A brown little face with whiskers.
Small neat ears and thick silky hair.
It was the Water Rat!
The animals stood and looked at each other.
"Hello, Mole!" said the Water Rat.
"Hello, Rat!" said the Mole.
"Would you like to come over?"
"How can I get to you?" said Mole, not knowing the ways of the River.
The Rat stooped down and unfastened a rope. He hauled up a little blue and white boat, just the size for two animals. He rowed across, and gave Mole his paw, to step down timidly into it.
The two animals made friends at once. Ratty was very surprised to hear that Mole had never been in a boat before.
"There is nothing half so much worth doing," he told Mole, "as simply messing about in boats."