d to be the mother of two children who didn't know tame ducks
from wild ones. She remembered instantly that Amanda Deam had set a
speckled Dorking hen on Mallard duck eggs, where she got the eggs, and
what she paid for them. She said the ducks had found the creek that
flowed beside Deams' barnyard before it entered our land, and they had
swum away from the hen, and both the hen and Amanda would be frantic.
She put the ducks into a basket and said to take them back soon as ever
we got our suppers, and we must hurry because we had to bathe and learn
our texts for Sunday-school in the morning.

We went through the orchard, down the hill and across the meadow until
we came to the creek. By that time we were tired of the basket. It
was one father had woven himself of shaved and soaked hickory strips,
and it was heavy. The sight of water suggested the proper place for
ducks, anyway. We talked it over and decided that they would be much
more comfortable swimming than in the basket, and it was more fun to
wade than to walk, so we went above the deep place, I stood in the
creek to keep them from going down, and Leon poured them on the water.
Pigs couldn't have acted more contrary. Those ducks LIKED us. They
wouldn't go to Deams'. They just fought to swim back to us. Anyway,
we had the worst time you ever saw. Leon cut long switches to herd
them with, and both of us waded and tried to drive them, but they would
dart under embankments and roots, and dive and hide.

Before we reached the Deams' I wished that we had carried them as
mother told us, for we had lost three, and if we stopped to hunt them,
more would hide. By the time we drove them under the floodgate
crossing the creek between our land and the Deams' four were gone.
Leon left me on the gate with both switches to keep them from going
back and he ran to call Mrs. Deam. She had red hair and a hot temper,
and we were not very anxious to see her, but we had to do it. While
Leon was gone I was thinking pretty fast and I knew exactly how things
would happen. First time mother saw Mrs. Deam she would ask her if the
ducks were all right, and she would tell that four were gone. Mother
would ask how many she had, and she would say twelve, then mother would
remember that she started us with twelve in the basket--Oh what's the
use! Something had to be done. It had to be done quickly too, for I
could hear Amanda Deam, her boy Sammy and Leon coming across the
barnya