chap, so long as they kept out of reach of his
claws.

They began jeering at Solomon Owl. And some of them even tried to mock
his queer cry, "_Whoo-whoo-too-whoo-too-o-o!_" The woods echoed with
their hoots. And Noisy Jake shouted:

"This is luck! Aren't you all glad I found him?"

Now, of course, Jake had not found Solomon Owl. If it hadn't been for
Jasper Jay no one would have known he was there. And Jasper was just
about to remind Jake of his mistake when he happened to think of
something that made him change his mind. It occurred to Jasper that if
Noisy Jake wanted to think he was still the leader of the party perhaps
it was just as well to let him. Jake always talked so much, in such a
loud tone, that Solomon Owl would be sure to know him.

And Jasper thought he could have plenty of fun himself, teasing Solomon
and not saying a word. Then--so Jasper believed--then Solomon Owl
wouldn't know that Jasper was in the party at all.

You see, Johnnie Green was not the only person who held that Solomon Owl
couldn't see in the daytime. Everybody knew that his big, round eyes
were keen enough in the dark. But in the daylight he usually sat quite
still in a tree and stared as if he saw nothing at all.

Well, that was just what Solomon Owl was doing then. He said never a
word. And he scarcely moved, except to turn his head helplessly now and
then, and blink, while his tormentors flew as close to him as they dared
and hooted loudly at him.

Jasper and his friends made enough noise to scare even a bigger bird
than Solomon Owl. And they said a good many rude things to him, too.

"How are Farmer Green's chickens this fall?" Noisy Jake asked him in a
loud voice, while Jasper Jay quietly amused himself by dropping hemlock
seeds upon Solomon's head.

Still Solomon Owl made no remarks at all. But he was thinking deeply.
And though some people claimed that he was not nearly so wise as he
looked, there were some things that he knew just as well as anyone else.

But Jasper Jay was not aware of that.

XII

SOLOMON OWL'S EYES

AFTER a while Jasper Jay saw that his friends were growing tired of
teasing Solomon Owl. So he said to them suddenly, in what was for him a
low voice, "Let's go hunt acorns now!" And he flew off with a pleased
grin upon his face, for he hoped that he had made trouble for Noisy
Jake. His friends all followed him, too, while Noisy Jake hurried on
behind them, trying to overtake and pass Jasper