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