Robin Hood's Barn 



big, brown likely eggs he tried to convey to some 

 shelter of his own, propelling them by beak and 

 claw. Disaster naturally awaited each attempt. 

 There was a crash, a spill. In despair at last 

 Harry made choice of six stones, conveying 

 them beneath the porch where he arranged them 

 in a neat romid clutch. And on these, with loss 

 of voice and appetite, of temper and of plvraiage, 

 he expended his paternity for three long weeks. 

 Such faith in the Creative Power, I felt deserved 

 a miracle, and not the cynicism of defeat. 



My own emotion was deeply shared by Sol- 

 omon ; but at the moment I could not guess from 

 the cold calculating eye turned up to mine, how 

 profoundly my audience was moved. In two 

 days, however, there was a marked change in 

 his demeanor. It was clear that I had given 

 pause for thought. Suddenly turned seer, he 

 sat hunched in speculation on the banisters and 

 as though darkness lent reality to visions, he 

 tucked his head beneath his wing. That he was 

 not asleep, I knew, for when I prodded him 

 with some inducement to his old-time deviltry, 

 he rebuked my trivial interruptions with a rumi- 



[124] 



