"To be brief, then, my boy, for brevity is the soul of wit--although I am not trying to be witty now; I am simply too worn out--Brevity--ah--where was I?"

"I _think_ you were telling me what happened to you tonight," David said.

"Ah, yes, quite so! Well, I raced the Witch, to put it quite simply."

"Oh, Phoenix! Did you win?"

"She said that she would 'beat my tail feathers off,' did she not? Behold, my dear fellow--every tail feather intact!"

"Good for you, Phoenix! How did it go?"

"I found her somewhere over Scotland and accepted her challenge. We jockeyed about for starting positions, and she insulted me by offering me a handicap--which, of course, I refused. For several hundred miles it was nip and tuck, as it were. Then, over Luxembourg, I put all my energies into a magnificent sprint and won the race by three and a half broom lengths. She claimed a foul and went off in a fit of sulks, of course. (I never saw a Witch who was a good loser.) And I--well, the fact is, my boy, that I am not as young as I used to be. I simply _crawled_ home."

"Oh, you poor Phoenix! But you won, though. Good for you, Phoenix. I'm proud of you! I didn't like her at all."

"There you are--I had to win, for both of us. Now, as I wended my weary way homeward, I realized that I should be too tired to go traveling tomorrow. So I decided to tell you, in case you should want to do something else during the day. But I did not know which house was yours. I had to pick one at random. I thrust my head in a window and uttered a cautious _pssssst_! Imagine my dismay when I was answered by a piercing scream! I had to beat a hasty and undignified retreat into a garage until all was peaceful again. Then I did the same thing at the next house, and the next, with the same results."

The Phoenix sighed. "Would you believe it, my boy?--this is the fifth house I tried. But I knew I was on the right track when I heard them calling for you."

"Oh, so it was _you_," said David. "You almost frightened Mother to death. She thought you were a burglar."

"My dear fellow, I am really sorry for having caused any misunderstanding or fright," said the Phoenix apologetically. "It was just that I wanted to tell you of my victory--that is, to tell you that I should be indisposed 

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