ut not nearly so big as it was when I first came to this
neighborhood to live," Simon told him with a sly smile.

He had hardly finished that remark when a loud _wha-wha, whoo-ah_ came
from a hemlock not far away. And the next moment Simon's cousin Solomon
Owl sailed through the moonlight and alighted near him.

Dickie Deer Mouse couldn't help thinking that it was a great night for
the Owl family. And he was surprised to notice that Simon Screecher did
not act overjoyed at seeing his cousin.

"It's a pleasant night," said Solomon Owl in his deep, hollow voice.

Simon Screecher replied somewhat sourly that he supposed it was. And he
changed his seat, so that he might keep his eyes on both his cousin and
Dickie Deer Mouse at the same time.

But Solomon Owl made matters very hard for Simon. Simon had no sooner
seated himself comfortably when Solomon Owl moved to a perch behind him.

Simon Screecher looked almost crosseyed, as he tried to watch everything
that happened. And he looked so fretful that for a moment Dickie Deer
Mouse actually forgot his fear and laughed aloud. [Illustration]

[Illustration]

XIII

THE FEATHERS FLY

"I'm glad to see you," Solomon Owl told his cousin Simon Screecher,
while Dickie Deer Mouse stood stock still on the ground beneath the tree
where the two cousins were sitting. "I'm glad to see you. And I hope
you're enjoying good health."

"I'm well enough," Simon Screecher grunted.

"Do you find plenty to eat nowadays?" Solomon asked him.

Simon Screecher admitted that he was not starving.

"Ah!" Solomon exclaimed. "Then you can have no objection to sharing a
specially nice tidbit with your own cousin."

Dickie Deer Mouse shivered. But he did not dare move, with one of Simon
Screecher's great, glassy eyes staring straight at him. And there was
something else that did not help to put him at his ease: Solomon Owl
seemed to be watching him likewise!

"Haven't you dined to-night?" Simon Screecher inquired in a testy tone.

"Yes!" Solomon admitted. "But I haven't had my dessert yet.... What are
you looking at so closely, Cousin Simon, down there on the ground?"

An angry light came into Simon Screecher's eyes.

"Can't I look where I please?" he snapped.

And he changed his seat again, so that he might get a better view of
Dickie and Solomon at the same time.

Solomon Owl promptly moved to another limb behind Simon, and slightly
higher.

And Dickie Deer Mouse took heart