Chapter 6

Happy Hearted Roustabouts

The five friends landed on the branches of Brocks tree where the king of crows himself was waiting.

"So what's happenin' brother?" asked Jim almost immediately.

Brock was slightly taken aback but remembered himself, "I've asked you here to tell you your duty in this fight. You are to be our scout unit in the area of Florida, Georgia and Carolina. Your duties are to scout that area for anything that suggests that Otus and Span's forces are moving and report back to the Forest immediately."

"Well, that sounds like a worthwhile job," said Harry.

"But, you must be careful, Span will have falcons scouting that region as well. If you see them, get out of sight as fast as you can… and make sure you see them before they see you."

"Understood, O' King Crow," You will not regret this." called Jim and they took off without another word. Brock and his lieutenants watched them fly out off sight.

"Well that should keep those loafers out of our feathers," spoke up one.

"Lieutenant," said Brock sternly. "I sent them out, because I believe that's where their uses lie. This could be their chance to truly show us what they're made of." He looked at his lieutenants and they looked rather guilty for what they said. "Although I gotta admit, It's gonna be rather quiet without them, so lets get back to our plan of action."

On the other side of the forest, Jim and the other crows were flying out of the forest faster than anyone had ever seen them fly. What they could not know was that in a tree about 10 yards from where they were, two falcons had seen them take off.

"Should we take them?" asked one.

"No," answered the other who was clearly the superior of the two. "Remember what Lord Otus said, if the crows make a move, we report it to him as soon as possible.

"But I thought General Span was in charge," said the first falcon.

"Well things are working a bit differently now. Now, find some more falcons to watch this side of the forest. Once we do that, we'll meet Lord Otus at the old mill."

"The old mill?" inquired the first falcons.

"Ask no questions."

The crows flew on for a few moments. Jim only just realised that this was the first time he had been out in the open air. He nearly forgot why he was out there, the air on his face was like something he'd never felt before.

"So boss, what are your orders?" asked Tommy.

"Okay boys, this should be where we split off. Timmy, Izzy you check out Georgia, Tommy, Harry you go on to Carolina, it's quite a ways away but you can make it. I'll go to Florida."

"Are you sure you wanna go alone, brother?" said Tommy with genuine worry in his voice.

"I'll be okay, just stick to the plan."

So the five crows split off.

Timmy and Izzy flew all day towards Georgia. Izzy was renowned for being the laziest crow of the bunch, so he'd never flown this far in his life, he would give anything for a nap in the sun. Timmy on the other hand was happy to be outside. Being the smallest crow, he always had trouble making himself heard, but outside he felt like his own boss, that no one could order him around. Except, perhaps, the weather…

It was night time when it happened. A huge raindrop landed on Timmy's huge glasses. He looked up and saw that dark clouds were overhead. This was an awkward situation as Timmy could not see without his glasses, and the rain was sure to obscure his vision.

"Izzy, we're gonna have to land," he called as a rumble of thunder sounded.

"Okay, head for that crevice," called Izzy.

There was a crevice in a small rock, just near the train station and Izzy and Timmy took shelter under just as the weather worsened. Izzy stretched and immediately made himself comfortable. Timmy however was fascinated with what was going on outside. A train had just pulled up a few yards away. It was clearly a circus train because it had a colourful design. He watched as the elephants, camels, giraffes and other animals were lead down from their carriages. Timmy couldn't help noticing that the humans that were disembarking from the train were different in appearance. One set of humans were normal pale humans that every crow was familiar with, but another set of humans were darker in skin. The moment the black men were out of their carriage, the more flamboyantly dressed of the pale ones immediately began giving orders.

As the black men worked, they sang long into the night. Timmy couldn't hear much of the rain, but he caught one verse.

We work all day

We work all night

We never learned to read or write

We're Happy Hearted Roustabouts

From where Timmy was, their work did not seem like anything to be happy about at all. The black men and the elephants were made to work in the shivering rain and the slippery mud all night long, while the pale men were set up in a tent some way off drinking and playing cards. They clearly considered themselves superior to those who were working outside. Timmy watched as the tent began to take form, but from the corner of his eye, he saw one elephant slip and nearly crush one of the workers, luckily no one was hurt. It was only when the big top was up, that both worker and elephant were allowed to rest.

Timmy was appalled at what he just saw. He walked back to where Izzy was dozing off, his eyes closed behind his straw hat..

"Come on, let's settle down for the night. I don't think the falcons will try anything in this weather."

"Izzy… do you think there's any hope for us?"

"How do you mean?"

"There's just a lotta prejudice every where, I sometimes wonder if we have a hope of getting our dignity back."

"Don't be melodramatic, Timmy. Brock knows what he's doing. If there's one thing I know we're gonna win this."