of 



I saw in the tree beyond, silhouetted against the 

 moonlit sky, two round bunches, young owls evi- 

 dently, which were the interpretation of the calls. 

 These two, and another young one, were found in 

 the orchard the following day. 



I rejoined the guessers on the porch, and gave 

 them the satisfying facts. But let me say that this 

 was very fast, even exceptional time, indeed, for the 

 solving of an outdoor problem. I have questions 

 enough for a big chapter upon which I have been 

 working these more than three years. The point is 

 this : I might have gone on guessing about the 

 mother call of the screech owl to the end of time; 

 whereas with a little searching and I must certainly 

 have found out the cry in much less time than three 

 years. 



I had laughed at some good friends over on the 

 other road who had bolted their front door and had 

 gone out of the door at the side of the house for 

 precisely twenty-one years because the key in the 

 front door lock would n't work. They kept intending 

 to have it fixed, but the children were little and kept 

 them busy; then they grew up, and of course kept them 

 busy ; got married at last and left home, all but 



211 



