Straight toward the tree in which was the great tumble-down nest of Redtail the Hawk he flew, and as he drew near, he flew high, for Blacky is too shrewd and smart to take any chances.  Not that he thought that there could be any danger there; but you never can tell, and it is always the part of wisdom to be on the safe side.  As he passed over the top of the tree, he looked down eagerly.  Just imagine how he felt when instead of one, he saw two white things in the old nest. —­ two white things that looked for all the world like eggs!  The day before there had been but one; now there were two.  That settled it in Blacky’s mind; they were eggs!  They couldn’t be anything else.

Blacky kept right on flying.  Somehow he didn’t dare stop just then.  He was too much excited by what he had discovered to think clearly.  He had got to have time to get his wits together.  Whoever had laid those eggs was big and strong.  He felt sure of that.  It must be some one a great deal bigger than himself, and he was of no mind to get into trouble, even for a dinner of fresh eggs.  He must first find out whose they were;

then he would know better what to do.  He felt sure that no one else knew about them, and he knew that they couldn’t run away.  So he kept right on flying until he reached a certain tall pine-tree where he could sit and think without being disturbed.

“Eggs!” he muttered.  “Real eggs!  Now who under the sun can have moved into Redtail’s old house?  And what can they mean by laying eggs before Mistress Spring has even sent word that she has started?  It’s too much for me.  It certainly is too much for me.”

CHAPTER III:  Blacky Finds Out Who Owns The Eggs

Two big white eggs in a tumbledown nest, and snow and ice everywhere!  Did ever anybody hear of such a thing before?

“Wouldn’t believe it, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” muttered Blacky the Crow.  “Have to believe them.  If I can’t believe them, it’s of no use to try to believe anything in this world.  As sure as I sit here, that old nest has two eggs in it.  Whoever laid them must be crazy to start housekeeping at this time of year.  I must find out whose eggs they are and then —­”

Blacky didn’t finish, but there was a hungry look in his eyes that would have told any who saw it, had there been any to see it, that he had a use for those eggs.  But there was none to see it, and he took the greatest care that there should be none to see him when he once again started for a certain lonesome corner of the Green Forest.

“First I’ll make sure that the eggs are still there, " thought he, and flew high above the tree tops, so that as he passed over the tree in which was the old nest of Red-tail the Hawk, he might look down into it.  To have seen him, you would never have guessed that he was looking for anything in particular.  He seemed to be just flying over on his way to some distant place.  If the eggs were still there, he meant to come back and hide in the top of a near-by pine-tree to watch until he was sure that he might safely steal those eggs, or to find out whose they were.