The Tale of Buster Bumblebee | Page 6

queer object that Buster had noticed
together with Johnnie Green only a minute before. He wondered now

what that strange thing was; for Buster Bumblebee did not know a jug
when he saw one. And neither did the workers, nor any other member
of the Bumblebee family.
"That's the enemy!" cried Buster suddenly, pointing to the jug. "It was
talking out of its mouth right into Johnnie Green's ear when I came
home."
Sounding a dreadful battle cry, all the workers turned upon the jug and
buzzed so near it that they couldn't help hearing the same roaring from
inside it to which Johnnie Green had listened with so much pleasure.
"Buster's almost right!" several of the workers shouted. "The enemy
has hidden inside this thing. And we'll have to go in and sting him."
At that the workers began to pop into the jug, which Johnnie Green had
thoughtfully left uncorked. And Buster Bumblebee, still eager to see
everything, hastened to plunge inside the dim jug along with the rest.
It was soon not a dim but a dark jug. For the moment the last angry
Bumblebee had disappeared inside it Johnnie Green stole quickly up
from behind a haycock and slipped the cork into the mouth of the jug.
Johnnie's face wore a grin of joy. Perhaps he did not stop to realize that
he was breaking up a happy home.
"I've got 'em!" he shouted aloud. And then he shook the jug vigorously,
listening with delight to the sound of the splashing water within. Soon
he set the jug behind the sheltering haycock and sat down beside it to
make further plans. It was Johnnie's intention then to drown everything
on the farm that carried a sting--wasps, hornets, honey bees. He was not
quite sure about mosquitoes, for he thought they might be hard to
capture in great numbers.
Since he was intending to go swimming, he did not care to waste much
more of the afternoon by staying in the meadow. So he proceeded to
empty the jug.

It certainly looked as if the Bumblebee family had met with ill fortune.
Several dozen workers--and Buster, too--lay limp and water-soaked
upon the ground, when Johnnie Green hurried away to the spring to get
more water for his father and the hired man, before he went to the
mill-pond.
But it was not long before the half-drowned Buster and his companions
began to stir slightly. Gradually the sun dried their wings and warmed
their chilled bodies. And one by one they picked themselves up and
scurried into their house.
They never knew exactly what had happened. But the workers agreed
upon one point. They decided that somehow the whole trouble had
been Buster's fault--though they couldn't explain in just what way.
Anyhow, after that the workers looked on Buster with more disfavor
than ever. They were forever remarking how lazy and stupid he was.
And even the trumpeter was heard to declare that she was ashamed of
him--though he was her own brother.

VIII
BUSTER THE BOASTER
As far back as Buster Bumblebee could remember, he had heard about
the Robber Fly. Even the fiercest fighters among the workers spoke his
name with great awe. And from everything Buster could learn, his
family had good reason to fear that dreadful enemy.
When Buster first left the house to make excursions to the flower
garden and the clover field he had felt quite uneasy. He half-expected
that the Robber Fly would pop out from behind a blossom at any
moment and pounce upon him. For the Robber Fly was a bold, bad
villain. And those that were so unfortunate as to find themselves caught
by him and held fast in his long, spiny feet had only a very slight
chance of getting away from him.

No one of the Bumblebee family knew where the Robber Fly lived. But
it was said that he often lurked on the ground, watching for victims.
And when he spied one he would fly quickly up with a loud buzz and
dart upon the unfortunate.
He had big, keen eyes which enabled him to see very clearly. And he
had long, narrow wings which bore him through the air with great
swiftness. And he had--worst of all--a sharp, piercing beak which was
most frightful to gaze upon.
Now, in spite of his name the Robber Fly looked like no fly that was
ever seen in Pleasant Valley. Strange as it may seem, in spite of his
cruel beak, his long wings, and his spiny feet, he looked not a little as if
he might have been a near relation of Buster Bumblebee. Of course,
any member of the Bumblebee family would have known at a glance
that he was not one of them. But probably Johnnie