IN THE QUEEN BEE PALACE.
On, on and on went Billy, rushing through the air with a speed he had
never before experienced: the result of the tremendous leap he had
taken in leaving In-The-Dark, Never Was.
Bogie Man squirmed and struggled, scratched and bit and kicked,
threatening Billy with the most horrible punishment if he did not
release him. But Billy only held on the tighter and answered never a
word. For now he knew what a harmless imitation he really was unless
seen through the Window of Fear.
Then down, down, down he dropped right into the middle of a great,
sweet field of red clover from which arose the continuous hum-m-m-m-m
buzz-z-z of thousands of honey-gathering bees.
And before him stood a beehive, the entrance of which he could see was
guarded by Yellow Jacket Bee Sentries.
"The uniform of Honey Girl's guard," he cried excitedly. "It must be
the Palace of the Queen Bee. Now at last I shall see Honey Girl."
Saying this he stepped toward the hive.
"What are you going to do?" asked Bogie Man in alarm.
"Enter that hive and see Honey Girl," said Billy.
"Oh! but don't you see the guard--they will sting us. Oh! don't, don't,
don't."
"And you are the Bogie Man everyone is afraid of," said Billy in
disgust. "You are a fine specimen, aren't you?"
"But you can't get through that little opening." And here it did look
as if there was some reason in Bogie Man's words.
"I can try, can't I?" said Billy.
"Halt--buzz-z--halt!" cried all the Bee Sentries, presenting their
sting bayonets.
"I'm coming in," said Billy, preparing to jump.
"You do so at the peril of your life," cried the principal sentry.
"I have done so many things that way lately," answered Billy, "that
I've quite grown used to it."
"Halt! Halt! I say."
"Oh! don't. Please don't risk it. Remember I'm an old man and a sting
might prove fatal." And Bogie Man trembled like a leaf.
"But I'm a friend of Princess Honey Girl. I'm not going to harm her,"
said Billy, thinking it was at least worth while attempting a friendly
entrance.
"Others have said that and stolen our golden walls and our precious
jewelry--even the last drop of food in the larder, so stand back."
Several little boy and girl bees had collected around Billy, attracted
by the sound of loud voices and hoping to see a fight. They buzzed at
Billy derisively, and one or two even picked up clover tops to throw at
him.
He knew that quick action was necessary if he was to get in without a
serious fight and at the same time avoid a field brawl. So suddenly he
stepped back, made a quick leap directly at the opening of the hive,
and dived head foremost through it.
In he popped past the startled sentries, the doorway opening wide
to admit him, not even brushing his clothes as he entered. He found
himself standing in the centre of a great golden court under a
magnificent vaulted dome. Magnificent? Ah! that is too poor a word to
describe his surroundings. Billy had dreamed of beautiful things, he
had read of glittering gold and showers of precious stones, but had all
his dreams and all his readings and all the beautiful things he had
ever imagined been sifted and sorted, and only the purest and finest
selected, the result would have been poor indeed as compared with the
interior of the Queen Bee Palace.
Great diamond arc lights flashed brilliant blue and white rays from
the ceiling, and mingled their brightness with the soft yellow glow of
topaz lights. Beautiful yellow wax candles added their rich, creamy
light. The walls were of the richest gold, and instead of being smooth
and hard-looking bore the shape of honeycomb, each cell of which showed
a distinctive beauty.
[Illustration: "_Allow me to present Bogie Man._"--Page 271.]
The smooth wax floor, giving just enough at each step to make
walking a springy, elastic pleasure, was carpeted down the centre with
a strip of soft, hand-woven yellow rosebud leaves, and this carpet led
to the throne which was carved from one enormous block of amber.
But when Billy's gaze had travelled this far he had eyes for nothing
else. In his sight the lights faded to mere sparks, the golden walls
lost their richness, the throne became but a high-backed wooden chair,
for seated there before him was Honey Girl, so radiant, so dazzlingly
beautiful that mere gold and jewelry were as nothing compared with her.
"Honey Girl!" he cried.
"Billy Bounce!" exclaimed she, and her voice was as full of gladness as
Billy's.
"_You_ on the throne?"
"Yes, my aunt the Queen Bee felt that she was growing old, and to
protect me further from Nickel Plate and Bogie Man abdicated and made
me Queen."
"You need not have feared them," said Billy. "Allow me to present Bogie
Man."
"_That_, Bogie Man?" said the Princess, or rather the Queen, in
surprise. "Surely you are mistaken. Why, Bogie Man is a monster."
"Yes, oh Queen," said Bogie Man, humbly, "I used to was. Everybody
thought I was a terrible fellow, but now that Billy Bounce has
discovered me I'm a broken old man who wouldn't hurt a fly unless it
woke me too early in the morning."
"Brave Billy Bounce," whispered Honey Girl.
"What he says is true," said Billy, and then added modestly, "but I am
not brave, I just somehow guessed that bad things and the unseen things
that people fear are mostly nothing at all when a fellow faces them."
"But few face them as you have done, Billy Bounce, and--" began the
Queen, when suddenly a great uproar broke out in the palace. In rushed
General Merchandise followed by the Yellow Jacket Guard. Close on
their heels came a company of Borer Bees carrying their ground augers
at charge bayonets. Then came a brigade of Fighting Ants, their black
armor shining in the light; next the fierce Wasp Grenadiers, the
tallest soldiers in the army, looking very trim and military with their
thin waists and broad shoulders; then in came the Horse Fly Cavalry
followed by the Tumble Bug Artillery, each soldier rolling his own
cannon ball. And such a fierce buzz as arose from their ranks--officers
buzzing orders, orderlies and aides running and riding back and forth.
Indeed, had not the Palace been enormous, I can't imagine how it would
have held the army and its noise.
"What does this intrusion mean?" asked Honey Girl, rising. "General
Merchandise, I await your answer."
"It means," said the General excitedly, "that our spies, the Mosquito
Brothers, inform us that this boy" (pointing to Billy Bounce) "has
smuggled Bogie Man into the Palace; and if that be true he dies. Ho,
guards, seize him!"
"Hold!" cried Honey Girl.
"Leggo!" cried Billy.
"Hold, I say," said the Queen. "It is true that Bogie Man is here."
"Where! Where!" cried General Merchandise in great excitement. "Ho,
guards, seize him if you see him!"
"There he stands," and Honey Girl pointed to Bogie Man.
"That--that Bogie Man? Never!" said the General in surprise.
"It is," said Billy, "but he is guaranteed harmless."
"He looks it," answered General Merchandise. "How did it happen?"
"Billy Bounce did it," said Honey Girl.
"You did? Then you are our friend. Ho, guards, unseize him," and the
General warmly shook Billy's hand, while the soldiers saluted and went
back to their company.
At that moment a door opened and in walked the sentry closely guarding
Nickel Plate, Bumbus, Drone and Glucose.
"What does this mean?" asked General Merchandise.
"Four tramps who called at the kitchen door for a crumb of water and
a drop of bread. We arrested them as suspicious characters," said the
head sentry.
And tramps and suspicious-looking characters they undoubtedly were.
Nickel Plate, with all the starch gone out of his face, as rusty as
an old stove-pipe, his monocle broken, and his patent leather boots
bursted and run down at the heels.
Bumbus, with his moustache out of curl, his hat dented and rimless, his
trousers baggy at the knees, and his eyes bleary and bloodshot from
lack of sleep.
Drone--well, it is hard to say what Drone did look like, excepting that
he carried a tomato can over one shoulder, and his clothes showed signs
of many nights spent on park benches.
And Glucose was fully as disreputable. All the plating was worn off
of her comb, her dress was in tatters, and she bore a big label slung
around her neck with these words, "Glucose, by order of the Pure Food
Commission."
"Nickel Plate, Bumbus, Drone and Glucose!" cried Billy.
"Grown rusty," said Nickel Plate sadly.
"I be," murmured Bumbus.
"I ain't had a bite to eat for three days," whined Drone. "Can't you
give a poor man a dime for a bed?"
"And that's the way I used to look," said Glucose bitterly, pointing at
Honey Girl.
"It isn't what you used to be, it's what you put in the bank," said Mr.
Gas genially, as he floated in through the open door.
"And now that all of our enemies are here," said General Merchandise,
"what shall we do with them?"
"Speak up, Billy Bounce," said Mr. Gas.
"I?" said Billy.
"Yes," said Honey Girl, "you have vanquished them; you shall decide
their fate."
"Then my first suggestion," said Billy, "is that Bogie Man get a
position as Bogie on the golf links. He will be out of mischief there,
and it will give him a decent, honest living. Are you willing, Bogie
Man?"
"I'll try it," said Bogie Man humbly. "It's been so long since I made
an honest living that it will go hard at first; but one must eat, and
I'm out of a job."
"Good," said Honey Girl. "General, take him to one side and bring
forward the next prisoner."
Nickel Plate was brought before Billy.
"As to Nickel Plate," said Billy, "I suggest that he go on the stage.
He can have all the fun of trying to be wicked without doing any
possible harm, and is always sure there to be foiled in the last act."
"Wise boy," said Mr. Gas. "I couldn't have done better myself."
"Thanks," said Nickel Plate, "you've let me off very easily," and he
walked dejectedly to where Bogie Man stood.
"And now for Bumbus," said Honey Girl.
"Are you sorry for your wickedness?" asked Billy.
"I be," said Bumbus.
"You are stout and strong," said Billy musingly. "You haven't a bad
heart, and you know something about rough-and-tumble fighting. General
Merchandise, could you put him on your Police Force?"
"Certainly," said the General.
"Good," said Billy. "That settles a life job on Bumbus. And now for
Drone."
"I don't have to go to work, do I?" whined Drone.
"Indeed you do, and I'm going to get you a position as a truckman among
the Bee workers."
"Then I wouldn't be a Drone," whimpered he.
"Exactly," said Billy. "There is no room in this world for Drones.
General, let some of your soldiers give him a shave, a bath, a square
meal, some respectable clothes, and put him to work."
And Drone was led away feebly protesting, but encouraged already by the
promise of something to eat.
"And Glucose," cried Honey Girl, "I shall take care of, ladies," bowing
to her court ladies who surrounded the throne. "Glucose will be my
understudy. When I feel sick and tired and headachy she will attend
court for me, and that she may never again enter into a conspiracy to
rob me of my throne, she shall always wear her label, but under her
dress."
Glucose fell on her knees at Honey Girl's feet and covered her hands
with kisses.
"Let me be always your servant, dear Queen, and I will prove that there
is some good in Glucose after all."
Every one was much affected by her repentance, and was convinced that
thereafter she would lead a good and useful life. Which I am glad to
say she did.
"And now, Billy Bounce, for your reward," said Honey Girl.
"I ask no reward," said Billy earnestly, "except that some day when I
am grown up and General Manager of the Messenger Service you will marry
me."
Honey Girl blushed and hung her head at this unexpected reply, and then
smiling at Billy said, "Maybe."
"Hurrah! Maybe is will be in Beeland," cried everybody, and Mr. Gas
shook Billy warmly by the hand and whispered, "That's what comes of
keeping your courage up."
Is it looking too far ahead to say that one day Honey Girl and Billy
did marry, and of course lived happily all the rest of their days,
while Barker with the aid of the soldiers guarded the Palace, and every
night barked up the Singing Tree, which with its beautiful music gave
much pleasure and delight to Billy and the Princess?
Well, it's true anyway, so we will say so.