their
front door, and out into that patch of yellow sunlight shimmering on
the weedy bottom. But when invited to follow, they drew back into the
corner and pretended to be terribly busy.

"One fine morning, however, to their great delight they were led out by
the back door, under the bush, and introduced to the outside world.
How huge and strange it looked to them! For a few minutes they stole
about on their absurdly short, sturdy legs, poking their noses into
everything, and jumping back startled at the strange smells they
encountered; while their parents, lying down nearby, watched them
lazily. At last, beginning to feel more at home in this big, airy
world, they fell to romping with each other on the sunny bank, close
beside the water. Presently their parents got up and came over beside
them. The father slipped gracefully in, and began diving, darting this
way and that, and throwing himself half-way out of the water. It was
most interesting, I can tell you, and the two little Furry Ones stopped
their play, at the very edge of the bank, to watch him. But when he
called to them coaxingly to come in with him and try it, they turned
away their heads and pretended to think it wasn't worth looking at
after all. They would rather look at the trees and the sky, and kept
staring up at them as if perfectly fascinated. And _while_ they were
staring upwards in this superior way, they got a great surprise. Their
mother slily slipped her nose under them and threw them, one after the
other, far out into the water."

"Ow!" exclaimed the Babe with a little gasp of sympathy. He himself
felt the shock of that sudden, chill plunge.

Uncle Andy chuckled.

"That's just the way they felt," said he. "When they came to the top
again they found, to their surprise, that they could swim; and feeling
most indignant and injured they struck out straight for shore. But
there, between them and the good dry ground, swam their mother, and
would not let them land. They did not see how mothers could be so
heartless. But there was no help for it; so they swam out again very
haughtily and joined their father in mid-stream. And before they knew
it they were enjoying themselves immensely.

"And now life became much more interesting to them. For a bit it was
harder to keep them out of the water than it had been to get them into
it. They had their first lessons in fishing. And though they were too
clumsy at first to catch even a slo