Chapter 15 The Further Adventures of Toad.
Toad was awakened at an early hour, partly by the bright sunlight streaming in on him and partly by the coldness of his toes, which made him dream he was at home in bed in his own handsome room.
Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes first and his complaining toes next.
He wondered for a moment where he was looking around for a familiar stone wall and a little barred window.
Then, with a leap of the heart, he remembered everything.
Free!
The word and the thought alone were worth fifty blankets.
He shook himself and combed the dry leaves out of his hair with his fingers.
He marched forth into the comfortable morning sun, cold but confident, hungry but hopeful.
He had the world to himself that early summer morning.
The rustic road was soon joined by a canal, and he marched on by the water's edge.
A solitary horse came plodding around a bend in the canal.
Attached to his collar stretched a long rope, the furthest part of it dripping wet.
Toad let the horse pass and stood waiting to see what its rope was tied to.
The horse was pulling a boat and Toad watched as the barge slid up alongside him with a pleasant swirl of quiet water at its bow.
Its lone occupant was a stout woman wearing a sunbonnet, one brawny arm laid along the tiller.
A nice morning, ma'am, she remarked to Toad.
I dare say it is, ma'am, responded Toad politely as he walked along the path.
I dare say it's a nice morning to them that's not in sore trouble like I am, Toad continued.
My married daughter wrote to me to come to her once, so here I am, not knowing what may be happening, and I've lost all my money and lost my way.
Where might your married daughter be living, ma'am, asked the bargewoman.
She lives near to the river, ma'am, replied Toad, close to a vine house called Toad Hall.
Perhaps you may have heard of it.
Toad Hall?
Why, I'm going that way myself, replied the barge woman.
You come along with me, and I'll give you a lift.
She steered the barge close to the bank, and a thankful Toad stepped lightly on board.
Toad's luck again, he thought.
I always come out on top.
So, you're in the washing business, ma'am, said the bargewoman politely as they glided along.
And a very good business you've got, too.
Finest business in the whole country, said Toad.
A real pleasure, I assure you.
What a piece of luck meeting you, said the bargewoman thoughtfully.
A regular piece of good fortune for both of us.
"'Why, what do you mean?' asked the toad nervously.
"'Well, look at me now,' replied the bargewoman.
"'I like washing, too, and whether I like it or not, I have to do it all myself.
There's an ape of things of mine you'll find at the corner of the cabin.
If you'll just take one or two and put them through the wash-tub as we go along well, it'll be a pleasure to you and a real help to me'.
Toad was worried.
He looked for an escape, this way and that, but soon knew he had no choice.
I suppose any fool can wash, he thought.
He fetched the tub and soap from the cabin, selected a few pieces of clothing at random and tried to remember what he had seen in casual glances through laundry windows.
A long hour of washing clothes passed, and every minute of it saw Toad getting angrier and angrier.
He tried soaping, he tried scrubbing, he tried rinsing.
His back ached badly, and he noticed that his paws were beginning to get crinkly.
Now, Toad was very proud of his paws.
He muttered under breath words that should never pass the lips of washerwomen or toads, and lost the soap for the fiftieth time.
A burst of laughter made him look around.
The bargewoman was leaning back and laughing till the tears ran down her cheeks.
I've been watching you all the time, she gasped.
You never wash so much as a dishcloth in your life.
Toad's temper, which had been simmering for some time now, fairly boiled over and he lost all control of himself.
You mean woman, he shouted.
Don't you dare talk to me like that.
I would have you know that I am a very well-known, distinguished Toad and I will not be laughed at by anyone.
The woman moved nearer to him.
Where?
So you are, she cried.
Well, I'm never a horrid, nasty, crawly toad, and in my nice clean boards, too.
Now, that is a thing I will not have.
One big arm shot out and caught Toad by a foreleg, while the other gripped him by a hind leg.
Then the world turned suddenly upside down and Toad found himself flying through the air, revolving rapidly as he went.
Water, when he reached it with a loud splash, proved too cold for his taste.
He rose to the surface spluttering and the first thing he saw was the bargewoman looking back at him and laughing.
He vowed, as he coughed and choked, to get even with her, but the rapid water dragged him along with a force he could not stop.
He was pulled straight into the river.
Toad rose to the surface and tried to grasp the reeds and rushes that grew along the water's edge, but the stream tore them out of his hands.
But soon he saw that he was approaching a big dark hole in the side of the riverbank just above his head.
As the stream raced him past, he reached up, caught hold of the edge of the hole, and held on.
Slowly and with difficulty, he drew himself out of the water till at last he was able to rest his elbows on the edge of the hole.
Toad's legs dangled over the edge, and he felt the spray of the river rushing below him.
Toad stared ahead into the dark hole.
Something small was moving in its depths, inching toward him.
As it approached, a face gradually became clear, and it was a familiar face brown and small, with whiskers, serious and round, with neat ears and silky hair.
It was RAT.
