At last he decided he would have to _walk_ home. Fortunately, a hard crust
covered the soft snow. So Solomon started off on his long journey.

Flying, Solomon could have covered the distance in a few minutes. But he
was a slow walker. By the time he reached his home among the hemlocks the
sun was shining brightly—for the rain had stopped before daybreak.

Solomon wondered how he would ever succeed in reaching his doorway, high
up in the hollow tree. He gazed helplessly upward. And as he sat there
mournfully the bright sunshine melted the ice that bound his wings. After
a time he discovered that he could move freely once more. And then he rose
quickly in the air and in a twinkling he had disappeared into the darkness
of his home—that darkness which to him was always so pleasant.





XX
A PAIR OF RED-HEADS


In the woods there was hardly one of Solomon Owl’s neighbors that couldn’t
point out the big hemlock tree where he lived. And mischievous fellows
like Reddy Woodpecker sometimes annoyed Solomon a good deal by rapping
loudly on his door. When he thrust his head angrily out of his house and
blinked in the sunlight, his tormentors would skip away and laugh. They
laughed because they knew that they had awakened Solomon Owl. And they
dodged out of his reach because he was always ill-tempered when anybody