"Well, don't think you are the only one," retorted Danny. "My fur neverwas so thick at this time of year as it is now, and it is the same waywith Nanny Meadow Mouse and all our children. I suppose you know what itmeans."
"What does it mean?" asked Blacky, just as if he didn't have the leastidea, although he had guessed the instant he discovered those extrafeathers.
"It means we are going to have a long, hard, cold winter, and Old MotherNature is preparing us for it," replied Danny, quite as if he knew allabout it. "You'll find that everybody who doesn't go south or sleep allwinter has a thicker coat than usual. Hello! There is old Roughleg theHawk! He has come extra early this year. I think I'll go back to warnNanny." Without another word Danny disappeared in the brown grass. AgainBlacky chuckled. "More signs," said he to himself. "More signs. Thereisn't a doubt that we are going to have a hard winter. I wonder if Ican stand it or if I'd better go a little way south, where it will bewarmer."
CHAPTER XVII: Blacky Watches A Queer Performance
This much to me is very clear: A thing not understood is queer. --Blacky the Crow.
Blacky the Crow may be right. Again he may not be. If he is right, itwill account for a lot of the queer people in the world. They are notunderstood, and so they are queer. At least, that is what other peoplesay, and never once think that perhaps they are the queer ones for notunderstanding.
But Blacky isn't like those people who are satisfied not to understandand to think other people and things queer. He does his best tounderstand. He waits and watches and uses those sharp eyes of his andthose quick wits of his until at last usually he does understand.
The day of his discovery of Old Mother Nature's signs that the comingwinter would be long, hard and cold, Blacky paid a visit to the BigRiver. Long ago he discovered that many things are to be seen on orbeside the Big River, things not to be seen elsewhere. So there are fewclays in which he does not get over there.
As he drew near the Big River, he was very watchful and careful, wasBlacky, for this was the season when hunters with terrible guns wereabroad, and he had discovered that they were likely to be hiding alongthe Big River, hoping to shoot Mr. or Mrs. Quack or some of theirrelatives. So he was very watchful as he drew near the Big River, forhe had learned that it was dangerous to pass too near a hunter with aterrible gun. More than once he had been shot at. But he had learned bythese experiences. Oh, yes, Blacky had learned. For one thing, he hadlearned to know a gun when he saw it. For another thing, he had learnedjust how far away one of these dreadful guns could be and still hurt theone it was pointed at, and to always keep just a little farther away.Also he had learned that a man or boy without a terrible gun is quiteharmless, and he had learned that hunters with terrible guns are trickyand sometimes hide from those they seek to kill, so that in the dreadfulhunting season it is best to look sharply before approaching any place.
On this afternoon, as he drew near the Big River, he saw a man whoseemed to be very busy on the shore of the Big River, at a place wherewild rice and rushes grew for some distance out in the water, for justthere it was shallow far out from the shore. Blacky looked sharply for aterrible gun. But the man had none with him and therefore was not to befeared. Blacky boldly drew near until he was able to see what the manwas doing.
Then Blacky's eyes stretched their widest and he almost cawed right outwith surprise. The man was taking yellow corn from a bag, a handful ata time, and throwing it out in the water. Yes, Sir, that is what he wasdoing, scattering nice yellow corn among the rushes and wild rice in thewater!
"That's a queer performance," muttered Blacky, as he watched. "What ishe throwing perfectly good corn out in the water for? He isn't plantingit, for this isn't the planting season. Besides, it wouldn't grow in thewater, anyway. It is a shame to waste nice corn like that. What is hedoing it for?"
Blacky flew over to a tree some distance away and alighted in the topof it to watch the queer performance. You know Blacky has very keen eyesand he can see a long distance. For a while the man continued to scattercorn and Blacky continued to wonder what he was doing it for. At lastthe man went away in a boat. Blacky watched him until he was out ofsight. Then he spread his wings and slowly flew back and forth justabove the rushes and wild rice, at the place where the man had beenscattering the corn. He could see some of the yellow grains on thebottom. Presently he saw something else. "Ha!" exclaimed Blacky.
CHAPTER XVIII: Blacky Becomes Very Suspicious
Of things you do not understand, Beware! They may be wholly harmless but-- Beware! You'll find the older that you grow That only things and folks you know Are fully to be trusted, so Beware! --Blacky the Crow.
That is one of Blacky's wise sayings, and he lives up to it. It is onereason why he has come to be regarded by all his neighbors as one of thesmartest of all who live in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadow. Heseldom gets into any real trouble because he first makes sure thereis no trouble to get into. When he discovers something he does notunderstand, he is at once distrustful of it.
As he watched a man scattering yellow corn in the water from the shoreof the Big River he at once became suspicious. He couldn't understandwhy a man should throw good corn among the rushes and wild rice in thewater, and because he couldn't understand, he at once began to suspectthat it was for no good purpose. When the man left in a boat, Blackyslowly flew over the rushes where the man had thrown the corn, andpresently his sharp eyes made a discovery that caused him to exclaimright out.
What was it Blacky had discovered? Only a few feathers. No one with eyesless sharp than Blacky's would have noticed them. And few would havegiven them a thought if they had noticed them. But Blacky knew rightaway that those were feathers from a Duck. He knew that a Duck, orperhaps a flock of Ducks, had been resting or feeding in there amongthose rushes, and that in moving about they had left those two or threedowny feathers.
"Ha!" exclaimed Blacky. "Mr. and Mrs. Quack or some of their relativeshave been here. It is just the kind of a place Ducks like. Also someDucks like corn. If they should come back here and find this corn, theywould have a feast, and they would be sure to come again. That man whoscattered the corn here didn't have a terrible gun, but that doesn'tmean that he isn't a hunter. He may come back again, and then he mayhave a terrible gun. I'm suspicious of that man. I am so. I believe heput that corn here for Ducks and I don't believe he did it out of thekindness of his heart. If it was Farmer Brown's boy I would know thatall is well; that he was thinking of hungry Ducks, with few places wherethey can feed in safety, as they make the long journey from the FarNorth to the Sunny South. But it wasn't Farmer Brown's boy. I don't likethe looks of it. I don't indeed. I'll keep watch of this place and seewhat happens."
All the way to his favorite perch in a certain big hemlock-tree in theGreen Forest, Blacky kept thinking about that corn and the man whohad seemed to be generous with it, and the more he thought, the moresuspicious he became. He didn't like the looks of it at all.
"I'll warn the Quacks to keep away from there. I'll do it the very firstthing in the morning," he muttered, as he prepared to go to sleep. "Ifthey have any sense at all, they will stay in the pond of Paddy theBeaver. But if they should go over to the Big River, they would bealmost sure to find that corn, and if they should once find it, theywould keep going back for more. It may be all right, but I don't likethe looks of it."
And still full of suspicions, Blacky went to sleep.
CHAPTER XIX: Blacky Makes More Discoveries
Little things you fail to see May important prove to be. --Blacky the Crow.
One of the secrets of Blacky's success in life is the fact that he neverfails to take note of little things. Long ago he learned that littlethings which in themselves seem harmless and not worth noticing maytogether prove the most important things in life. So, no matter howunimportant a thing may appear, Blacky examines it closely with thosesharp eyes of his and remembers it.
The very first thing Blacky did, a
s soon as he was awake the morningafter he discovered the man scattering corn in the rushes at a certainplace on the edge of the Big River, was to fly over to the pond of Paddythe Beaver and again warn Mr. and Mrs. Quack to keep away from the BigRiver, if they and their six children would remain safe. Then he gotsome breakfast. He ate it in a hurry and flew straight over to the BigRiver to the place where he had seen that yellow corn scattered.
Blacky wasn't wholly surprised to find Dusky the Black Duck, own cousinto Mr. and Mrs. Quack the Mallard Ducks, with a number of his relativesin among the rushes and wild rice at the very place where that corn hadbeen scattered. They seemed quite contented and in the best of spirits.Blacky guessed why. Not a single grain of that yellow corn could Blackysee. He knew the ways of Dusky and his relatives. He knew that they musthave come in there just at dusk the night before and at once had foundthat corn. He knew that they would remain hiding there until frightenedout, and that then they would spend the day in some little pond wherethey would not be likely to be disturbed or where at least no dangercould approach them without being seen in plenty of time. There theywould rest all day, and when the Black Shadows came creeping out fromthe Purple Hills, they would return to that place on the Big River tofeed, for that is the time when they like best to hunt for their food.
Dusky looked up as Blacky flew over him, but Blacky said nothing, andDusky said nothing. But if Blacky didn't use his tongue, he did use hiseyes. He saw just on the edge of the shore what looked like a lot ofsmall bushes growing close together on the very edge of the water. Mixedin with them were a lot of the brown rushes. They looked very harmlessand innocent. But Blacky knew every foot of that shore along the BigRiver, and he knew that those bushes hadn't been there during thesummer. He knew that they hadn't grown there.
He flew directly over them. Just back of them were a couple of logs.Those logs hadn't been there when he passed that way a few days before.He was sure of it.
"Ha!" exclaimed Blacky under his breath. "Those look to me as if theymight be very handy, very handy indeed, for a hunter to sit on. Sittingthere behind those bushes, he would be hidden from any Duck who mightcome in to look for nice yellow corn scattered out there among therushes. It doesn't look right to me. No, Sir, it doesn't look right tome. I think I'll keep an eye on this place."
So Blacky came back to the Big River several times that day. The secondtime back he found that Dusky the Black Duck and his relatives had left.When he returned in the afternoon, he saw the same man he had seenthere the afternoon before, and he was doing the same thing,--scatteringyellow corn out in the rushes. And as before, he went away in a boat.
"I don't like it," muttered Blacky, shaking his black head. "I don'tlike it."
CHAPTER XX: Blacky Drops A Hint
When you see another's danger Warn him though he be a stranger. --Blacky the Crow.
Every day for a week a man came in a boat to scatter corn in the rushesat a certain point along the bank of the Big River, and every day Blackythe Crow watched him and shook his black head and talked to himself andtold himself that he didn't like it, and that he was sure that it wasfor no good purpose. Sometimes Blacky watched from a distance, andsometimes he flew right over the man. But never once did the man have agun with him.
Every morning, very early, Blacky flew over there, and every morning hefound Dusky the Black Duck and his flock in the rushes and wild rice atthat particular place, and he knew that they had been there all night,He knew that they had come in there just at dusk the night before, tofeast on the yellow corn the man had scattered there in the afternoon.
"It is no business of mine what those Ducks do," muttered Blacky tohimself, "but as surely as my tail feathers are black, something isgoing to happen to some of them one of these days. That man may befooling them, but he isn't fooling me. Not a bit of it. He hasn't hada gun with him once when I have seen him, but just the same he is ahunter. I feel it in my bones. He knows those silly Ducks come in hereevery night for that corn he puts out. He knows that after they havebeen here a few times and nothing has frightened them, they will beso sure that it is a safe place that they will not be the least bitsuspicious. Then he will hide behind those bushes he has placed close tothe edge of the water and wait for them with his terrible gun. That iswhat he will do, or my name isn't Blacky."
Finally Blacky decided to drop a hint to Dusky the Black Duck. So thenext morning he stopped for a call. "Good morning," said he, as Duskyswam in just in front of him. "I hope you are feeling as fine as youlook."
"Quack, quack," replied Dusky. "When Blacky the Crow flatters, he hopesto gain something. What is it this time?"
"Not a thing," replied Blacky. "On my honor, not a thing. There isnothing for me here, though there seems to be plenty for you and yourrelatives, to judge by the fact that I find you in this same place everymorning. What is it?"
"Corn," replied Dusky in a low voice, as if afraid some one mightoverhear him. "Nice yellow corn."
"Corn!" exclaimed Blacky, as if very much astonished. "How does cornhappen to be way over here in the water?"
Dusky shook his head. "Don't ask me, for I can't tell you," said he. "Ihaven't the least idea. All I know is that every evening when we arrive,we find it here. How it gets here, I don't know, and furthermore I don'tcare. It is enough for me that it is here."
"I've seen a man over here every afternoon," said Blacky. "I thought hemight be a hunter."
"Did he have a terrible gun?" asked Dusky suspiciously.
"No-o," replied Blacky.
"Then he isn't a hunter," declared Dusky, looking much relieved.
"But perhaps one of these days he will have one and will wait for you tocome in for your dinner," suggested Blacky. "He could hide behind thesebushes, you know."
"Nonsense," retorted Dusky, tossing his head. "There hasn't been a signof danger here since we have been here. I know you, Blacky; you arejealous because we find plenty to eat here, and you find nothing. Youare trying to scare us. But I'll tell you right now, you can't scare usaway from such splendid eating as we have had here. So there!"
CHAPTER XXI: At Last Blacky Is Sure
Who for another conquers fear Is truly brave, it is most clear. --Blacky the Crow.
It was late in the afternoon, and Blacky the Crow was on his way to theGreen Forest. As usual, he went around by the Big River to see if thatman was scattering corn for the Ducks. He wasn't there. No one was to beseen along the bank of the Big River.
"He hasn't come to-day, or else he came early and has left," thoughtBlacky. And then his sharp eyes caught sight of something that made himturn aside and make straight for a certain tree, from the top of whichhe could see all that went on for a long distance. What was it Blackysaw? It was a boat coming down the Big River.
Blacky sat still and watched. Presently the boat turned in among therushes, and a moment later a man stepped out on the shore. It was thesame man Blacky had watched scatter corn in the rushes every day for aweek. There wasn't the least doubt about it, it was the same man.
"Ha, ha!" exclaimed Blacky, and nearly lost his balance in hisexcitement. "Ha, ha! It is just as I thought!" You see Blacky's sharpeyes had seen that the man was carrying something, and that somethingwas a gun, a terrible gun. Blacky knows a terrible gun as far as he cansee it.
The hunter, for of course that is what he was, tramped along the shoreuntil he reached the bushes which Blacky had noticed close to the waterand which he knew had not grown there. The hunter looked out over theBig River. Then he walked along where he had scattered corn the daybefore. Not a grain was to be seen. This seemed to please him. Then hewent back to the bushes and sat down on a log behind them, his terriblegun across his knees.
"I was sure of it," muttered Blacky. "He is going to wait there forthose Ducks to come in, and then something dreadful will happen. Whatterrible creatures these hunters are! They don't know what fairness is.No, Sir, they don't know what fairness is. He has put food there dayafter day, where Dusky the Black Duck and h
is flock would be sure tofind it, and has waited until they have become so sure there is nodanger that they are no longer suspicious. He knows they will feel sosure that all is safe that they will come in without looking for danger.Then he will fire that terrible gun and kill them without giving themany chance at all.
"Reddy Fox is a sly, clever hunter, but he wouldn't do a thing likethat. Neither would Old Man Coyote or anybody else who wears fur orfeathers. They might hide and try to catch some one by surprise. That isall right, because each of us is supposed to be on the watch for thingsof that sort. Oh, dear, what's to be done? It is time I was getting hometo the Green Forest. The Black Shadows will soon come creeping out fromthe Purple Hills, and I must be safe in my hemlock-tree by then. I wouldbe scared to death to be out after dark. Yet those Ducks ought to bewarned. Oh, dear, what shall I do?"
Blacky peered over at the Green Forest and then over toward the PurpleHills, behind which jolly, round, red Mr. Sun would go to bed veryshortly. He shivered as he thought of the Black Shadows that soon wouldcome swiftly out from the Purple Hills across the Big River and over theGreen Meadows. With them might come Hooty the Owl, and Hooty wouldn'tobject in the least to a Crow dinner. He wished he was in thathemlock-tree that very minute. Then Blacky looked at the hunter with histerrible gun and thought of what might happen, what would be almost sureto happen, unless those Ducks were warned. "I'll wait a little whilelonger," muttered Blacky, and tried to feel brave. But instead heshivered.