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One evening a bat had flown into a room. It 

 whirled about here and there so silently and so 

 swiftly that the eye could not follow it. 



The girls who were in the room were frightened 

 and covered their heads. They had heard that bats 

 sometimes catch their claws and wings in the hair, 

 and get so tangled up in it that it has to be cut off. 

 Many people believe this, although no one has 

 ever really seen it happen, 



The brother of the girls had heard of this too, 

 but his hair was too short for him to feel afraid of 

 its happening to him. He took a tennis racket 

 and stood waiting for the bat to come near him. 

 When it did, he struck'at It. 



He was sure he had hit it, because he had felt its 

 body against the wood of the racket, and it had given 

 a squeak. He thought he had knocked it across the 

 room. But though he looked and hunted he could 

 not find it. 



At last he said that he must have struck it with- 

 out hurting it and it had probably gone out into 

 the night again. Then the girls uncovered their 

 heads and went on with their reading. 



The afternoon of the next day the housemaid 

 was cleaning that same room. She lifted the por- 



