"Yes," said Bobbie, looking after the retreating fraction, "the creatures are very lively.-- I"ve lost my appet.i.te." With that he threw away the remnant which he was still holding in his hand, and this worm portion also retreated, in the other direction.
Maya was completely puzzled. But Bobbie seemed to be familiar with this peculiarity of worms.
"Don"t suppose that I always eat worms," he remarked. "You see, you don"t find roses everywhere."
"Tell the little one at least which way its other half ran,"
cried Maya in great excitement.
Bobbie shook his head gravely.
"Those whom fate has rent asunder, let no man join together again," he observed.-- "Who are you?"
"Maya, of the nation of bees."
"I"m glad to hear it. I have nothing against the bees.-- Why are you sitting about? Bees don"t usually sit about. Have you been sitting there long?"
"I slept here."
"Indeed!" There was a note of suspicion in Bobbie"s voice.
"I hope you slept well, _very_ well. Did you just wake up?"
"Yes," said Maya, who had shrewdly guessed that Bobbie would not like her having overheard his conversation with Effie, the cricket, and did not want to hurt his feelings again.
Bobbie ran hither and thither trying to look up and see Maya.
"Wait," he said. "If I raise myself on my hind legs and lean against that blade of gra.s.s I"ll be able to see you, and you"ll be able to look into my eyes. You want to, don"t you?"
"Why, I do indeed. I"d like to very much."
Bobbie found a suitable prop, the stem of a b.u.t.tercup. The flower tipped a little to one side so that Maya could see him perfectly as he raised himself on his hind legs and looked up at her. She thought he had a nice, dear, friendly face--but not so very young any more and cheeks rather too plump. He bowed, setting the b.u.t.tercup a-rocking, and introduced himself:
"Bobbie, of the family of rose-beetles."
Maya had to laugh to herself. She knew very well he was not a rose-beetle; he was a dung-beetle. But she pa.s.sed the matter over in silence, not caring to mortify him.
"Don"t you mind the rain?" she asked.
"Oh, no. I"m accustomed to the rain--from the roses, you know.
It"s usually raining there."
Maya thought to herself:
"After all I must punish him a little for his brazen lies. He"s so frightfully vain."
"Bobbie," she said with a sly smile, "what sort of a hole is that one there, under the leaf?"
Bobbie started.
"A hole? A hole, did you say? There are very many holes round here. It"s probably just an ordinary hole. You have no idea how many holes there are in the ground."
Bobbie had hardly uttered the last word when something dreadful happened. In his eagerness to appear indifferent he had lost his balance and toppled over. Maya heard a despairing shriek, and the next instant saw the beetle lying flat on his back in the gra.s.s, his arms and legs waving pitifully in the air.
"I"m done for," he wailed, "I"m done for. I can"t get back on my feet again. I"ll never be able to get back on my feet again.
I"ll die. I"ll die in this position. Have you ever heard of a worse fate!"
He carried on so that he did not hear Maya trying to comfort him. And he kept making efforts to touch the ground with his feet. But each time he"d painfully get hold of a bit of earth, it would give way, and he"d fall over again on his high half-sphere of a back. The case looked really desperate, and Maya was honestly concerned; he was already quite pale in the face and his cries were heart-rending.
"I can"t stand it, I can"t stand this position," he yelled. "At least turn your head away. Don"t torture a dying man with your inquisitive stares.-- If only I could reach a blade of gra.s.s, or the stem of the b.u.t.tercup. You can"t hold on to the air. n.o.body can do that. n.o.body can hold on to the air."
Maya"s heart was quivering with pity.
"Wait," she cried, "I"ll try to turn you over. If I try very hard I am bound to succeed. But Bobbie, _Bobbie_, dear man, don"t yell like that. Listen to me. If I bend a blade of gra.s.s over and reach the tip of it to you, will you be able to use it and save yourself?"
Bobbie had no ears for her suggestion. Frightened out of his senses, he did nothing but kick and scream.
So little Maya, in spite of the rain, flew out of her cover over to a slim green blade of gra.s.s beside Bobbie, and clung to it near the tip. It bent under her weight and sank directly above Bobbie"s wriggling limbs. Maya gave a little cry of delight.
"Catch hold of it," she called.
Bobbie felt something tickle his face and quickly grabbed at it, first with one hand, then with the other, and finally with his legs, which had splendid sharp claws, two each. Bit by bit he drew himself along the blade until he reached the base, where it was thicker and stronger, and he was able to turn himself over on it.
He heaved a tremendous sigh of relief.
"Good G.o.d!" he exclaimed. "That was awful. But for my presence of mind I should have fallen a victim to your talkativeness."
"Are you feeling better?" asked Maya.
Bobbie clutched his forehead.
"Thanks, thanks. When this dizziness pa.s.ses, I"ll tell you all about it."
But Maya never got the answer to her question. A field-sparrow came hopping through the gra.s.s in search of insects, and the little bee pressed herself close to the ground and kept very quiet until the bird had gone. When she looked around for Bobbie he had disappeared. So she too made off; for the rain had stopped and the day was clear and warm.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER V
THE ACROBAT
Oh, what a day!
The dew had fallen early in the morning, and when the sun rose and cast its slanting beams across the forest of gra.s.s, there was such a sparkling and glistening and gleaming that you didn"t know what to say or do for sheer ecstasy, it was so beautiful, so beautiful!