Pretty soon, well, not so very long, you know, the three duck children came to the woods. Oh, the woods were the nicest place you ever saw!
There was a little brook running in and out among the trees, and it sounded like music when it went over the stones. Well, they sat down on the grass, near a mossy old stump, and ate their lunch, until there wasn't even so much as a crumb of a jam tart left. They had just gotten through when, all of a sudden, they heard a big noise. It was like some one stamping his feet down and breaking sticks.
The duck children were terribly frightened, for they thought maybe it was an elephant or a rhinoceros coming along, but Jimmie peeked through the bushes and whispered to his sisters:
"It's a big boy!"
"What's he doing?" asked Alice.
"I guess he's going fishing," said Lulu, "for he has a fish pole over his shoulder."
And, sure enough, that boy was going fishing! He walked on a little farther, stepping on sticks and breaking them, and then he sat down on the edge of the little brook and began to fish. Then the duck children weren't so much afraid, and they watched him.
Pretty soon the boy pulled up his line with a jerk, but there wasn't anything on it. Then he said:
"Oh, dear! That was a big fish, but he got away."
"I'm glad it got away," whispered Alice, "for I don't like to see the poor fish caught."