"
"Sure!" said Mickey. "What are grubs and where do you look for them?"
"Oh anywhere under rotting wood and round old logs," said Jud. "B'lieve
it's a good place right here, Mickey; dig in till I cut a stick to help
with."
Mickey pushed aside the bushes, dropped on his knees and "dug in." A
second later, with a wild shriek, he rolled over and over striking and
screaming.
"Yellow jackets!" shouted Jud. "Quick fellers, help Mickey! He's got too
close to a nest!"
Armed with branches they came beating the air and him; until Mickey had a
fleeting thought that if the red-hot needles piercing him did not kill,
the boys would. Presently he found himself beside a mudhole and as the
others "ouched" and "o-ohed" and bewailed their fate, and grabbed mud and
plastered it on, he did the same. Jud generously offered, as he had not so
many stings, to help Mickey. Soon even the adoring eyes of Peaches could
not have told her idol from the mudhole. He twisted away from an
approaching handful crying: "Gee Jud! Leave a feller room to breathe! If
you are going to smother me, I might as well die from bites!"
"Bites!" cried the boys while all of them laughed wildly, so wildly that
Mickey flushed with shame to think he had so little appreciation of the
fun calling a sting a bite, when it was explained to him.
Pages:
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608