d 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 f