With a flap of her wings she flew over the tree-tops to the farm and in a minute was back again with the feathers in a bag.
When they had everything ready they went and fetched Mrs. Tubbs and showed her the supper they had prepared. But the old woman would not eat anything but kept saying,
“Oh dear, oh dear! What shall I do? I am turned out of house and home, and me an old woman!”
[Illustration: She cried herself to sleep]
So they put her to bed in the cave, covered her over with leaves and placed Pink at her feet as a hot-water bottle. And presently she cried herself to sleep.
Punk and Ponk now began to worry over what they should do with the old woman next.
“She can’t stay here,” said Ponk. “That’s certain. You see, Punk, she isn’t eating anything. She is so upset and she is so old. What we’ve got to do is to find some way to turn that booby out of the farm so she can go back and live there.”
“I don’t just know yet,” Polly Ponk answered.
“But in the morning before she wakes up, we must go back to the farm and see what can be done.”
So next morning, while the old woman was still asleep, off they all went as the sun was getting up behind the woods. Just before they got to the farm as they were crossing the bridge over the stream, they saw Tommy Squeak, the King of the Water-rats coming down for his morning bath in the river.
“Catch him!” said Ponk. “Perhaps he’ll be able to help.” And they all started running as hard as they could after the water-rat. Poor Tommy Squeak was dreadfully frightened at seeing a dog and a pig and a duck coming after him, and he made off for the river as fast as his legs would carry him. When he came to the river he jumped in with a splash and disappeared. Punk and Pink sat down on the grass and said,
[Illustration: They all started running as hard as they could]
But Polly Ponk, running up behind, never stopped but dived into the river, swam under the water and just caught poor Mr. Squeak as he was popping into a hole way down at the bottom of the river. She pulled him up by his tail, carried him to the shore and put him on the grass. Then they all gathered round him so he couldn’t run away.
“Now,” said the duck, “don’t be frightened. Stay where you are and do as you are told and we won’t hurt you. Listen. Do you remember, last summer, when you were stealing cheese from the pantry up at the farm, and you fell into a bucket of water and Mrs. Tubbs came and caught you? Do you remember?”