ther grew so warm that Solomon Owl could
stay out all night without once feeling chilled. He found the change so
agreeable that he strayed further from home than was his custom. Indeed,
he was far away on the other side of Blue Mountain at midnight, when it
began to rain.

Now, that was not quite so pleasant. But still Solomon did not mind
greatly. It was not until later that he began to feel alarmed, when he
noticed that flying did not seem so easy as usual.

Solomon had grown heavy all at once--and goodness knows it was not because
he had overeaten, for food was scarce at that season of the year.
Moreover, Solomon's wings were strangely stiff. When he moved them they
_crackled_.

"It must be my joints," he said to himself. "I'm afraid this wetting has
given me rheumatism." So he started home at once--though it was only
midnight. But the further he went, the worse he felt--and the harder it was
to fly.

"I'll have to rest a while," he said to himself at last. So he alighted on
a limb; for he was more tired than he had ever been in all his life.

But he soon felt so much better that he was ready to start on again. And
then, to his dismay, Solomon Owl found that he could hardly stir. The
moment he left his perch he floundered down upon the ground. And though he
tried his hardest, he couldn't reach the tree again.

The rain was still beating down steadily. And Solomon began to think it a
bad night to be out. What was worse, the weather was fast turning cold.

"I'm afraid I'll have to stay in bed a week after this," he groaned. "If I
sit here long, as wet as I am, while the thaw turns into a _freeze_, I
shall certainly be ill."

Now, if it hadn't been for the rain, Solomon Owl would have had no trouble
at all. Or if it hadn't been for the freezing cold he would have been in
no difficulty. Though he didn't know it, his trouble was simply this: The
rain froze upon him as

fast as it fell, covering him with a coating of ice. It was no wonder that
he felt strangely heavy--no wonder that he couldn't fly.

There he crouched on the ground, while the rain and sleet beat upon him.
And the only comforting thought that entered his head was that on so
stormy a night Tommy Fox and Fatty Coon would be snug and warm in their
beds. _They_ wouldn't go out in such weather.

And Solomon Owl wished that he, too, had stayed at home that night.

From midnight until almost dawn Solomon Owl sat there. Now and then he
tried to fly. B