"Let me see!" Freddie mused aloud. "I promised Peppery Polly that I"d come back with one of her own people--IF _I_ COULD. And since I can"t do that, I ought not to go back to the clover-patch at all. For if I did, it would be about the same as breaking a promise. ... No! I"ll go to the dance instead!" And away he flew.
Luckily the dance was not half finished when he reached it. And he had such a pleasant time that he forgot all about that b.u.mblebee worker, stuck fast to the thistle blossom.
But you may be sure that Peppery Polly did not forget him. After her friends set her free the following morning she spent the whole day looking for Freddie Firefly.
But he lay very low. And all the rest of the summer he shunned the clover field--and the flower garden, too.
XIV
JENNIE JUNEBUG
On the day--or rather, on the night--when he first met Jennie Junebug, Freddie Firefly was ill at ease. In fact it might be truthfully said that he was quite upset.
One beautiful, warm, dark night early in the summer Freddie was hurrying to join a big family party which was already gathering in the hollow beyond the hill.
He was scooting along through the damp air, flashing his light at the rate of about thirty-six times a minute, when a heavy body b.u.mped into him and knocked him head over heels upon the gra.s.s-carpeted ground.
It was no wonder that he felt upset. And he felt quite peevish, too, as he picked himself up and looked about him to see what had happened.
The next moment he was flashing his light into the blinking eyes of an enormous fat person, who seemed to be dazed, either by the shock of the collision or by the light--Freddie Firefly couldn"t tell which.
"Why don"t you look where you"re going?" Freddie cried impatiently. "You knocked the breath out of me. And you almost broke one of my legs." The next instant he was heartily ashamed of himself; for he saw, to his surprise, that he was talking to a lady. "Oh! I beg your pardon!" he cried. "Ex--excuse me! I hope you"re not seriously injured?"
"Oh, no!" wheezed the fat lady. "I"m all right. It"s no matter, I a.s.sure you. I"m quite used to running into things after dark."
Freddie Firefly didn"t quite like being referred to as a THING. But he was too polite to say so.
"You ought to be careful," he told the strange fat lady. "It"s dangerous for one of your weight--"
"Oh, don"t!" she exclaimed quickly. "PLEASE don"t tell me I"m fat! I"ve tried every remedy I know and I can"t lose a single pound!"
"Don"t you think that flying makes you thinner?" Freddie Firefly asked her.
But the stout person shook her head dolefully.
"It only seems to make me bigger," she groaned.
"Then why do you do it?"
"Oh, I just adore flying!" she cried. "Don"t you?"
Freddie Firefly admitted that he did like to fly. And he was sorry, the next moment, that he had made such a statement. For the fat lady blinked happily at him. And clasping her hands together, she said:
"Oh, do let"s fly together, then!"
Freddie Firefly was so taken aback that at first he couldn"t think what to say. But at last he managed to stammer a reply.
"Why--why--I--I"ll be glad to, but I don"t even know your name!" he told her.
"It"s Jennie Junebug," she explained, as she fanned herself with a fan made from a white clover leaf.
"You"re a newcomer in these parts, aren"t you?" Freddie Firefly inquired.
"I just arrived here this month," she informed him. "This is the month of June, you know. And I"m one of the well-known Junebug family. ... I already know who you are," she continued. "You"ve been pointed out to me. You are Freddie Firefly; and you can"t deny it."
XV
THE FAT LADY"S SECRET
Somehow, the longer Freddie Firefly talked with Jennie Junebug, the more he wished that he might fly off and leave her there in the meadow. But he had just the same as told her that he would be glad to fly with her.
And he really didn"t see how he could escape that unpleasant duty.
"Well, we may as well move on," he said at last. "Where were you going when we ran into each other?"
"Oh, nowhere in particular!" she answered. "Where were YOU going?"
Freddie Firefly had to bite his lip to keep from telling her that he had been on his way to a family party in the hollow beyond the hill. He certainly didn"t want to go there in the company of that strange fat lady.
"I WAS going over the hill," he faltered at last. "But I"d rather stay here in the meadow with you."
"How nice of you to say that!" Jennie Junebug murmured. "And now let"s begin flying at once!" she said.
So they rose into the air. But they hadn"t flown more than a few feet when Jennie once more banged squarely into her companion.
It was a terrific blow. And Freddie Firefly soon found himself lying flat on the ground. He was so nearly stunned that he scarcely knew what had happened.
"What fun!" the fat lady gurgled right in his ear, with a horrible laugh. "Come! Let"s do it again!"
"Do it again!" Freddie Firefly repeated after her, as a sudden fear gripped him. "Do you mean to tell me that you ran into me ON PURPOSE?"
"Why, certainly!" she replied. "Running into a light is more than half the fun of flying."
Her terrible secret was out at last. If Freddie Firefly had been older and wiser he would have known, in the beginning, that his first collision with the fat lady was no accident. The whole Junebug family were alike in one respect: preferring to fly at night, whenever they saw a light anywhere they made straight for it as fast as they could fly.
Sometimes they landed with a crash against one of the farmhouse windows.
Sometimes they struck the lantern, if Farmer Green happened to be carrying it across the farmyard. It really made little difference to a Junebug what he--or she--hit, so long as it gleamed brightly out of the night.
Well, Freddie Firefly saw at last that he was in a terrible fix. He knew now why Jennie Junebug had asked him to fly with her. It was on account of his flashing light! And the dreadful creature actually expected him to fly for her so that she might have the pleasure of bowling him over every time he rose into the air.
Such a practice was disagreeable, to say the least. Indeed, Freddie Firefly thought it was positively dangerous, for him.
"Come! Come!" Jennie Junebug urged him playfully, even while he lay on the ground trying to get his breath. "If you don"t hurry and fly some more I shall knock you over right where you are!"