lacky. "On my honor, not a thing. There is
nothing for me here, though there seems to be plenty for you and your
relatives, to judge by the fact that I find you in this same place every
morning. What is it?"

"Corn," replied Dusky in a low voice, as if afraid some one might
overhear him. "Nice yellow corn."

"Corn!" exclaimed Blacky, as if very much astonished. "How does corn
happen to be way over here in the water?"

Dusky shook his head. "Don't ask me, for I can't tell you," said he. "I
haven'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't
care. It is enough for me that it is here."

"I've seen a man over here every afternoon," said Blacky. "I thought he
might 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 to
come in for your dinner," suggested Blacky. "He could hide behind these
bushes, you know."

"Nonsense," retorted Dusky, tossing his head. "There hasn't been a sign
of danger here since we have been here. I know you, Blacky; you are
jealous because we find plenty to eat here, and you find nothing. You
are trying to scare us. But I'll tell you right now, you can't scare us
away 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 the
Green Forest. As usual, he went around by the Big River to see if that
man was scattering corn for the Ducks. He wasn't there. No one was to be
seen along the bank of the Big River.

"He hasn't come to-day, or else he came early and has left," thought
Blacky. And then his sharp eyes caught sight of something that made him
turn aside and make straight for a certain tree, from the top of which
he could see all that went on for a long distance. What was it Blacky
saw? It was a boat coming down the Big River.

Blacky sat still and watched. Presently the boat turned in among the
rushes, and a moment later a man stepped out on the shore. It was the
same man Blacky had watched scatter corn in the rushes every day for a
week. There wasn't the least doubt about it, it was the same man.

"Ha, ha!" e