"To the bottom! To the bottom!" said the eel. "Wriggle and twist!"
The terrified reed-warbler family pressed close together in the grass. But then the two old ones grew inquisitive and could not keep still. They warned the youngsters to stay quiet, whatever happened, and sat down, a little way from each other, on the tops of the reeds beside the clearing.
"Bang! Bang!" went the guns over the pond. "Bang! Bang! Bang!"
And there were lots of ducks quacking and lots of small birds who flew out of their hiding-places in terror. Great ugly dogs, with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, swam round and barked. The leaves of the water-lily dived right under the water and the spear-wort disappeared entirely and never came back again.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"There lies our duck," said the reed-warbler.
And there she lay on her back, dead, only waiting for the dogs to come and fetch her.
"Bang! Bang!"
"I must get away, I can stand it no longer," said Mrs. Reed-Warbler. "Let us fly back to the children."
She received no answer and, when she looked round, her husband was gone.