The Tale of Buster Bumblebee Part 7

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-warming he 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.

XVII

BUSTER 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 b.u.mblebee, 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 b.u.mblebee 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 b.u.mblebee inquired.

"You had better plan to reach the farmyard at 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 b.u.mblebee 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 b.u.mblebee. "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 like that. 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 b.u.mblebee 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.

XVIII

FOLLOWING THE CROWD

Well, the next day Buster b.u.mblebee 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. But the 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 n.o.body in particular, "Hurrah! hurrah! She's going up!"

Buster b.u.mblebee 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 a _lady_ raising bee and she's going to fly for the company."

In his eagerness to see everything that was happening, Buster buzzed very close to 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, the _men_, 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 sort of 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 b.u.mblebee--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?"