XXIV.BROWN BETTY.
Mrs. Whitney sat in her room, her soft hair floating over her dressing-gown, with little Dick in her arms, just as he had run wailing with his story of distress.
“My throat isn’t sore,” he screamed between his tears; “and I want to go out with the other boys.”
Polly, running along the hall, with a new book that Jasper had loaned her tucked under her arm, a happy half-hour dancing before her eyes, heard him, and stopped suddenly, then she turned back, and put her brown head in the doorway.
“Oh, dear!” and she came close to Mrs. Whitney’s chair.
“I’m not sick,—and I want to go out with the boys,” roared Dick, worse than ever. “I want to go out—I want to go out.”
“I suppose that’s just what Brown Betty cried,” said Polly, saying the first thing that popped into her head of all the stories she used to tell in The Little Brown House.
“Eh?” Little Dick lifted his head from the nest where he had burrowed under his mother’s soft hair, and regarded her closely through his tears.
Polly knelt down by Mrs. Whitney’s side, and turned her back on Jasper’s new book, where she laid it on the floor. “You don’t know how Brown Betty wanted to get out,” she said; “but she couldn’t do it, not a bit of it.”
“Why not?” demanded Dick suddenly, and edging along on his mother’s lap to look into Polly’s eyes. “Why couldn’t she get out, Polly?”
“Why, because she fell in,” said Polly, shaking her brown head sadly, “and there was no one to help her out, no matter how much she cried; so she made up her mind not to cry at all.”
“Didn’t she cry a teenty, wee bit?” asked little Dick, trying to wipe away the drops on his cheeks with his chubby hand.
“Not a single bit of a tear,” said Polly decidedly;“what was the use? it wouldn’t help her to get out. You see, it was just this way. She was hurrying down the garden path, just as fast as her feet would carry her, and she had a big bundle in her mouth”—
“In her mouth?” repeated little Dick in astonishment; and, slipping from his mother’s lap, he cuddled on the floor beside Polly, and folded his small hands.
“Yes, in her mouth,” said Polly merrily. “Oh! didn’t I tell you? Brown Betty was a dear little bug, just as brown as could be; and the bundle in her mouth was a piece of a dead fly she was taking home for her children’s dinner.”
“Oh!” said Dick; “tell me, Polly.”
Mrs. Whitney slipped out of her chair to finish her dressing, first pausing to pat Polly’s brown hair.
“So you see poor Brown Betty couldn’t look very well where she was going; for the piece of a dead fly stuck out in front of her eyes so far, that the first thing she knew, down she went—down, down, down,—and she never stopped till she stood in the midst of hundreds and hundreds of black creatures.”
“O Polly!” exclaimed little Dick in dismay.
“Yes,” said Polly; “and there she was, and she couldn’t speak for a minute, for she had come so far and so fast, that it was impossible for her to catch her breath, so the black creatures ran around and around her in great glee, and every one of them said: ‘How very nice and fat you are; now we’ll eat you up.’”
“O Polly!” cried little Dick again, and snuggling up closer; “didn’t she cry then.”
“No,” said Polly, “she didn’t, because you see it wouldn’t have done any good,—she’d got to think up things, how to get out, and all that, you know, so there wasn’t any time to cry. And she spoke up just as soon as she could catch her breath, ‘Oh, what a wonderful place is this!’ and she rolled her little bits of eyes all around; and the ants said”—
“Oh! were the hundreds of black creatures ants?” asked little Dick.
“Yes, indeed; oh! didn’t I tell you?” cried Polly, all in one breath; “they were dear little black ants, and the deep, deep place that Brown Betty tumbled into when she was carrying home the piece of a dead fly, was their house. And when she said ‘Oh, what a wonderful place isthis!’ they were all very much pleased, and they ran around and around her faster than ever, all talking together, and they said, ‘She seems to be very wise,—it’s a pity to eat her just now. We will wait and let her tell us things first.’
“And Brown Betty heard them say that as they were all running around and around her; for you see when she made up her mind not to cry, she thought she would better keep her ears open as well as her eyes, and find out some way to escape.”
“What’s escape?” interrupted little Dick.
“Oh! to get out, so they wouldn’t eat her up!” said Polly; “well, and so when she heard them say that, why, Brown Betty thought of something else that would give her more time to think up things, how to get away. And she said, ‘Oh! if I might only see some of the splendid places you’ve got in your house, I should be so happy;’ for you see she had heard how the ants build great, long halls and rooms, and ever so many nooks and crannies. And the big ant that made them all mind everything she said, heard her say it, because Brown Betty called it as out loud as she could; and so the big antspoke up, and ordered a company of a hundred ants to get into line.”
“O Polly, a hundred ants!” cried little Dick with an absorbed face.
“O Polly, a hundred ants!” cried little Dick with an absorbed face.
“O Polly, a hundred ants!” cried little Dick with an absorbed face.
“Yes, indeed, that’s nothing,” said Polly; “sometimes they had a thousand march off somewhere, wherever the big Queen Ant would tell them to go. Well, these hundred ran right around Brown Betty, and got her in the middle.
“‘Now, go and show her the long corridor,’ said the big Mother Ant.”
“You said she was the Queen Ant,” corrected Dick.
“Yes, so she was, and the Mother Ant too,” said Polly; “but I like that best, so I’m going to call her so. Well”—
“Polly,” said little Dick hastily, “I very much wish you’d call her Captain Ant.”
“Well, I will,” said Polly, bursting into a merry laugh, that made Mrs. Whitney smile too, a smile that went right down into Polly’s heart, and made her forget all about Jasper’s new book lying there on the floor. “Now she’s Captain Ant; we mustn’t forget that, Dicky.”
“We mustn’t forget that,” repeated Dick, in great satisfaction. “Now go on, Polly, do.”
“So the company of a hundred ants went off just as Captain Ant had told them, to show Brown Betty the long corridor.”
“What’s a long cor—what is that word, Polly?”
“Corridor; oh! that’s a great long hall, ever and ever so long,” said Polly; “and it was broad and splendid, and the walls were as smooth as a board, and the top was just as smooth too,and out of it ran different rooms, and nooks, and crannies, and funny little places. So, when Brown Betty heard Captain Ant command them to show her the long corridor, she began to set her busy little head to thinking that perhaps she might steal away from them, and hide somewhere in one of these queer little spots.”
“And did she?” cried little Dick eagerly.
“Oh, I can’t tell you now!” said Polly; “wait and see. Well, off they went down the long corridor with the smooth dirt walls, and”—
“You said it was board,” corrected little Dick.
“Oh, no, Dicky!” said Polly, “I said it was as smooth as a board, but they were all made of dirt,—dirt walls; and everything was all polished off by the ants till it was straight, and high, and splendid. Well, off they went.
“‘What a perfectly remarkable place,’ cried Brown Betty, rolling up her little bits of eyes at everything as they marched her along in the middle, which pleased them very much; so they let her drop behind the procession once in a while to admire something or other.”
“Oh! now she is going to run away, I know,” said Dick in great excitement.
“Oh, she can’t get away yet!” said Polly. “You wait and see, Dicky. Just then, while she was hanging back from the rest of the company,—for they were all talking together, as they ran around and around, and saying how extremely wise she was, and what a pity it was that they had got to eat her up, after they had shown her all about,—she heard a little noise. You see, she was peering into a little cranny.”
“What’s a cranny?” asked Dick abruptly.
“Oh! a little hide-away place in the wall,” said Polly. “Well, she was peering in there, and wondering if she could slip in when the hundred ants weren’t looking, when she heard this little noise.”
“What was it?” asked Dick, getting as close to Polly as he could.
“You’ll see. And then as she peered in, she saw another brown bug, just like herself, only bigger, chained to the side of the wall, so she couldn’t get away.”
“Oh, dear me!” exclaimed Dick; “how big was the chain?”
“Oh! it wasn’t big at all,” said Polly; “how could it be, to fasten up that wee brown bug? It was all made of the hairs of the blackspiders dropped in the garden, where the ant house was; and the ants had twisted them together, and made chains to tie up their prisoners with.”
“Oh!” said Dicky, drawing a long breath. “And was she tied up tight?”
“Oh! just as tight,” said Polly; “the chain went all around her leg, and over her neck, and there she was sobbing away as if her heart would break.”
“What made her cry?” asked Dick. “Why didn’t she think up things, how to get away, just like your brown bug, Polly?” and he drew himself up with the determination to be like Brown Betty.
“Well, you see she didn’t,” said Polly, “that’s just the difference; so there she was chained to the wall of that cranny.
“‘They’re waiting till I get fat enough,’ said this poor creature to Brown Betty, ‘then they’ll eat me; I heard them say so.’
“Now, Brown Betty couldn’t act as if she heard anything you know, for all those hundred ants would pounce on them both, and cut their heads off, maybe; so she said, ‘Hush, and I’ll try to save you;’ then she hurried off to thecompany. ‘Now show me something more wonderful yet,’ she said.
“‘We’ll show her the Hall of Justice,’ said the ants one to another.”
“What is that, Polly?” asked little Dick.
“Oh, you’ll see!the ants are going to tell Brown Bettyall about it; then you’ll know. Well, so off they went; and by this time they thought so much of Brown Betty’s wisdom, for they were all talking of it together, that they got very careless about keeping her in the middle, but they let her wander at the end of the procession, and stop when she wanted to admire anything very much.”
Brown Betty and the ants.
Brown Betty and the ants.
“Oh, now I know that she is going to run away!” exclaimed little Dick, striking his hands together in great delight.
“And at last there they stood in the middle of the great Hall of Justice. Brown Betty just blinked her eyes, she was so afraid sheshould cry, when the ants all screamed out together, ‘We try our prisoners here before we eat them up.’ But she pretended she didn’t care; and she said, ‘What’s that big chair up there?’ pointing to the end of the long room.
“‘That is not a chair,’ said the ants all together, ‘that is the throne.’
“‘What’s a throne?’ asked Brown Betty, to gain time to think out things by keeping them talking. Besides, she was trembling so with fright, that her poor little knees knocked together, and she had to say something or she would have dropped in a dead faint.
“‘Oh,—oh,—so wise a creature not to know what a throne is!’ exclaimed all the ants together in astonishment; and they ran around and around worse than ever, till poor Brown Betty’s head spun to see them go, they made her so giddy.
“‘It’s where the Queen Ant sits to’”—
“You said you’d call her Captain Ant,” broke in Dick.
“Oh, yes, so I did!—well, Captain Ant,” corrected Polly. “‘Well, it’s where the Captain sits,’ said the ants all together, still running around and around, ‘to try the prisoners.’
“‘Oh!’ said Brown Betty, her poor knees knocking together worse than ever. Then she managed to pick up courage to ask the first thing that came into her head. ‘How does she try them?’
“One of the hundred ants ran out from the company, and close up to Brown Betty. ‘She is so wise,’ he said to himself, ‘I want to show her that I am wise too.’ So he hurried up to her side. ‘Do you see that sword hanging up there?’ he whispered; and the other ninety-nine ants were all talking together and running about so they didn’t hear him.
“‘Where?’ asked Brown Betty, peering up above the throne. ‘I see nothing.’
“‘Of course,’ said the ant who wanted to show how wise he was; and he laughed softly, he was so pleased that he could tell her something new. ‘You can’t see it till I tell you where it is, so I am wiser than you. Well, when the Queen has that in her hand, she can do anything she pleases,—it all comes to pass. It hangs just back of the throne, at the top. Now, don’t you think I am wise?’
“Brown Betty’s heart gave a great jump. ‘Oh, sir!’ she cried, ‘what a wonderful creatureyou are!’ which so delighted the ant, that he ran round and round her sixty times without stopping, talking to himself all the while; ‘She says I’m a wonderful creature.’
“All this time Brown Betty was thinking how she could get up into that throne; and presently she said as loud as she could, ‘One of the most wonderful places that ever I was in is this very spot. But I must sit on that throne before I can say it isthemost wonderful place,’ she added boldly, while her poor knees shook and knocked so together she thought she should die.
“‘She must say it isthemost wonderful place she was ever in,’ declared the company of ants in consternation, ‘else Captain Ant will have our heads off when we carry her back;’ and they ran round and round her worse than ever, saying this over all the time.
“At last they all stopped and swarmed around her, keeping her in the middle. ‘Will you say “This isthemost wonderful place I was ever in,” if we let you get up in the throne?’ they cried at her.
“‘I will,’ promised Brown Betty as quick as a flash. So they opened their ranks; and beforeshe could think twice, there she was up in the throne, and looking down into their faces. But how to get hold of the sword, she didn’t know.”
“O Polly, do let her get that sword!” cried little Dick in great distress. “Please show her how. Please hurry, Polly, and show her how quick.”
“And there she was, looking down into their faces, and she knew she must hurry and say the words she had promised, and then get down; and she was at her wits’ end to know what to do.”
“Please hurry, and show her how quick,” begged little Dick, his knees knocking together.
“‘What a wonderful top to that throne!’ cried Brown Betty; ‘I must see that first;’ and as quickly as she said the words, up she ran with all speed to the very tip of the throne spread over her head. The wise ant who had told her of the sword, just then screamed out, ‘Hold her back!’ but it was too late; Brown Betty’s little bits of eyes were keen and sharp; there was the sword, hanging before her; and in a second it was in her mouth, and she was waving it over the hundred ants.
“‘Stop where you are!’ she screamed at them, ‘or I’ll cut your heads off!’ and not a single ant moved.”
“She killed them all, she killed them!” piped Dicky in the most joyful tone; and springing to his feet he danced all over the dressing-room, singing, “Brown Betty killed them all!”
“Oh, no, she didn’t!” said Polly, as soon as she could make herself heard.
“She didn’t kill them!” exclaimed little Dick, coming to a dead stop in amazement.
“Oh, no! of course not,” said Polly; “Brown Betty wouldn’t do such a cruel thing, if she could get away and help the other brown bug off without hurting them. She just slipped down from the throne, waving her sword at them, and telling them she would cut their heads off if they stirred; but they couldn’t, you know; then she slammed the door of the Hall of Justice tight to, and locked them all in.”
“That was worse,” said Dicky, coming up quite close to her.
“Oh! some of the other ants would come by and by, to look for them,” said Polly comfortingly, “and let them out. So down the long corridor she ran with the Captain’s swordin her mouth, till she reached the cranny where the other brown bug was tied.
“‘Stop crying!’ she commanded; and with one flash of the sword, she snipped the chain everywhere it was fastened. ‘Now come on;’ and she dragged the prisoner out. And away they went, Brown Betty waving the sword high; for she didn’t know when she would meet any ants, and she must be ready to keep them off.
“‘You’ve been here longer than I,’ she cried to the other brown bug; ‘don’t you know some way out?’
“‘Let me stop and think,’ begged the other brown bug; ‘you hurry me so I can’t think of anything.’ So Brown Betty pulled her into a little cubby-hole, they were racing by, in the corridor, while she stood on guard, still waving the Captain’s sword.
“‘I will give you till I can count ten,’ she said. ‘One—two—three—four—five—six—seven—eight’”—
“Oh, dear!” groaned little Dick.
“‘Nine—ten’—
“‘Straight ahead! turn to your right!’ screamed the other brown bug; and out into the long corridor they stepped once more, andran like lightning; and then, after awhile, ‘Turn!’ she said; ‘I heard them say that they had built a secret way;’ and there was a little narrow slit of a way, down which they turned; and they turned, and they turned, till finally after they had got through turning, all of a sudden out it came into the green grass; and, don’t you think, right around the door, only they didn’t see it, it was so covered with a clump of leaves, were six little, wee, tiny brown bugs, all crying and screaming and rubbing their eyes for their mammy, and there she was right in their midst.”
“O Polly! was it Brown Betty’s home she got to?” screamed little Dick, throwing his arms around her, his cheeks aflame.
“Yes,” said Polly, “it truly was; and Brown Betty would never have found it at all if she hadn’t gone back to save the other brown bug.”
“And what did she do with the Captain’s sword?” at last asked Dicky, coming out of his entrancement.
“I don’t know,” said Polly; “but here come the boys, Dicky.”