"Ho!" exclaimed Blacky. "I wonder if the wind blew that open, or if
there is some one inside. I think I'll watch a while."

So Blacky flew to the top of a tall tree from which he could look all
over the little clearing and could watch the door of the little house.

For a long time he sat there as silent as the trees themselves. Nothing
happened. He began to grow tired. Rather, he began to grow so hungry
that he became impatient. "If there is anybody in there he must be
asleep," muttered Blacky to himself. "I'll see if I can wake him up.
Caw, caw, ca-a-w, caw, caw!"

Blacky waited a few minutes, then repeated his cry. He did this three
times and had just made up his mind that there was nobody inside that
little house when a head appeared in the doorway. Blacky was so
surprised that he nearly fell from his perch.

"As I live," he muttered, "that is Bowser the Hound! It certainly is.
Now what is he doing way over here? I've never known him to go so far
from home before."

CHAPTER VII

BLACKY THE CROW TAKES PITY ON BOWSER

Beneath a coat of ebon hue
May beat a heart that's kind and true.
The worst of scamps in time of need
Will often do a kindly deed.

_Bowser the Hound._

"Caw, ca-a-w!" exclaimed Blacky the Crow. Bowser looked up to the top of
the tall tree where Blacky sat, and in his great, soft eyes was such a
look of friendliness that it gave Blacky a funny feeling. You know
Blacky is not used to friendly looks. He is used to quite the other
kind. Bowser came out of the old sugar house where he had spent the
night and whined softly as he looked up at Blacky, and as he whined he
wagged his tail ever so slightly. Blacky didn't know what to make of it.
He had never been more surprised in his life. He didn't know which
surprised him most, finding Bowser 'way over here where he had no
business to be, or Bowser's friendliness.

As for Bowser, he had spent such a forlorn, miserable night, and he was
so terribly lonesome, that the very sound of Blacky's voice had given
him a queer thrill. Never had he thought of Blacky the Crow as a friend.
In fact, he never thought much about Blacky at all. Sometimes he had
chased Blacky out of Farmer Brown's corn-field early in the spring but
that is all he ever had had to do with him. Now, however, lonesome and
lost as he was, the sound of a familiar voice made him tingle all over
with a friendly feeling. So he whined softly and wagged his tail f