The question, to be sure, was rather a poser.

While he pondered a reply to it--apparently absorbed in the task of relighting his pipe--the Child's attention was diverted.

And forever the question of why bats get themselves misunderstood remained unanswered.
The bat chanced at the moment to be zig-zagging only a dozen feet or so away, when from the empty air above, as if created on the instant out of nothingness, dropped a noiseless, shadowy shape of wings.

It seemed to catch the eccentric little flutterer fairly.

But it didn't--for the bat was a marvelous adept at dodging.