XBUSTER MAKES A SPEECH
At first, when he found himself in the grip of what he was sure must be the Robber Fly, Buster Bumblebee was so alarmed that he could not even scream. But in a moment or two he found his voice. And he shrieked "Help! Help!" in a most frantic tone, hoping that some one would come and save him.
But nobody came. And Buster expected every instant to feel the cruel beak of the Robber Fly, when there was a sudden commotion behind his back. Somebodyelse cried out now. And Buster knew the voice, too. Yes! Buster was sure that Peevish Peggy had come to help him. But there was one thing that puzzled him. Peevish Peggy seemed to be fully as frightened as Buster himself. At least, her cries sounded as if she were in great terror.
Probably she's afraid the Robber Fly has hurt me, Buster thought. And he reflected that in spite of her sharp tongue Peevish Peggy was more kind-hearted than he had ever dreamed.
The next instant Buster felt himself suddenly released. At the same time something swept him off the clover-top; and he barely managed to save himself from a bad fall.
Somewhere he could hear a loud buzz, as of several angry voices. But he did not care to show himself enough to find outwhat was happening. For the time being he was content to stay snugly hidden among the thick clover leaves.
Buster Shouted For Everybody to Keep Quiet. (_Page 48_)Buster Shouted For Everybody to Keep Quiet. (Page 48)
After a while the uproar ceased. But even then Buster Bumblebee was in no hurry to leave his shelter.
When he did at last reach home he found the whole family much upset. Everybody was talking at once. And in a household of more than two hundred that meant that the noise was almost deafening.
Naturally, Buster Bumblebee wanted to know what was the matter. It was a long time, however, before anyone would—or could—listen to him. But at last he succeeded in getting the ear of the trumpeter.
"Haven't you heard the news?" she asked. "The Robber Fly came to the clover patch to-day. And Peevish Peggy had a very narrow escape. If it hadn'tbeen for several other workers who happened to be gathering clover nectar nearby, there's no telling where she would be now."
"Where is she?" Buster inquired.
"Resting in bed," the trumpeter explained. (Even Buster wondered how she could rest with all that racket in the house!) "She's had a bad fright, poor thing!" the trumpeter added.
Buster Bumblebee suddenly grew much excited. And he climbed up on a table and shouted for everybody to be quiet.
"I don't believe you know about me!" he cried, as soon as the house was still. "The Robber Fly attacked me. ButIdon't need to go to bed. I'm not the least bit nervous."
Several of the family near him begantotitter.
And the Queen herself stepped forwardand commanded Buster to hop down from the table at once.
He obeyed promptly. But he was quite puzzled. No one seemed to believe what he said. And it was a long time before he learned what had actually happened. At last a spiteful worker informed him that he had never been in the clutches of the Robber Fly at all. Peevish Peggy and some of her companions had played a trick on Buster—because of his boasting. She had seized him when he wasn't looking. And he had screamed so loud that the Robber Fly—who happened to be near—had heard him.
Then the Robber Fly had rushed up and seized Peevish Peggy, who had promptly let go of Buster Bumblebee.
The worker who told these things to Buster Bumblebee actually laughed in his face. And Buster was so surprised—andso crestfallen—that he couldn't say a word for a long time.
And never again did Buster mention the Robber Fly's name.
XITHE DRONE
Yes! Buster Bumblebee was a drone. He never gathered any nectar from the flowers and brought it home to help swell the family store of honey. He let the workers of the household do that. And since they never complained, but seemed to enjoy their drudgery, Buster saw no reason why he should interfere with the honey-making in any way.
He was content to live a life of ease and pleasure. And never having to bestir himself—never having to hurry or worry—he quickly grew into a somewhat clumsy and blundering young gentleman. And whatwas still worse, this handsome young idler soon gained the name of being none too keen-witted.Good-natured, but a bit stupid—that was what the field and forest folk called Buster Bumblebee.
But bless you!Henever bothered his head with what people said. When anybody called him a drone he would only laugh. And when some busybody asked him for pity's sake why didn't he go to work, he would merely grin and reply that he was a queen's son and that queens' sons never did anything except eat a plenty and have a good time.
Well, that must have been an excellent answer, for it seemed to keep people quiet. And it made some think that perhaps Buster Bumblebee was not quite so dull as he often appeared.
Once, indeed, he had thought it would be fun to help with the honey-making. Sohe stopped one of the workers when she was on her way home with a load of nectar.
"Let me help you carry that home!" Buster said.
Now, the workers were all a shrewish lot. They were terribly short-tempered—especially if anybody interfered with their work, which they loved better than anything else in the world.
"Don't you come near me!" snapped the worker angrily. "Keep away or I'll sting you!" she threatened.
Naturally, a happy, easy-going person like Buster Bumblebee wasn't looking for trouble of that sort. So he dodged clumsily out of sight behind a milkweed; and he made up his mind then that that was the last time he would ever have anything to do with one of those testy honey-makers.
Of course it was a bit difficult to avoidthem entirely in a family of two hundred or more, all living together in a medium-sized house. And so Buster Bumblebee decided at last that he would be far happier in some place that was not so crowded, and where there was no work going on—and no workers.
And so, one fine August day, Buster left the family home, never to set foot inside it again. But he often passed that way and lingered just outside the door, to listen to the music and the sound of dancing within.
That was the thing that he missed most; for, like all his family, he was fond of music. And he was forever humming to himself as he sipped nectar from the clover-tops or the flowers in Farmer Green's garden.
Buster Listened to Mrs. Ladybug's Suggestion. (_Page 56_)Buster Listened to Mrs. Ladybug's Suggestion. (Page 56)
XIITHE CARPENTER BEE
After Buster Bumblebee left the old house in the meadow, where Mrs. Field Mouse had once lived, he had no real home. Like that quarrelsome rascal, Peter Mink, he would crawl into any good place that he happened to find. Sometimes Buster chose a hole in a fence-rail, and sometimes a crack in the side of one of the farm-buildings. He really didn't much care where he spent the night, provided it was not too far from the flower garden or the clover field.
Not being one of the worrying kind, Buster was quite contented with his lot.And it would never have occurred to him to live in any different style had it not been for a remark that little Mrs. Ladybug made to him one day.
"I should think—" she said—"I should think that the son of a queen ought to have a house of his own, instead of sleeping—like a tramp—where night overtakes him."
Now, Mrs. Ladybug's words did not offend Buster Bumblebee in the least.
"No doubt you know best," he told her. "But how can I build a house? I've never worked in all my life. And I don't intend to begin now."
"Why not get some one to build a house for you?" she asked him.
"I never thought of that!" he cried. "Whom would you suggest?"
"I know the very person!" Mrs. Ladybug told him. "He's a Carpenter Bee; and he lives in the big poplar by the brook.Perhaps you know him. Johnnie Green calls him Whiteface," she said. "They do say he's a very skillful workman."
Buster Bumblebee replied that he had never met the Carpenter, but that he would go and see him at once. So over to the big poplar he flew. And soon he was knocking boldly at the door of the Carpenter's house.
Pretty soon a mild-appearing person, who looked not a little like Buster himself, stepped through the doorway. He wore a white patch across his front and his clothes needed brushing sadly, for they showed many marks of sawdust.
"Are you the Carpenter?" Buster Bumblebee inquired.
The mild stranger said he was.
"How would you like to build a house for me?" Buster asked him.
The Carpenter seemed greatly surprised at the suggestion. "I don't think I'd like it very well," he said timidly.
"Why not?" Buster demanded.
"Well, I'm busy building an addition to my house," the Carpenter explained. "And besides, you're a total stranger. I've never seen you before; and we might quarrel if I did any work for you."
"Oh, no!" Buster Bumblebee assured him. "You couldn't quarrel with me, because I'm the most peace-loving person in Pleasant Valley."
"There!" the Carpenter cried. "I knew as soon as I set eyes on you that we were bound not to agree.... I've always claimed that there's no peacefuller person than I am in this whole neighborhood. So here we are, quarreling already!"
"Maybe you're right," Buster said then."I'll agree that you like peace more than I do. But remember! Next to you there's no one that hates a fight the way I do—and hates work, too!"
XIIITHE CARPENTER'S PROMISE
When Buster Bumblebee told Whiteface the Carpenter Bee, that he hated to work that honest artisan stared at his caller in astonishment.
"You're a queer one!" he said at last "But there's something about you that I can't help liking, though it would be hard for me to say just what it is—so please don't ask me!"
"Then you'll make me a house, after all?" Buster cried joyfully.
"I will," the Carpenter promised, "just as soon as I finish the addition I'm building to my own home."
"Good!" said Buster. And wishing theCarpenter Bee a hasty good-afternoon, he flew off to find little Mrs. Ladybug and tell her that he was going to have a house of his own, just as she had suggested.
After that the news spread quickly, for Mrs. Ladybug was somewhat of a gossip—in a pleasant enough way. Being much interested in her neighbors, she liked to talk about their affairs. And now she told everyone that Buster Bumblebee was going to have a fine new house, and that the Carpenter was going to build it for him.
Naturally, Buster's friends all told him that they were glad to hear of his good fortune. And whenever anyone mentioned the matter, Buster promptly invited him to come to a party that he intended to give as soon as his new home was ready to move into.
"Mrs. Ladybug tells me that I ought to have a house-warming," Buster explained.And though some of his neighbors didn't know what he meant by that, they said "Of course!" and tried to look wise.
There was only one thing about the whole affair that annoyed Buster: when people asked him when his new house would be finished he was unable to tell them.
"Well, when is the Carpenter going to start building it?" they would ask. And he could only reply that as soon as the Carpenter completed the addition to his own house he had promised to begin to build Buster's.
Now, many people were satisfied with that answer. But there were some (they were the curious ones) that insisted on knowing exactly when that would be. And then there was nothing that Buster Bumblebee could do except to admit that he didn't know.
"Why don't you find out about it?" asked the most curious person in all Pleasant Valley—and that, of course, was old Mr. Crow. "If I were you I'd go to the Carpenter andinsiston his telling me."
So Buster Bumblebee began calling at the Carpenter's house every day. Some days he even went there two or three times. It must have been annoying for anybody as busy as the Carpenter to be interrupted so often—and always for the same reason. But he never once thought of being angry—though he did wish that Buster would let him work in peace.
His answer to Buster's question was always the same: "I'm afraid my house won't be finished to-morrow."
XIVBAD NEWS
It is not surprising that the Carpenter's answer failed to satisfy Buster Bumblebee.
"I really must know when my house will be ready!" he cried at last. "I've invited all my friends to a house-warming. And how can I have one unless I have a house to warm?"
The Carpenter slowly shook his head.
"Don't ask me!" he said wearily. "I've enough to trouble me right here at home without answering any riddles for strangers."
"I suppose you'll get your house finished sometime," Buster ventured.
"I hope to," said the Carpenter, "though it certainly won't be to-morrow, on account of all the interruptions I'm having to-day."
Now, that honest workman meant his remark to be a hint. But the idea never occurred to Buster that the Carpenter hadhimin mind, when he mentioned interruptions. And Buster went right on talking.
"I'd suggest that you work nights as well as in the daytime," he said.
"I'll think about it," the Carpenter promised. "And now," he added, "now I must go back to my carpentering—if you'll excuse me."
And before Buster could say another word the Carpenter slipped through his doorway and vanished.
"I hope he'll do as I suggested," Buster Bumblebee said to himself, as he moved aimlessly away from the big poplar wherethe Carpenter lived. "If I shouldn't get my house until cold weather comes I don't see how I could have a house-warming; and then all my friends would be disappointed."
The more he thought about the matter the more disturbed he became, until at last (on the following day) he felt that he simplymustgo back and speak to the Carpenter again.
Buster noticed, as he drew near to the Carpenter's house once more, that there was a crowd in the Carpenter's dooryard. Everybody looked so sorrowful that Buster was sure something dreadful had happened.
"What's the matter?" he asked little Mrs. Ladybug, who was wiping her eyes with a lace pocket-handkerchief.
"It's the Carpenter," she answered, as soon as she could speak. "He's disappeared.And now we've just heard what's become of him. Johnnie Green caught him yesterday and has made him a prisoner!"
That was bad news indeed—for Buster Bumblebee. He was so sorry that he swallowed hard three or four times before he could say a word. And then he began to groan.
"This is terrible!" he moaned at last. And all the Carpenter's neighbors gathered around him and said what a kind-hearted young gentleman he was, but that it was no more than you might expect of a queen's son.
"The Carpenter must have been a dear friend of yours," quavered old Daddy Longlegs, tottering up to Buster and peering into his face.
"Oh, no!" said Buster Bumblebee. "But he promised to build a house for me assoon as he had finished working on his own. So his being a prisoner is pretty hard on me. For I've invited all my friends to a house-warming and I don't know what to do."
XVTHE PRISONER
Buster Bumblebee did not stay long in the dooryard of the missing Carpenter. Saying a mournful good-by to the sad company, he flew away toward Farmer Green's house. It was there that the Carpenter was a prisoner. And Buster could only hope that he might find some way of setting the woodworker free.
Luckily Buster Bumblebee did not have to look long for what he was seeking. On the porch of the farmhouse he soon discovered a honey box, with glass sides. And whom should he see inside it, sitting on a little heap of wild rose leaves and lookingforlorn and unhappy—whom should Buster see but the Carpenter.
Buster crowded close against the glass and began to call so loud that the Carpenter couldn't help hearing him. And then the poor fellow came and stood on the other side of the glass barrier, as near Buster as he could get.
"Why don't you come out?" Buster asked.
"How can I?" said the Carpenter. "Don't you see that I'm a prisoner?"
"Yes! But why don't you cut your way out?" Buster Bumblebee asked him.
"Well, I've tried," the Carpenter confessed. "But this glass is so hard that I can't even dent it."
"But you're a woodworker—not a glass-worker!" exclaimed Buster Bumblebee. "And if you're as skillful as people say you are, you ought to be able to bore ahole through one of the wooden ends of your prison."
At that suggestion the Carpenter looked decidedly happier.
"That's so!" he exclaimed. "I wish I had thought of that before."
Of course it was Buster that thought of the plan, then; but he didn't say so to the Carpenter. Instead, Buster shouted through the glass:
"Get to work at once! And I'll wait for you."
So the Carpenter began to cut away at an end of the honey box. But unluckily for him, he had hardly begun his task when Johnnie Green came dancing out upon the porch, followed by two strange boys.
"Here he is!" cried Johnnie, kneeling beside the Carpenter's prison. "See him! Do you know what he is?"
The two strange boys did not wear overalls, like Johnnie Green. But they did not seem to mind that. They knelt right down beside him in their spick-and-span velvet suits and stared curiously at the Carpenter.
"He's a bumblebee!" one of them exclaimed. And the other echoed immediately, "He's a bumblebee!" Being twins, and looking just alike, they always tried to do and say the same things.
Johnnie Green did not tell them their mistake. With an odd smile he slid aside one of the glass doors of the Carpenter's prison and picked the frightened captive up with his fingers.
"Oh!" cried the two guests. "Won't he sting you?"
"Naw!" said Johnnie Green scornfully. "He won't sting me. He knows me."
For a few minutes the two city boys—forthat is what they were—for a few minutes they watched Johnnie Green expectantly. They seemed to be waiting for something. And they were. They were waiting for Johnnie Green to be stung.
But nothing of the sort happened. And soon one of them said:
"I wish I had a pet bumblebee."
"So do I!" said the other twin.
"Do you?" asked Johnnie Green. "Well,—I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you each a honey box. And maybe you can catch some bumblebees, if you want to."
Of course, the twins were delighted. And Johnnie Green appeared pleased too. Perhaps he should have told his little friends that his pet was not a bumblebee at all—but a carpenter bee—and that carpenter bees never sting people.
But Johnnie Green did not always do just exactly as he ought to have done.
XVITHE TWINS IN THE CLOVER PATCH
The twins—Johnnie Green's guests—each with a honey box in his hand, began at once to hunt for bumblebees. And if Buster Bumblebee had been wiser he would have flown away at once.
But he had no idea that he would have any trouble dodging a boy—especially a city boy. So he lingered on the porch to see what happened. As soon as Johnnie Green should put the Carpenter back in his prison Buster intended to urge him once more to cut his way through the wood—and to freedom.
Soon Buster had his chance. Again he crowded close to the glass door of the Carpenter's cage. And then Johnnie Green's sharp eyes spied him.
"There's one!" said Johnnie Green to one of the twins. And at that the eager youngster pounced quickly on Buster, picked him up gingerly, and popped him quickly into a prison exactly like the one that held the Carpenter.
"He didn't sting me!" cried Buster's captor proudly, while Johnnie Green stared at him in astonishment and—it must be confessed—with some disappointment, too.
Now, Johnnie knew a good many things about the field and forest folk in Pleasant Valley. He knew that the Carpenter (or Whiteface, as Johnnie called him) couldn't sting anybody. But he had always supposed that all bumblebees stungfiercely. And that was where he was mistaken. It was true that Buster's mother, the Queen, could sting when she wanted to. And all those hot-tempered workers who lived with her had stings just as hot as their tempers. But Buster and his brothers (for he had brothers) were not armed with such weapons.
Naturally, the other twin was now more eager than ever to capture a bumblebee of his own. And since Johnnie did not want to disappoint a guest he soon suggested that they go over to the clover patch.
"There's a lot of bumblebees over there, always," said Johnnie Green hopefully.
So Buster had a free ride to the clover field; for his twin insisted on taking his new pet right along with him.
"Besides, I may want to catch some more like him," he explained.
Looking out through the glass sides ofhis prison, which his captor held tightly in one hand, Buster Bumblebee saw many of his mother's workers hovering about the clover-tops, gathering nectar for the honeycomb at home.
The twins saw the workers, too. They were delighted. And so was Johnnie Green.
"Take all the bumblebees you want!" said Johnnie. "My father won't care."
Both twins grabbed at the same time. They both shrieked at the same time, too—for each of them felt a sharp pain, as if a red-hot needle had been run into his finger. And Buster Bumblebee felt himself falling. Then followed a crash of splintering glass. And in another moment Buster was hurrying away across the clover field.
When he was stung by the worker he had seized, Buster's twin had dropped thehoney box. And it had fallen squarely upon a rock and broken.
If Buster had not been in such haste to escape he would have heard still another shout. For the news spread like wildfire among the workers—the news that an army of boys had attacked them. And a terrible-tempered relation of Buster's known as Peppery Polly darted at Johnnie Green and buried her sting deep in the back of that young gentleman's sun-browned neck.
As for the Carpenter, everybody quite forgot about him. Johnnie and the twins were too busy putting mud poultices on their wounds, to ease their aches and pains, to think of the prisoner they had left on the farmhouse porch. It was not until the next day that Johnnie Green remembered his new pet. And when he went to see him then the honey box was empty. TheCarpenter had cut a tunnel through the wall of his prison.
Later the Carpenter sent a message to Buster, by little Mrs. Ladybug.
"The Carpenter has lost so much time," she told Buster, "that he thinks he will never be able to finish the addition to his house. So he says you'll have to get somebody else to build your new home for you."
At first Buster was disappointed. But he soon recovered his good spirits.
"After all, it's just as well," he remarked cheerfully. "I know where there's a fine new house right in the clover patch. And I'll move into it at once."
Of course he meant the honey box which the boy had dropped upon the rock and forgotten. So Buster had his new home without the help of the Carpenter. And all his friends agreed that the house-warminghe gave was the most successful that ever was known in those parts. It took place on the hottest day of the summer. And Buster's house was so warm that three of his guests almost had sunstrokes—and had to be helped home.
XVIIBUSTER LEARNS OF THE RAISING BEE
"Yes!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "I hear that there's going to be a raising bee at Farmer Green's place to-morrow. And if I were you I should certainly want to be there."
Being very good-natured, Jimmy Rabbit was always ready to talk to anybody he happened to meet, no matter how small the other person might be. And now, while he was nibbling at Farmer Green's lettuce, he had chanced to glance up and spy Buster Bumblebee, who was buzzing about the tall hollyhocks, which made a sort of hedge where the flower and the vegetable garden met.
"A raising bee!" Buster Bumblebee exclaimed, when he heard Jimmy Rabbit's bit of news. "I've never in my life seen that kind of bee—nor heard of it, either.... It must be a great curiosity."
"Yes!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "And you ought not to miss seeing this one. I'd like to go over to the farmhouse to-morrow myself—if I had the time."
"Well, I'm going, anyhow," Buster declared. "And when next I see you I'll tell you all about this strange bee. For all we know now it may be nothing but a honey bee that has changed his name."
Jimmy Rabbit only smiled at his small friend. He said nothing at all—though he looked uncommonly wise.
"What time to-morrow can I get a peep at this 'raising bee,' as he calls himself?" Buster Bumblebee inquired.
"You had better plan to reach the farmyardat nine o'clock sharp," Jimmy Rabbit advised him.
"How shall I know where to look?" Buster asked him.
"Oh! you'll have no trouble finding the raising bee," Jimmy replied. "Just follow the crowd! All of Farmer Green's friends for miles around will be there."
"Is that so?" said Buster. "What are they coming for?"
"Why, they've heard about the raising bee, too," Jimmy told him. "Farmer Green has invited everybody to come to his house. And there'll be plenty to eat for everyone. No doubt they'll have a dance, too, in the afternoon—just before milking time. Of course they'll all have to go home in time to milk the cows," Jimmy explained.
"I suppose so," Buster remarked. "And I must say I'm glad that I have no cows,for it has always seemed to me that they are only a nuisance."
Jimmy Rabbit agreed heartily in that opinion.
"Yes!" Buster Bumblebee continued. "Farmer Green has many strange ways. Now, what's the sense of having a vegetable garden? And yet I understand that he always plants one over there where you're sitting."
Jimmy Rabbit shook his head.
"I can't quite agree with you," he said quickly, "though I've always claimed that a flower garden is just a waste of time."
"What a strange notion!" cried Buster Bumblebee. "To my way of thinking, this flower garden is the best thing Farmer Green has—unless it's the clover patch."
Now, some people would have flown into a temper at once on being disputed likethat. But Jimmy Rabbit was never known to be angry.
"Billy Woodchuck would agree with you about the clover," he said with a chuckle. "You know he's very fond of clover-tops."
"He's a sensible chap," Buster Bumblebee declared. "And speaking of clover makes me so hungry for some that I'm going to the clover patch this very minute."
So Buster darted away, calling out as he went that he would meet Jimmy at the hollyhock hedge on the next morning but one.
"I'll tell you all about the raising bee," he promised once more.
And Jimmy Rabbit laughed so heartily that he almost choked over a choice lettuce leaf.
XVIIIFOLLOWING THE CROWD
Well, the next day Buster Bumblebee arrived at Farmer Green's place just as the cuckoo clock in the kitchen was striking nine. And he knew at once that Jimmy Rabbit must have told him the truth about the raising bee, for the farmyard was crowded with wagons and carryalls and buggies and gigs. There were people everywhere—so many that Buster thought all the world must be there. And he began to look about him carefully.
But nowhere could he find what he had come to see. So he asked a ruffianly looking wasp where the raising bee was. Butthe wasp, who was hurrying by, merely glanced at Buster and said, with a frown:
"Follow the crowd!"
Buster remembered then that that was exactly what Jimmy Rabbit had told him to do. And now, as he looked all around, he noticed that Farmer Green was already leading the way to a pile of lumber near the old cow-barn. Everybody was following him. And a good many small boys began to shout to nobody in particular, "Hurrah! hurrah! She's going up!"
Buster Bumblebee hastened to overtake the crowd.
"They must mean the raising bee," he said to himself. "And from what those boys are saying I gather that it's aladyraising bee and she's going to fly for the company."
In his eagerness to see everything that was happening, Buster buzzed very closeto a good many people. And though most of them paid little heed to him, there was one boy who slapped at him with his hat—and all but hit him, too.
After that Buster was more careful. He flew higher. And at last he found a fine seat on a tall sunflower, from which he could view every move that was made.
Farmer Green's guests—that is, themen, for the women had not left the house—the guests all took off their coats and began to arrange themselves around some huge timbers that lay upon the ground. And a great shouting arose. Everybody seemed to be talking at once. And the small boys were everywhere, chasing one another about and getting in everyone's way.
Then all was quiet for a few minutes while Farmer Green said something to the men. And as soon as he had stopped talking some of the men began to lift a sortof framework of wood into the air. When they had raised it exactly as Farmer Green wanted it other men began to pound about the foot of it with hammers. But Buster Bumblebee—though he watched everything very closely—hadn't the slightest idea what they were doing.
"Hi, there!" he called to old dog Spot. "Where's the raising bee?"
Old Spot promptly looked bewildered.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied. "I don't know anything about any bee. And I wish you wouldn't trouble me with your silly questions. These men are helping us to build our new barn; and I'm too busy to talk to anyone."
Buster Bumblebee was certainly disappointed. And he soon decided that Jimmy Rabbit must have been mistaken. It wasn't the raising bee, after all, that had broughtall the neighbors together there. They had come to help Farmer Green with his new barn! Old dog Spot had said so. And he ought to know, if anyone did.
XIXTHE FEAST AT FARMER GREEN'S
In spite of his disappointment at not seeing the raising bee (that new kind of bee that Jimmy Rabbit had told him about) Buster Bumblebee decided that he would stay at Farmer Green's place and watch the men put up the frame of the new barn. He remembered that Jimmy had said there would be things to eat afterwards—and maybe a dance, besides.
Although the barn was a big one there were so many people to help that it was hardly later than midday when the great timbers were all in place. And then themen caught up their coats and strolled back to the dooryard. The small boys had all hurried ahead of them as soon as they noticed that the women and girls were already setting generous dishes of goodies upon long tables beneath the shade of the maple trees in front of the farmhouse.
And when he saw what was going on Buster Bumblebee hastened to the maple grove too. He intended to taste of every kind of food that was there, in the hope of finding some dainty that he would like.
So for some time he busied himself buzzing up and down the long table, alighting on heaps of doughnuts and cookies, pies, cakes, bread and butter, baked beans and ever so many other good things.
But Buster Bumblebee did not find anything that really pleased him until he paused at a fat sugar-bowl. Since the sugar was sweet he couldn't help likingthat, though it did seem somewhat tasteless to him after his feasts among the clover-tops.
"This is the only food here that's worth eating," he remarked to himself, "though perhaps the cake would not be bad, once a person learned to like it."
Luckily Buster had time to make a hearty meal off the sugar before a red-cheeked girl shooed him away. And then Farmer Green and all his friends sat down at the long tables.
How they did eat! They began with pie. And Buster Bumblebee, flying lazily above their heads, noticed with amazement the enormous pieces that disappeared into the mouths of men, women and children. One mouthful such as they took would have fed him at least a month. And there was one boy called Bill who stowed away enough each time his fork traveled to hismouth to nourish Buster Bumblebee a whole summer.
"That boy is making a pig of himself!" Buster Bumblebee exclaimed, right out loud. But since nobody understood what he said, no one paid any attention to his remark. "You'll be ill, if you're not careful," Buster buzzed right in the greedy boy's ear.
But the youngster known as Bill only moved his head slightly. And to Buster's alarm he continued to bolt huge mouthfuls of everything within his reach.
It was really a terrible sight. Buster Bumblebee was so fascinated by it that he sat right down on a low-hanging maple bough and kept his eyes fixed on that marvellous boy.
Before the feast came to an end the boy Bill's face underwent an odd change. In the beginning it had worn a wide smile.But at last Buster saw a look of pain steal over Bill's somewhat besmeared features. And beneath his coating of tan he seemed to have grown pale.
Before long Buster was sure he heard a groan, though no one of the merrymakers paid the slightest heed to it. Everyone was too busy eating and talking with his neighbors to notice Bill's distress.
Then came another groan—and another—and another—and another, until finally greedy Bill clapped both his hands across the front of his jacket and let out a terrific roar.
"Ah!" said Buster Bumblebee. "You have a stomachache, young man. And it's no wonder."
XXBUSTER AND THE FIDDLERS
There was a great rattling of knives and forks dropped suddenly upon plates and a clatter of cups set hastily upon saucers. For when the boy with the stomachache screamed aloud in his agony all of Farmer Green's guests turned towards him to see what was the matter.
Buster Bumblebee saw a large woman dressed in bright red rush up to the boy Bill and lead him away towards the farmhouse, quite doubled up with pain.
"That's his mother!" Buster decided. "And it's lucky for him that she's here."
Everybody else seemed to think likewise.And no one appeared much worried. At least, all the company fell upon the feast once more. And in a surprisingly short time everything but the dishes had vanished.
Still the people lingered there and talked—or the grown-ups did, anyhow (of course the boys and girls didn't want to sit at a table after the good things had all been eaten off it). And Buster Bumblebee had just made up his mind that the whole affair was very dull! Yes! he had begun to wish he had not wasted his time at Farmer Green's party, when suddenly he heard something that sent a tingle all through him.
It was a most delightful sound. And noticing that the people were leaving the scene of the banquet, Buster again recalled Jimmy Rabbit's advice to "follow the crowd." So he found himself shortlyin the carriage-house, from which everything on wheels had been run outside into the farmyard.
At one side of the great square room sat three men, each holding a queer wooden object, upon which he sawed busily without appearing to cut anything. And Buster soon learned that the bewitching sound came from the sawing.
"How do you like the music?" said a voice in Buster's ear. He turned quickly. And he saw then that old dog Spot had followed the crowd too and was sitting in the doorway, where everyone had to walk around him. He seemed to be enjoying himself. And he kept thumping the floor with his tail as if he were trying to keep time with the tune.
"The music is beautiful," Buster Bumblebee said in reply to Spot's question. "But there's something I don't quite understand.I've seen men sawing wood before, but they made no such sound as this."
Old dog Spot couldn't help smiling the least bit.
"Why, those men aren't sawing wood. They'refiddling," he explained; "three fiddlers fiddling upon fiddles.... There's going to be a dance, you know," old dog Spot continued. "And of course nobody cares to dance without music."
"Oh, certainly not!" Buster Bumblebee agreed. And he began to be glad he had come to the farmyard, after all. You see, he was fond of music and dancing. And he thought the music played by the three fiddlers was too wonderful for words.
Soon the floor was crowded with merry people who bowed and scraped to one another and danced breakdowns and cut pigeon-wings and other capers, while Buster Bumblebee flitted gaily about justabove their bobbing heads, trying his best to keep time to the music and wishing that he had brought some of his friends along with him to Farmer Green's party.
As for the raising bee, Buster had completely forgotten it. He was having so much fun at the dance that the real reason for his coming to Farmer Green's place had quite slipped out of his mind.