`` He has n't come to-day , or else he came early and has left , '' thought Blacky . And then his sharp eyes caught sight of something that made him turn aside and make straight for a certain tree , from the top of which he could see all that went on for a long distance . What was it Blacky saw ? It was a boat coming down the Big River . Blacky sat still and watched . Presently the boat turned in among the rushes , and a moment later a man stepped out on the shore . It was the same man Blacky had watched scatter corn in the rushes every day for a week . There was n't the least doubt about it , it was the same man . `` Ha , ha ! '' exclaimed Blacky , and nearly lost his balance in his excitement . `` Ha , ha ! It is just as I thought ! '' You see Blacky 's sharp eyes had seen that the man was carrying something , and that something was a gun , a terrible gun . Blacky knows a terrible gun as far as he can see it . The hunter , for of course that is what he was , tramped along the shore until he reached the bushes which Blacky had noticed close to the water and which he knew had not grown there . The hunter looked out over the Big River . Then he walked along where he had scattered corn the day before . Not a grain was to be seen . This seemed to please him . Then he went back to the bushes and sat down on a log behind them , his terrible gun across his knees .
`` I was sure of it , '' muttered XXXXX .
Blacky River bushes knees left log shore to-day water week