The Tale of Solomon Owl Part 6

Benjamin Asked Solomon's Advice

Solomon was wise enough to guess what was going on inside Benjamin's head.

"Come along!" he said. "We'll both be asleep before we know it. I'm sorry I can't offer you something to eat. But I haven't a morsel of food in my house. No doubt, though, you've just had a good meal. _I_ ate seven mice to-night. And I certainly couldn't eat anything more."

When Solomon Owl told him that, Benjamin Bat thought perhaps there was no danger, after all. And since the rain was falling harder and harder every moment, he thanked Solomon and said he would be glad to accent his invitation.

"Follow me, then!" said Solomon Owl. And he led the way to his home in the hemlock.

For once, Benjamin Bat flew in a fairly straight line, though he did a little dodging, because he couldn't help it.

There was more room inside Solomon's house than Benjamin Bat had supposed.

While Benjamin was looking about and telling Solomon that he had a fine home, his host quickly made a bed of leaves in one corner of the room-there was only one room, of course.

"That's for you!" said Solomon Owl. "I always sleep on the other side of the house." And without waiting even to make sure that his guest was comfortable, Solomon Owl lay down and began to snore-for he was very sleepy.

It was so cozy there that Benjamin Bat was glad, already, that he had accepted Solomon's invitation.

XIII THE LUCKY GUEST

In the middle of the day Solomon Owl happened to awake. He was sorry that he hadn't slept until sunset, because he was very hungry. Knowing that it was light outside his hollow tree, he didn't want to leave home to find something to eat.

Then, suddenly, he remembered that he had brought Benjamin Bat to his house early that morning, so Benjamin might escape the storm.... Why not eat Benjamin Bat?

As soon as the thought occurred to him, Solomon Owl liked it. And he moved stealthily over to the bed of leaves he had made for his guest just before daybreak.

But Benjamin Bat was not there. Though Solomon looked in every nook and cranny of his one-room house, he did not find him.

"He must have left as soon as it stopped raining," said Solomon Owl to himself. "He might at least have waited to thank me for giving him a day's lodging. It's the last time I'll ever bring any worthless vagabond into my house. And I ought to have known better than to have anything to do with a crazy person like Benjamin Bat."

Anybody can see that Solomon Owl was displeased. But it was not at all astonis.h.i.+ng, if one stops to remember how hungry he was, and that he had expected to enjoy a good meal without the trouble of going away from home to get it.

Solomon Owl went to the door of his house and looked out. The sun was s.h.i.+ning so brightly that after blinking in his doorway for a few minutes he decided that he would go to bed again and try to sleep until dusk. He never liked bright days. "They're so dismal!" he used to say. "Give me a good, dark night and I'm happy, for there's nothing more cheering than gloom."

In spite of the pangs of hunger that gnawed inside him, Solomon at last succeeded in falling asleep once more. And he dreamed that he chased Benjamin Bat three times around Blue Mountain, and then three times back again, in the opposite direction. But he never could catch him, because Benjamin Bat simply wouldn't fly straight. His zigzag course was so confusing that even in his dream Solomon Owl grew dizzy.

Now, Benjamin Bat was in Solomon's house all the time. And the reason why Solomon Owl hadn't found him was a very simple one. It was merely that Solomon hadn't looked in the right place.

Benjamin Bat was hidden-as you might say-where his hungry host never once thought of looking for him. And being asleep all the while, Benjamin didn't once move or make the slightest noise.

If he had snored, or sneezed, or rustled his wings, no doubt Solomon Owl would have found him.

When Benjamin awakened, late in the afternoon, Solomon was still sleeping.

And Benjamin crept through the door and went out into the gathering twilight, without arousing Solomon.

"I'll thank him the next time I meet him," Benjamin Bat decided. And he staggered away through the air as if he did not quite know, himself, where he was going. But, of course, that was only his queer way of flying.

When he told his friends where he had spent the day they were astonished.

"How did you ever dare do anything so dangerous as sleeping in Solomon Owl's house?" they all asked him.

But Benjamin Bat only said, "Oh! There was nothing to be afraid of." And he began to feel quite important.

XIV HANGING BY THE HEELS

It was several nights before Solomon Owl and Benjamin Bat chanced to meet again in the forest.

"Hullo!" said Solomon.

"Hullo!" said Benjamin Bat. "I'm glad to see you, because I want to thank you for letting me spend the day in your house, so I wouldn't have to stay out in the storm."

"You must be a light sleeper," Solomon observed. (He did not tell Benjamin that he was welcome!)

"What makes you think that?" Benjamin Bat inquired.

"Why-you left my house before noon," Solomon told him.

"Oh, no!" said Benjamin. "I slept soundly until sunset. When I came away the crickets were chirping. And I was surprised that you hadn't waked up yourself."

"You were gone before midday," Solomon Owl insisted. And they had something very like a dispute, while Solomon Owl sat in one tree and Benjamin Bat hung head downward from another. "I ought to know," said Solomon. "I was awake about noon; and I looked everywhere for you."

"What for?" asked Benjamin.

Naturally, Solomon didn't like to tell him that he had intended to eat him. So he looked wise-and said nothing.

"You didn't look on the ceiling, did you?" Benjamin Bat inquired.

"No, indeed!" Solomon Owl exclaimed.

"Well, that's where I was, hanging by my feet," Benjamin Bat informed him.

Solomon Owl certainly was surprised to hear that.

"The idea!" he cried. "You're a queer one! I never once thought of looking _on the ceiling_ for a _luncheon_!" He was so astonished that he spoke before he thought how oddly his remark would sound to another.

When he heard what Solomon Owl said, Benjamin Bat knew at once that Solomon had meant to eat him. And he was so frightened that he dropped from the limb to which he was clinging and flew off as fast as he could go. For once in his life he flew in a straight line, with no zigzags at all, he was in such a hurry to get away from Solomon Owl, who-for all he knew-might still be very hungry.