sleep. So had Old Mr. Toad. Peter spent a
great deal of time in the dear Old Briar-patch just sitting still and
listening. What he was listening for he didn't know. It just seemed to
him that there was something he ought to hear at this time of year, and
so he sat listening and listening and wondering what he was listening
for. Then, late one afternoon, there came floating down to him from high
up in the sky, faintly at first but growing louder, a sound unlike any
Peter had heard all the long summer through. The sound was a voice.
Rather it was many voices mingled "Honk, honk, honk, honk, honk, honk,
honk!" Peter gave a little jump.

"That's what I've been listening for!" he cried. "Honker the Goose and
his friends are coming. Oh, I do hope they will stop where I can pay
them a call."

He hopped out to the edge of the dear Old Briar-patch that he might
see better, and looked up in the sky. High up, flying in the shape of
a letter V, he saw a flock of great birds flying steadily from the
direction of the Far North. By the sound of their voices he knew that
they had flown far that day and were tired. One bird was in the lead and
this he knew to be his old friend, Honker. Straight over his head they
passed and as Peter listened to their voices he felt within him the
very spirit of the Far North, that great, wild, lonely land which he had
never seen but of which he had so often heard.

As Peter watched, Honker suddenly turned and headed in the direction of
the Big River. Then he began to slant down, his flock following him. And
presently they disappeared behind the trees along the bank of the Great
River. Peter gave a happy little sigh. "They are going to spend the
night there," thought he. "When the moon comes up, I will run over
there, for they will come ashore and I know just where. Now that they
have arrived I know that winter is not far away. Honker's voice is as
sure a sign of the coming of winter as is Winsome Bluebird's that spring
will soon be here."

Peter could hardly wait for the coming of the Black Shadows, and just as
soon as they had crept out over the Green Meadows he started for the
Big River. He knew just where to go, because he knew that Honker and
his friends would rest and spend the night in the same place they had
stopped at the year before. He knew that they would remain out in the
middle of the Big River until the Black Shadows had made it quite safe
for them to swim in. He reached the bank of t