he. "I guess I'm not a very good shot."

"Then what did you mean by saying you had fine luck?" demanded the hunter.

"Oh," replied Farmer Brown's boy, "I had the luck to see those Ducks
and the fun of shooting," and he grinned again.

The hunter lost patience. He tried to order Farmer Brown's boy
away. But the latter said he had as much right there as the hunter
had, and the hunter knew that this was so. Finally he gave up, and
muttering angrily, he went back to his blind. Again the gun of
Farmer Brown's boy frightened away the Ducks just as they were
coming in.

The next afternoon there was no hunter nor the next, though Farmer
Brown's boy was there. The hunter had decided that it was a waste of
time to hunt there while Farmer Brown's boy was about.



CHAPTER XXVIII: Blacky Has A Talk With Dusky The Black Duck

Doubt not a friend, but to the last
Grip hard on faith and hold it fast.
- Blacky the Crow.

Every morning Blacky the Crow visited the rushes along the shore of
the Big River, hoping to find Dusky the Black Duck. He was anxious,
was Blacky. He feared that Dusky or some of his flock had been
killed, and he wanted to know. You see, he knew that Farmer Brown's