“Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!”
But look as they would, they couldn't see a single singer among the brown bulrushes. It was very strange, very strange indeed! It seemed as if the voices came right out of the Smiling Pool itself!
When Peter Rabbit made a little noise, as he hopped out on the bank where he could look all over the Smiling Pool, the singing stopped. After he had sat perfectly still for a little while, it began again. There was no doubt about it this time; those voices came right out of the water.
Johnny Chuck stared at Peter Rabbit, and Peter stared at Johnny Chuck. Nobody was to be seen in the Smiling Pool, and yet there were those voices—oh, so many of them—coming right out of the water.
“How can birds stay under water and still sing?” asked Johnny Chuck.
“Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!”
Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck whirled around, to find Jerry Muskrat peeping up at them from a hole in the bank almost under their feet.
{Illustration: “Ho, ho, ho! That's the best joke this spring!” shouted Jerry Muskrat.}
“Ho, ho, ho! That's the best joke this spring!” shouted Jerry Muskrat, and laughed until he had to hold his sides. “Birds under water! Ho, ho, ho!”