always wanting you to DO something--as if a fellow had no business of
his own to attend to!'

'What lies over THERE' asked the Mole, waving a paw towards a
background of woodland that darkly framed the water-meadows on one
side of the river.

'That? O, that's just the Wild Wood,' said the Rat shortly. 'We
don't go there very much, we river-bankers.'

'Aren't they--aren't they very NICE people in there?' said the Mole, a
trifle nervously.

'W-e-ll,' replied the Rat, 'let me see. The squirrels are all right.
AND the rabbits--some of 'em, but rabbits are a mixed lot. And then
there's Badger, of course. He lives right in the heart of it;
wouldn't live anywhere else, either, if you paid him to do it. Dear
old Badger! Nobody interferes with HIM. They'd better not,' he added
significantly.

'Why, who SHOULD interfere with him?' asked the Mole.

'Well, of course--there--are others,' explained the Rat in a
hesitating sort of way.

'Weasels--and stoats--and foxes--and so on. They're all right in a
way--I'm very good friends with them--pass the time of day when we
meet, and all that--but they break out sometimes, there's no denying
it, and then--well, you can't really trust them, and that's the fact.'