Blacky the Crow | Page 3

felt sure that no one else
knew about them, and he knew that they couldn't run away. So he kept
right on flying until he reached a certain tall pine-tree where he could
sit and think without being disturbed.
"Eggs!" he muttered. "Real eggs! Now who under the sun can have
moved into Redtail's old house? And what can they mean by laying
eggs before Mistress Spring has even sent word that she has started? It's
too much for me. It certainly is too much for me."

CHAPTER III
: Blacky Finds Out Who Owns The Eggs
Two big white eggs in a tumbledown nest, and snow and ice
everywhere! Did ever anybody hear of such a thing before?
"Wouldn't believe it, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," muttered
Blacky the Crow. "Have to believe them. If I can't believe them, it's of
no use to try to believe anything in this world. As sure as I sit here, that
old nest has two eggs in it. Whoever laid them must be crazy to start
housekeeping at this time of year. I must find out whose eggs they are
and then --"
Blacky didn't finish, but there was a hungry look in his eyes that would

have told any who saw it, had there been any to see it, that he had a use
for those eggs. But there was none to see it, and he took the greatest
care that there should be none to see him when he once again started
for a certain lonesome corner of the Green Forest.
"First I'll make sure that the eggs are still there, " thought he, and flew
high above the tree tops, so that as he passed over the tree in which was
the old nest of Red-tail the Hawk, he might look down into it. To have
seen him, you would never have guessed that he was looking for
anything in particular. He seemed to be just flying over on his way to
some distant place. If the eggs were still there, he meant to come back
and hide in the top of a near-by pine-tree to watch until he was sure that
he might safely steal those eggs, or to find out whose they were.
Blacky's heart beat fast with excitement as he drew near that old
tumble-down nest. Would those two big white eggs be there? Perhaps
there would be three! The very thought made him flap his wings a little
faster. A few more wing strokes and he would be right over the tree.
How he did hope to see those eggs! He could almost see into the nest
now. One stroke! Two strokes! Three strokes! Blacky bit his tongue to
keep from giving a sharp caw of disappointment and surprise.
There were no eggs to be seen. No, Sir, there wasn't a sign of eggs in
that old nest. There wasn't because -- why, do you think? There wasn't
because Blacky looked straight down on a great mass of feathers which
quite covered them from sight, and he didn't have to look twice to know
that that great mass of feathers was really a great bird, the bird to whom
those eggs belonged.
Blacky didn't turn to come back as he had planned. He kept right on,
just as if he hadn't seen anything, and as he flew he shivered a little. He
shivered at the thought of what might have happened to him if he had
tried to steal those eggs the day before and had been caught doing it.
"I'm thankful I knew enough to leave them alone, " said he. "Funny I
never once guessed whose eggs they are. I might have known that no
one but Hooty the Horned Owl would think of nesting at this time of
year. And that was Mrs. Hooty I saw on the nest just now. My, but
she's big! She's bigger than Hooty himself! Yes, Sir, it's a lucky thing I
didn't try to get those eggs yesterday. Probably both Hooty and Mrs.
Hooty were sitting close by, only they were sitting so still that I thought
they were parts of the tree they were in. Blacky, Blacky, the sooner you

forget those eggs the better."
Some things are best forgotten As soon as they are learned. Who never
plays with fire Will surely not get burned.

CHAPTER IV
: The Cunning Of Blacky
Now when Blacky the Crow discovered that the eggs in the old
tumble-down nest of Redtail the Hawk in a lonesome corner of the
Green Forest belonged to Hooty the Owl, he straightway made the best
of resolutions; he would simply forget all about those eggs. He would
forget that he ever had seen them, and he would