HOW BLACKY THE CROW HELPED BOWSER
The blackest coat may cover the kindest heart.
_Bowser the Hound._
When Blacky the Crow said to himself that he guessed he would take pity
on Bowser and help him out of his trouble, he knew that he could do it
without very much trouble to himself. Perhaps if there had been very
much trouble in it, Blacky would not have been quite so ready and
willing. Then again, perhaps it isn't fair to Blacky to think that he
might not have been willing. Even the most selfish people are sometimes
kindly and unselfish.
Blacky knew just where the nearest house was. You can always trust
Blacky to know not only where every house is within sight of the places
he frequents, but all about the people who live in each house. Blacky
makes it his business to know these things. He could, if he would, tell
you which houses have terrible guns in them and which have not. It is by
knowing such things that Blacky manages to avoid danger.
"If that dog knows enough to follow me, I'll take him where he can at
least get something to eat," muttered Blacky. "It won't be far out of my
way, anyway, because if he has any sense at all, I won't have to go all
the way over there."
So Blacky spread his black wings and disappeared over the tree-tops in
the direction of the nearest farmhouse.
Bowser watched him disappear and whined sadly, for somehow it made him
feel more lonesome than before. But for one thing he would have gone
back to his bed of hay in the corner of that sugar camp. That one thing
was hunger. It seemed to Bowser that his stomach was so empty that the
very sides of it had fallen in. He just _must_ get something to eat.
So, after waiting a moment or two, Bowser turned and limped away
through the trees, and he limped in the direction which Blacky the Crow
had taken. You see, he could still hear Blacky's voice calling "Caw,
caw, caw", and somehow it made him feel better, less lonesome, you know,
to be within hearing of a voice he knew.
Bowser had to go on three legs, for one leg had been so hurt in the fall
over the bank that he could not put his foot to the ground. Then, too,
he was very, very stiff from the cold and the wetting he had received
the night before. So poor Bowser made slow work of it, and Blacky the
Crow almost lost patience waiting for him to appear.
As soon as Bowser came in sight, Blacky gave what was intended for a
cheery caw and then headed straight for the place he had started for
that morning, giving no more thought to Bowser the Hound. You see, he
knew that Bowser would shortly come to a road. "If he doesn't know
enough to follow that road, he deserves to starve," thought Blacky.
Bowser did know enough to follow that road. The instant he saw that
road, he knew that if he kept on following it, it would lead him
somewhere. So with new hope in his heart, Bowser limped along.