right down there," he muttered.

He walked forward rapidly but quietly, and presently he reached the
edge of the bank. Up flew Blacky cawing wildly, and pretending to be
scared half to death. Again Farmer Brown's boy chuckled. "You're
just making believe," he declared. "You're trying to make me
believe that I have surprised you, when all the time you knew I was
coming and have been waiting for me. Now, what have you found over
here?"

He looked eagerly along the shore, and at once he saw a row of low
bushes close to the edge of the water. He knew what it was
instantly. "A Duck blind!" he exclaimed. "A hunter has built a blind
over here from which to shoot Ducks. I wonder if he has killed any
yet. I hope not." He went down to the blind, for that is what a
Duck hunter's hiding-place is called, and looked about. A couple of
grains of corn just inside the blind caught his eyes, and his face
darkened. "That fellow has been baiting Ducks," thought he. "He has
been putting out corn to get them to come here regularly. My, how I
hate that sort of thing! It is bad enough to hunt them fairly, but
to feed them and then kill them -- ugh! I wonder if he has shot any
yet."

He looked all about keenly, and his face cleared. He knew that if
that hunter had killed any Ducks, there would be tell-tale feathers
in the blind, and there were none.



CHAPTER XXIV: Farmer Brown's Boy Does Some Thinking