and they carried it off with them and hid it in some bushes.

That same night Solomon Owl hunted for it for a long time. But he never
found it.

He decided not to hang out another, for he saw that settling disputes was
a dangerous business.





XVII
COUSIN SIMON SCREECHER


Solomon Owl had a small cousin named Simon Screecher. He was unlike
Solomon in some respects, because he always wore ear-tufts, and his eyes
were yellow instead of black. But in some other ways he was no different
from Solomon Owl, for he was a noisy chap and dearly loved mice—to eat.

It happened that the two met in the woods one fine fall evening; and they
agreed to go hunting mice together.

Now, being so much smaller than Solomon, Simon Screecher was all the
spryer. In fact, he was so active that he could catch mice faster than
Solomon Owl could capture them. And they had not hunted long before
Solomon discovered that Simon had succeeded in disposing of six mice to
his three.