No greater happiness is won
Than through a deed for others done.
--Blacky the Crow.
Blacky sat in the top of a tree near the bank of the Big River and
couldn't make up his mind what to do. He wanted to get home to the big,
thick hemlock-tree in the Green Forest before dusk, for Blacky is afraid
of the dark. That is, he is afraid to be out after dark.
“Go along home,” said a voice inside him, “there is hardly time now for
you to get there before the Black Shadows arrive. Don't waste any more
time here. What may happen to those silly Ducks is no business of yours,
and there is nothing you can do, anyway. Go along home.”
“Wait a few minutes,” said another little voice down inside him. “Don't
be a coward. You ought to warn Dusky the Black Duck and his flock that a
hunter with a terrible gun is waiting for them. Is it true that it is
no business of yours what happens to those Ducks? Think again, Blacky;
think again. It is the duty of each one who sees a common danger to warn
his neighbors. If something dreadful should happen to Dusky because
you were afraid of the dark, you never would be comfortable in your own
mind. Stay a little while and keep watch.”
Not five minutes later Blacky saw something that made him, oh, so glad
he had kept watch. It was a swiftly moving black line just above the
water far down the Big River, and it was coming up. He knew what that
black line was. He looked over at the hunter hiding behind some bushes
close to the edge of the water. The hunter was crouching with his
terrible gun in his hands and was peeping over the bushes, watching that
black line. He, too, knew what it was. It was a flock of Ducks flying.
Blacky was all ashake again, but this time it wasn't with fear of being
caught away from home in the dark; it was with excitement. He knew that
those Ducks had become so eager for more of that corn, that delicious
yellow corn which every night for a week they had found scattered in the
rushes just in front of the place where that hunter was now hiding, that
they couldn't wait for the coming of the Black Shadows. They were so
sure there was no danger that they were coming in to eat without waiting
for the Black Shadows, as they usually did. And Blacky was glad. Perhaps
now he could give them warning.
Up the middle of the Big River, flying just above the water, swept the
flock with Dusky at its head. How swiftly they flew, those nine big
birds! Blacky envied them their swift wings. On past the hidden hunter
but far out over the Big River they swept. For just a minute Blacky
thought they were going on up the river and not coming in to eat, after
all. Then they turned toward the other shore, swept around in a circle
and headed straight in toward that hidden hunter. Blacky glanced at him
and saw that he was ready to shoot.
Almost without thinking, Blacky spread his wings and started out from
that tree. “Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!” he shrieked at the top of his
lungs. “Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!” It was his danger cry that everybody
on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest knows.
Instantly Dusky turned and began to climb up, up, up, the other Ducks
following him until, as they passed over the hidden hunter, they were so
high it was useless for him to shoot. He did put up his gun and aim at
them, but he didn't shoot. You see, he didn't want to frighten them so
that they would not return. Then the flock turned and started off in
the direction from which they had come, and in a few minutes they were
merely a black line disappearing far down the Big River.
Blacky headed straight for the Green Forest, chuckling as he flew. He
knew that those Ducks would not return until after dark. He had saved
them this time, and he was so happy he didn't even notice the Black
Shadows. And the hunter stood up and shook his fist at Blacky the Crow.