few “_wha-whas_,” just for extra measure.

Many of the forest folk who heard him remarked that Solomon Owl seemed to
be in extra fine spirits.

“Probably it’s the hunter’s moon that pleases him!” Jimmy Rabbit remarked
to a friend of his. “I’ve always noticed that old Solomon makes more noise
on moonlight nights than at any other time.”

The hunter’s moon, big and yellow and round, was just rising over Blue
Mountain. But for once it was not the moon that made Solomon Owl so
talkative. He was in fine feather, so to speak, because he was hoping to
have a fat pullet for his supper. And as for the moon, he would have been
just as pleased had there been none at all that night. For Solomon Owl
never cared to be seen when he visited Farmer Green’s chicken house.





VII
THE BLAZING EYES


It was some three hours after sunset when Solomon Owl at last reached
Farmer Green’s place. All was quiet in the chicken house because the hens
and roosters and their families had long since gone to roost. And except
for a light that shone through a window, the farmhouse showed not a sign
of life.