his cruel claws quite plainly, their tails, which were floating in the water, were suddenly pulled, and they tumbled backwards head over heels into the stream.
Down, down they sank, so deep that the idea came into their heads, that if they were not going to be eaten they were going to be drowned. But just as they were gasping and choking for air they rose to the top of the water again, and then they saw that they were under some thick bushes, and that the rat, with the end of their tails in his mouth, was swimming towards the bank.
"Climb on to my back," said the rat, and though his fur was very wet and slippery, they did as they were told, and clung tightly round his neck.
"Wasn't that fun, eh?" said the rat with a laugh. "I am sure the owl is as mad as he can be. To lose his supper twice in one night is enough to make the old bird very angry. It's fine sport to play hide-and-seek with an owl, although it is rather dangerous. Well, here's the nest that I told you about. And now I must be going home, or my wife will wonder where I am. Good-bye! I hope you will have a safe journey, and that you will get as much corn as you want. Perhaps I may see you on your way back."
Hidden among the thick prickly branches of a hawthorn hedge not far from the ground, Fuzz and Buzz saw the empty wren's nest, and after thanking the rat for having saved their lives, they climbed into it and were soon fast asleep.
Next morning they went down to the stream and looked for their raft. And as, before he went home, the rat had put it where they could easily find it, they had not to look very long, and were soon floating down with the stream again.