Freddie Firefly answered her with a faint moan. He couldn"t run away from her. So he thought of hiding. But he had promised to fly with her.
And she was a lady.
What could he do?
XVI
FREDDIE"S ESCAPE
There was really nothing Freddie Firefly could do except struggle to his feet and try to think at the same time. Flashing his light upon Jennie Junebug he saw that she was looking at him fondly. And that made him detest her more than ever.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself," he said spitefully.
"Yes, indeed!" the fat lady exclaimed. "I haven"t had such sport for a whole week. One of your cousins flew with me one night. And we had a fine time. No doubt we"d be enjoying each other"s company yet, if I hadn"t had a bit of bad luck."
"What was that?" Freddie Firefly asked her quickly. He thought that if he could only keep his dreadful companion TALKING, perhaps she would forget about FLYING--and knocking him down. "What was your bad luck?" he repeated impatiently.
Jennie Junebug paused and wiped her eyes.
"It was dreadful!" she said at last, as soon as she could control her shaking voice. "It was the worst accident that ever happened to me. ...
Your cousin broke his neck!"
Although Freddie Firefly sank back with a groan, she did not seem to notice him.
"Your cousin--" she continued--"your cousin was the easiest thing to knock down that I ever saw. Why, once I knocked him over thirty-three times in one minute--or in other words, as fast as he flashed his light.
. . . I had struck him so many times that he was growing weaker. Earlier in the evening, when he flashed thirty-six times to the minute, he was a little too quick for me."
"Don"t stop! Tell me more!" Freddie Firefly begged her, as the fat lady ceased talking and fanned herself rapidly. And then, while she continued to tell him about his unfortunate cousin, Freddie set his wits to work upon a plan to escape from the dreadful creature. He hardly knew what she was saying. But every time she paused he urged her on again with a "Yes, yes!" or a "Go on! Go on!"
At first a wild hope came to him that he might be able to keep her talking all night. Then, of course, he would be safe; because when daylight came she would no longer be able to see his light.
But he soon had to give up that plan, for he saw plainly enough that the fat lady was growing restless. And at last she told him flatly that she had talked all she cared to.
"I"m ready to fly now," she announced with an awful eagerness.
"One moment!" he said hastily. "Your fan--I see you"ve torn it! And if you"ll let me take it I"ll try to find you another just like it."
"Will you?" Jennie Junebug asked him gratefully. "And will you promise to come back just as soon as you"ve found me a PERFECT match for my fan?"
"I promise!" said Freddie Firefly, s.n.a.t.c.hing the fan out of her hands in his haste. "Wait right here!" he cautioned her. And then he leaped into the air and started away.
BANG! He hadn"t flown longer than forty-six seconds when Jennie Junebug floored him again.
"I simply couldn"t resist hitting you once more!" she said sweetly. "And now, hurry! Or I shall never be able to let you leave me."
Freddie Firefly needed no more urging. Though he was sore in every limb (and he had a great many!) he made his escape quickly.
All the rest of the night he worked hard, trying to find a white clover leaf that exactly matched the one that Jennie Junebug had carried for a fan. But every single clover leaf was different from Jennie"s in one way or another. Freddie Firefly had hoped that it would be so. For if he had found one precisely like Jennie Junebug"s, he would have had to take it to her, as he had promised.
How long the fat lady waited for him in the meadow, Freddie Firefly never knew. And to tell the truth, he didn"t care. He was too happy because he had escaped the fate of his cousin, to bother his head over Jennie Junebug.
XVII
BAD BENJAMIN BAT
For a long time Benjamin Bat had had his eye on Freddie Firefly. And every time the two met, Benjamin stopped to tell Freddie how plump he was growing.
"You"re just about ready to--AHEM!" Benjamin remarked when he came upon Freddie in Farmer Green"s dooryard one fine evening.
"What did you say?" Freddie inquired.
"Never mind!" Benjamin Bat answered. "I was only talking to myself. It"s a habit I have."
"You"re a queer one!" Freddie Firefly exclaimed. "But it"s no wonder.
People say that you"ve hung upside down so much that the inside of your head is all topsy-turvy."
"When he heard that remark Benjamin Bat promptly flew into a rage.
"You"d better be careful!" he warned Freddie. "I don"t allow anybody to talk to me like that."
"Oh! You mustn"t mind what I just said," Freddie Firefly replied. "I was only talking to myself--AHEM AHEM!"
But strange to say, Freddie"s answer failed to please Benjamin.
"Your remark was very disagreeable, anyhow," he declared.
"Well--so was yours," Freddie retorted stoutly.
"How can you say that?" Benjamin Bat inquired with a sly look. "I didn"t finish it, did I?"
"No!" replied Freddie. "But you can"t fool me. I know what you meant, as well as you do."
And straightway Benjamin Bat looked most uncomfortable, because he had been thinking that Freddie Firefly HAD BECOME PLUMP ENOUGH TO EAT.
Indeed, there was only one thing that kept Benjamin from devouring Freddie Firefly right then and there. And that was Freddie"s flashing light. Yes! Benjamin Bat was afraid that if he touched Freddie Firefly he would get burned.
Once a forest fire broke out while Benjamin was asleep in the woods. And he didn"t wake up until the tree in which he was hanging by his heels had begun to blaze. Luckily he escaped with his life. But the flames singed the tips of his wings and gave him such a fright that ever afterward he feared a fire or a light of any kind. And now he did wish that Freddie Firefly would put out his light, just for a short time. So he said, after a few moments:
"Don"t you think you ought to stop flashing your light?"
"Do you mean--" asked Freddie--"do you mean that I ought to keep it glaring steadily all the time?"