Quacker had spent the
summer in the Far North with Honker the Goose. In fact, he had been
born there. He had started for the far away Southland at the same
time Honker had, but when he reached the Big River he had found
plenty to eat and had decided to stay until he had to move on.
The Big River had frozen over everywhere except in this one place
where the water was too swift to freeze, and there Quacker had remained.
You see, he was a good diver and on the bottom of the river he found
plenty to eat. No one could get at him out there, unless it were
Roughleg the Hawk, and if Roughleg did happen along, all he had to
do was to dive and come up far away to laugh and make fun of Roughleg.
The water couldn't get through his oily feathers, and so he didn't
mind how cold it was.
Now in his home in the Far North there were so many dangers that
Quacker had early learned to be always on the watch and to take the
best of care of himself. On his way down to the Big River he had been
hunted by men with terrible guns, and he had learned all about them.
In fact, he felt quite able to keep out of harm's way. He rather
prided himself that there was no one smart enough to catch him.
I suspect he thought he knew all there was to know. In this respect he
was a good deal like Reddy Fox himself. That was because he was young.
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