The Tale of Buster Bumblebee Part 5

"How would you like to build a house for me?" Buster asked him.

The Carpenter seemed greatly surprised at the suggestion. "I don't think I'd like it very well," he said timidly.

"Why not?" Buster demanded.

"Well, I'm busy building an addition to my house," the Carpenter explained. "And besides, you're a total stranger. I've never seen you before; and we might quarrel if I did any work for you."

"Oh, no!" Buster b.u.mblebee a.s.sured him. "You couldn't quarrel with me, because I'm the most peace-loving person in Pleasant Valley."

"There!" the Carpenter cried. "I knew as soon as I set eyes on you that we were bound not to agree.... I've always claimed that there's no peacefuller person than I am in this whole neighborhood. So here we are, quarreling already!"

"Maybe you're right," Buster said then. "I'll agree that you like peace more than I do. But remember! Next to you there's no one that hates a fight the way I do--and hates work, too!"

XIII

THE CARPENTER'S PROMISE

When Buster b.u.mblebee told Whiteface the Carpenter Bee, that he hated to work that honest artisan stared at his caller in astonishment.

"You're a queer one!" he said at last "But there's something about you that I can't help liking, though it would be hard for me to say just what it is--so please don't ask me!"

"Then you'll make me a house, after all?" Buster cried joyfully.

"I will," the Carpenter promised, "just as soon as I finish the addition I'm building to my own home."

"Good!" said Buster. And wis.h.i.+ng the Carpenter Bee a hasty good-afternoon, he flew off to find little Mrs. Ladybug and tell her that he was going to have a house of his own, just as she had suggested.

After that the news spread quickly, for Mrs. Ladybug was somewhat of a gossip--in a pleasant enough way. Being much interested in her neighbors, she liked to talk about their affairs. And now she told everyone that Buster b.u.mblebee was going to have a fine new house, and that the Carpenter was going to build it for him.

Naturally, Buster's friends all told him that they were glad to hear of his good fortune. And whenever anyone mentioned the matter, Buster promptly invited him to come to a party that he intended to give as soon as his new home was ready to move into.

"Mrs. Ladybug tells me that I ought to have a house-warming," Buster explained. And though some of his neighbors didn't know what he meant by that, they said "Of course!" and tried to look wise.

There was only one thing about the whole affair that annoyed Buster: when people asked him when his new house would be finished he was unable to tell them.

"Well, when is the Carpenter going to start building it?" they would ask.

And he could only reply that as soon as the Carpenter completed the addition to his own house he had promised to begin to build Buster's.

Now, many people were satisfied with that answer. But there were some (they were the curious ones) that insisted on knowing exactly when that would be. And then there was nothing that Buster b.u.mblebee could do except to admit that he didn't know.

"Why don't you find out about it?" asked the most curious person in all Pleasant Valley--and that, of course, was old Mr. Crow. "If I were you I'd go to the Carpenter and _insist_ on his telling me."

So Buster b.u.mblebee began calling at the Carpenter's house every day.

Some days he even went there two or three times. It must have been annoying for anybody as busy as the Carpenter to be interrupted so often--and always for the same reason. But he never once thought of being angry--though he did wish that Buster would let him work in peace.

His answer to Buster's question was always the same: "I'm afraid my house won't be finished to-morrow."

XIV

BAD NEWS

It is not surprising that the Carpenter's answer failed to satisfy Buster b.u.mblebee.

"I really must know when my house will be ready!" he cried at last. "I've invited all my friends to a house-warming. And how can I have one unless I have a house to warm?"

The Carpenter slowly shook his head.

"Don't ask me!" he said wearily. "I've enough to trouble me right here at home without answering any riddles for strangers."

"I suppose you'll get your house finished sometime," Buster ventured.

"I hope to," said the Carpenter, "though it certainly won't be to-morrow, on account of all the interruptions I'm having to-day."

Now, that honest workman meant his remark to be a hint. But the idea never occurred to Buster that the Carpenter had _him_ in mind, when he mentioned interruptions. And Buster went right on talking.

"I'd suggest that you work nights as well as in the daytime," he said.

"I'll think about it," the Carpenter promised. "And now," he added, "now I must go back to my carpentering--if you'll excuse me."

And before Buster could say another word the Carpenter slipped through his doorway and vanished.

"I hope he'll do as I suggested," Buster b.u.mblebee said to himself, as he moved aimlessly away from the big poplar where the Carpenter lived. "If I shouldn't get my house until cold weather comes I don't see how I could have a house-warming; and then all my friends would be disappointed."

The more he thought about the matter the more disturbed he became, until at last (on the following day) he felt that he simply _must_ go back and speak to the Carpenter again.

Buster noticed, as he drew near to the Carpenter's house once more, that there was a crowd in the Carpenter's dooryard. Everybody looked so sorrowful that Buster was sure something dreadful had happened.

"What's the matter?" he asked little Mrs. Ladybug, who was wiping her eyes with a lace pocket-handkerchief.

"It's the Carpenter," she answered, as soon as she could speak. "He's disappeared. And now we've just heard what's become of him. Johnnie Green caught him yesterday and has made him a prisoner!"

That was bad news indeed--for Buster b.u.mblebee. He was so sorry that he swallowed hard three or four times before he could say a word. And then he began to groan.

"This is terrible!" he moaned at last. And all the Carpenter's neighbors gathered around him and said what a kind-hearted young gentleman he was, but that it was no more than you might expect of a queen's son.

"The Carpenter must have been a dear friend of yours," quavered old Daddy Longlegs, tottering up to Buster and peering into his face.

"Oh, no!" said Buster b.u.mblebee. "But he promised to build a house for me as soon as he had finished working on his own. So his being a prisoner is pretty hard on me. For I've invited all my friends to a house-warming and I don't know what to do."