The Lay of the Zand 
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 ever 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 
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