Part 7 (1/2)

David listened with horror The dinner before hiht was that noould have to warn the Phoenix as soon as possible The Phoenix would go to South America after all, and his education would end before it had even started All because of this hateful ht to hold back his tears

Dinner was over at last Davidrooot away

”Bedtime for you, David,” she said firot to--”

”Upstairs, youngaround for one day You're all worn out”

”I' ”I feel fine Look, I just _have_ to--”

It was useless She marched him upstairs to his room and stood in the doorway until he had undressed and put on his pajao to sleep The --unless there's a landslide Good night” And she turned out the light and shut the door

This ful! He could not sneak downstairs, because the stairs could be seen fro room He could not climb out of his , because a rose arbor was directly beneath it, and he would be ripped by the thorns And Mother always caht before she went to bed If he was not there when she ca to do The only thing, then, was to wait until the Scientist went ho wait The Scientist's voice went on and on like the drone of an electric fan, interrupted only by an occasional mur the sheets in his hands; then he got up and paced the room in his bare feet It seehttimes had passed before he finally heard all three voices raised and talking at once

The Scientist was going! Now they were saying good-by at the front doornow the door was being closednow there were footsteps on the stairs He jumped into bed just before Mother put her head in and said, ”Good night, dear” David ain The light switches snapped, and there was silence

He waited another half hour to make sure everyone was asleep As quickly and silently as he could, he pulled on his clothes, crept out of his room, and slid cautiously down the bannister In the back yard he put on his shoes, dived through the hedge, and started to race up the mountainside

Fortunately there was a nearly-full ht, it was not easy to keep to the trail Several tier than usual

But he found the ledge at last, climbed over the final difficult rock, and sat down to catch his breath When he could speak, he called softly:

”Phoenix!”

There was no answer

”Phoenix!” He pushed through the thicket to the other side of the ledge ”_Phoenix!_”

The Phoenix was gone

The tears that had been stopped up all evening could be held no longer David dropped to the ground, leaned his forehead against a rock, and let theo He had just remembered As soon as they had come back from the Gryffon adventure, the Phoenix had flown off on some sort of business And it had not said when it would return

The tears cleared David's an to think If he stayed on the ledge all night, they ht find out at home and make a terrible fuss But if he did not warn the Phoenix before ht creep up while the bird was resting and trap it or shoot it So he would have to warn the Phoenix _and_ return hos was to write the Phoenix a note

But he had neither paper nor pencil

A fine o all the way back hoe, and then go hoed down the mountainside in a very low mood Now that he had a definite plan to work on, his fear was gone, but he felt that he had been pretty stupid to rush off without thinking of everything first In his , ”Look before you leap, my boy,” and other ords of advice And he had cried, too

Lucky that no one had been there to see _that_

As he approached the house he was surprised to see all the lights ablaze and to hear his naht, ”they've found out I've gone”

”Here I a the door ”What's the ht whicha revolver and htened, had a shoe in one hand Aunt A cast-iron frying pan Beckie was howling upstairs