"Don't!" cried Benjamin Bat. "Oh, don't do that!"

"What's the matter?" Freddie Firefly asked Benjamin Bat. "Why don't you
want me to fetch Solomon Owl to your tree, to see you hanging by your
heels when you're fast asleep?"

"Solomon Owl is no friend of mine," Benjamin Bat explained with a
shudder. "He'd eat me in a minute, if he could catch me."




XIX

BENJAMIN FEELS GUILTY


Freddie Firefly and Benjamin Bat faced each other in Farmer Green's dark
dooryard.

"Yes!" Benjamin Bat's thin voice quavered. "Don't EVER bring Solomon Owl
to my tree in the daytime. Although he doesn't see so well when it's
light as he does at night, he could catch me without much trouble when I
was asleep. And he would eat me in a minute--or only half a minute,
maybe."

"Well, wouldn't you like that?" Freddie Firefly inquired, as if he were
greatly surprised.