flapping
wildly in an attempt to escape.

"It's a wood-pigeon," said Arthur. "They must fly after dark
sometimes. A big flock of them ran afoul of the tower and were
dazed by the lights. They've broken a lot of windows, I dare say,
but a great many of them ran into the stonework and were stunned. I
was outside the tower, and when I came in they were dropping to
the ground by hundreds. I didn't know what they were then, but if
we wait twenty minutes or so I think we can go out and gather up
our supper and breakfast and several other meals, all at once."

Estelle had appeared and now reached out her hands for the bird.

"I'll take care of this one," she said. "Wouldn't it be a good
idea to see if there aren't some more stunned in the other offices?"

* * * * *

In half an hour the electric stoves of the restaurant were going at
their full capacity. Men, cheerfully excited men now, were bringing
in pigeons by armfuls, and other men were skinning them. There was
no time to pluck them, though a great many of the women were busily
engaged in that occupation.

As fast as the birds could be cooked they were served out to the
impatient but much cheered castaways, and in a little while nearly
every person in the place was walking casually about the halls
with a roasted, broiled, or fried pigeon in his hands. The ovens
were roasting pigeons, the frying-pans were frying them, and the
broilers were loaded down with the small but tender birds.

The unexpected solution of the most pressing question cheered
every one amazingly. Many people were still frightened, but less
frightened than before. Worry for their families still oppressed
a great many, but the removal of the fear of immediate hunger led
them to believe that the other problems before them would be solved,
too, and in as satisfactory a manner.

Arthur had returned to his office with four broiled pigeons in
a sheet of wrapping-paper. As he somehow expected, Estelle was
waiting there.

"Thought I'd bring lunch up," he announced. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving!" Estelle replied, and laughed.

The whole catastrophe began to become an adventure. She bit eagerly
into a bird. Arthur began as hungrily on another. For some time
neither spoke a word. At last, however, Arthur waved the leg of
his second pigeon toward his desk.

"Look what we've got here!" he said.

Estelle nodded. The stunned pigeon Arthur had first picked up was
tied by o