He had guessed what these things meant . `` They think we are going to have a long , hard , cold winter , '' muttered Blacky to himself . `` Perhaps they know , but I want to see some signs of it for myself . They may be only guessing . Anybody can do that , and one guess is as good as another . '' Then he found Mr. and Mrs. Quack , the Mallard Ducks , and their children in the pond of Paddy the Beaver and remembered that they never had come down from their home in the Far North as early in the fall as this . Mrs. Quack explained that Jack Frost had already started south , and so they had started earlier to keep well ahead of him . `` Looks as if there may be something in this idea of a long , hard , cold winter , '' thought Blacky , `` but perhaps the Quacks are only guessing , too . I would n't take their word for it any more than I would the word of Johnny Chuck or Jerry Muskrat or Paddy the Beaver . I 'll look about a little . '' So after warning the Quacks to remain in the pond of Paddy the Beaver if they would be safe , Blacky bade them good-by and flew away . He headed straight for the Green Meadows and Farmer Brown 's cornfield . A little of that yellow corn would make a good breakfast . When he reached the cornfield , Blacky perched on top of a shock of corn , for it already had been cut and put in shocks in readiness to be carted up to Farmer Brown 's barn . For a few minutes he sat there silent and motionless , but all the time his sharp eyes were making sure that no enemy was hiding behind one of those brown shocks . When he was quite certain that things were as safe as they seemed , he picked out a plump ear of corn and began to tear open the husks , so as to get at the yellow grains . `` Seems to me these husks are unusually thick , '' muttered Blacky , as he tore at them with his stout bill . `` Do n't remember ever having seen them as thick as these . Wonder if it just happens to be so on this ear . '' Then , as a sudden thought popped into his black head , he left that ear and went to another .
The XXXXX of this were as thick as those on the first .
Blacky Brown Chuck Ducks Frost Green Paddy husks left minutes