The Mole rowed hard up the river and in a while they came to a large red house, with beautiful gardens reaching down to the water's edge.

One bright summer morning the Mole and the Rat were out on the river bank, watching the world go by. The Rat was writing a song and was singing quietly to himself as he tried different words.

"Ratty," said the Mole, "could I ask you something?"

"Mmm," the Rat said, not really listening. "Sky, fly, high, die, why…Oh dear! What did you say, Mole?"

"He must be a very nice animal," said the Mole, as he got into the boat and took the oars.

"Why, of course," said the Rat kindly. "Get the boat out, and we'll row up there now. Toad's always happy to see his friends."

"Will you take me to visit Mr Toad? I've heard so much about him, and I do want to meet him."

"There's Toad Hall," said the Rat. "It's a lovely old house -- Toad is very rich, you know, and this is really one of the nicest houses on the river. But we never say that to Toad, of course."

"He's the best of animals," replied the Rat. "Kind, friendly -- not very clever, perhaps, and sometimes he's just a little bit boastful, but he's a good fellow really."

The Rat looked around him. "I see that all the boats are out of the water," he said. "I suppose Toad has finished with boating now and has some new interest to amuse him."

They left their boat by the boathouse at the end of the gar den. The boathouse was full of expensive boats, which looked new and mostly unused.

They walked over the grass towards the house and soon found Toad, resting in a garden-chair and carefully studying a large map.

"Wonderful!" he cried, as he saw them. "You're just the fellow that I wanted to see, Ratty." He jumped up and came towards them, talking all the time, and gave the Rat no time to introduce the Mole. "I need you very much -- both of you. You've got to help me. It's most important!"

"It's about your rowing, I suppose," said the Rat, keeping his face very serious. "You will learn to do it in the end, you know, if you're patient and work hard and --"

"Oh, bother boats!" the Toad said crossly. "I've finished with boats. Silly way to pass the time. No, I've discovered the real thing -- the best way, the only way, to spend one's life. Come with me, dear Ratty, and your kind friend too, and I will show you!"

The Mole was very interested and excited, and followed the Toad inside the caravan to look around. But the Rat shook his head and waited outside.

"There you are!" cried the Toad. "There's real life for you. The open road, the fields, the hills…villages, towns, cities! Here today, off to a different place tomorrow! Travel, change, interest -- the world in front of you!"

When they came down the steps again, the Toad was still talking excitedly to the Mole. "So you see, everything is ready for when we start this afternoon."

He took them round to the other side of the house, and there they saw a shiny new gipsy caravan. It had yellow and green sides, and red wheels.

"What was that?" said the Rat slowly. "Did you say 'we' and 'start' and 'this afternoon'?"

"Now, dear good old Ratty," said Toad quickly, "don't talk in that cross voice. You know you've got to come. You can't stay by your boring old river all your life. I want to show you the world!"

"I don't care," said the Rat calmly. "I'm not coming, and that's final. I'm going to stay by my old river, and what's more, Mole's going to stay with me, aren't you, Mole?"

Toad watched them both carefully. "Come in and have some lunch," he said pleasantly, "and we'll talk it over."

The Rat saw his sad face and felt worried. He liked his friends to be happy and he could see that the Mole really wanted to go.

During lunch -- which was excellent, of course, because everything at Toad Hall always was -- the Toad talked and talked. He was full of wonderful plans. How interesting each day would be! What adventures the three friends would have together! Ah, the happiness of the travelling life!

"Of course I am," said the Mole bravely. But his face looked sad. Poor Mole! He thought that life in a caravan on the open road would be an exciting adventure.

In the end, of course, the Rat agreed to go, and by the evening they found themselves on a lonely hillside miles from home. It had been a golden afternoon, and even the Rat had enjoyed the journey so far. Only the old grey horse was not very happy. He had to do all the hard work of pulling the caravan, and he was not at all pleased about it.

The next morning the Toad was still sleeping deeply when the other two got up. They shook him very hard but couldn't wake him, so they had to do all the work. The Rat took care of the horse, lit the fire, and did last night's washing-up. The Mole walked to the nearest village, a long way away, to get milk and eggs and bread, which the Toad had, of course, for gotten to bring. And when at last the Toad got up, he said what a pleasant easy life it was on the open road.

The day passed happily as they travelled over green hills and along narrow country roads. But the next morning the Rat and the Mole got Toad out of bed and made sure that he did some of the work. Because of this, Toad said very little about a pleas ant easy life. Later, he even tried to get back into bed, but the Mole and the Rat pulled him out again.

The end of their journey came very suddenly. In the after noon they were travelling along a big road. The Mole was walking beside the horse, and the Toad and the Water Rat were walking behind the caravan, talking together. Actually, the Toad was talking, and the Rat was listening -- some of the time.

Seconds later, the peace of the afternoon was destroyed in a storm of noise and wind and dust. The "poop -- poop" rang with a shout in their ears, and an enormous, long, shining motorcar roared past them and disappeared over the hill.

The old grey horse, wild with fear, tried to get off the road. The caravan's wheels began to go down into the ditch along the edge. Then there was a terrible crash -- and the beautiful yellow and green caravan lay helplessly on its side.

Then they heard a noise behind them, and looking back, they saw a small cloud of dust. It made a "Poop -- poop!" sound, and it was coming towards them very fast indeed.

The Rat jumped up and down in the road, shouting angrily. "Stupid, dangerous people! The police should lock you up in prison!"

"Hi! Toad!" they cried. "Come and help us, can't you!"

He and the Mole managed to calm the horse, and then they went to look at the caravan. Two wheels had come off, the windows were broken, and bits of wood lay everywhere. They tried to pull it out of the ditch, but they couldn't move it.

The Rat shook him, not very gently. "Are you coming to help us, Toad?" he asked crossly.

The Toad never answered a word, so they went to see what was the matter with him. They found him sitting in the middle of the road, with a dreamy smile on his face and happily whispering, "Poop -- poop!"

"Oh, do stop being so silly, Toad!" cried the Mole.

"And I never knew!" the Toad went on dreamily. "I never dreamt! What clouds of dust will fly up behind me as I drive like the wind! I've finished with silly old caravans for ever. Poop -- poop!"

"Oh, what happiness!" whispered Toad to himself. "The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here one minute-miles away in seconds! Wonderful! Poop -- poop!"

"What are we going to do with him?" the Mole asked the Water Rat.

"Nothing," replied the Rat. "There's nothing that we can do. I know Toad. When he gets a new idea into his head, he always goes crazy at first. He'll be like this for some days now. Come on, we'll have to do everything by ourselves."

They had to leave the caravan in the ditch and walk to the nearest town, five or six miles away. There they asked some body to take care of the horse, and found somebody who agreed to fetch the broken caravan. Then they caught a train to a station near Toad Hall, took Toad home, went down to the boat, and then at last they sat down to a late supper in Rat's comfortable little home by the river.

The next day was a lazy one. In the evening the Mole was sitting on the river bank fishing, when the Rat, who had been to visit friends, came to find him.

"Heard the news?" the Rat said. "Everybody's talking about it, all along the river bank. Toad went up to town by an early train this morning. And he has ordered a large and very expensive motor-car."