172 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
the northeastern twilight while the crows were 
still coming from the southwest. Being of an 
inquiring mind, he pulled his dollar watch out of 
his pocket, and timed the procession. The last 
two stragglers passed over his head a full fifteen 
minutes after the leader had vanished. 
“Gosh!” he said aloud, “I’m glad all them 
crows ain’t goin’ to stay here! Wouldn’t have no 
corn at all!” 
Then he watched the tail of the procession 
vanish into the gray northeast, and his eyes grew 
big. He wondered how it felt to be up there in 
the free air, winging at such speed far over the 
earth. He thought the crows were like a vast 
fleet of aeroplanes, going forth to bomb some dis- 
tant city, and the first crow, the leader, who had 
gone cawing over him, fifteen minutes before, was 
the general in command, giving his orders and 
flying in advance, as a general should. 
“ Gosh!” he reflected, “ it must be great to be 
a general!” 
That was just what Jim thought, too, as his 
wings beat steadily and his eyes reached out into 
the gathering twilight, looking for the haven 
where his thousand followers could feed. 
