r tempers and forget all
about keeping guard over those eggs. Then I'll slip in and get one and
perhaps both of them. Without knowing that they are doing anything of
the kind, my friends and relatives will help me to get a good meal. My,
how good those eggs will taste!"

It was a very clever and cunning plan, for Blacky is a very clever and
cunning rascal, but of course it didn't deserve success because nothing
that means needless worry and trouble for others deserves to succeed.

CHAPTER V: Blacky Calls His Friends

When Blacky cries "Caw, caw, caw, caw!" As if he'd dislocate his jaw,
His relatives all hasten where He waits them with a crafty air. They
know that there is mischief afoot, and the Crow family is always ready
for mischief. So on this particular morning when they heard Blacky
cawing at the top of his lungs from the tallest pine-tree in the Green
Forest, they hastened over there as fast as they could fly, calling to
each other excitedly and sure that they were going to have a good time
of some kind.

Blacky chuckled as he saw them coming. "Come on! Come on! Caw, caw, caw!
Hurry up and flap your wings faster. I know where Hooty the Owl is, and
we'll have no end of fun with him," he cried.

"Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!" shouted all his relatives in great glee.
"Where is he? Lead us to him. We'll drive him out of the Green Forest!"

So Blacky led the way over to the most lonesome corner of the Green
Forest, straight to the tree in which Hooty the Owl was comfortably
sleeping. Blacky had taken pains to slip over early that morning and
make sure just where he was. He had discovered Hooty fast asleep, and
he knew that he would remain right where he was until dark. You know
Hooty's eyes are not meant for much use in bright light, and the
brighter the light, the more uncomfortable his eyes feel. Blacky knows
this, too, and he had chosen the very brightest part of the morning to
call his relatives over to torment poor Hooty. Jolly, round, bright Mr.
Sun was shining his very brightest, and the white snow on the ground
made it seem brighter still. Even Blacky had to blink, and he knew that
poor Hooty would find it harder still.

But one thing Blacky was very careful not to even hint of, and that was
that Mrs. Hooty was right close at hand. Mrs. Hooty is bigger and even
more fierce than Hooty, and Blacky didn't want to frighten any of the
more timid of his relatives. What he hoped down deep in his crafty he