"I'm sure I don't know," the bee answered. "I'm only a bug, after all, you know, and so I don't understand things that human beings which has got brains can understand. I've noticed, though, that sometimes when a boy gets hurt it sort of makes him feel better if he hurts back." "I wouldn't mind a bit if I could see the fireworks," said Jimmieboy. "That's what hurts the most." "Well, I'll tell you what you do," said the bee; "if that's all you feel bad about, we can fix it up in a jiffy. Do you know what a jiffy is?" "No, I don't," said Jimmieboy. "Well, I'll tell you," said the bee, "but don't you ever tell: "Sixty seconds make a minute, Sixty minutes make an hour; But a second has within it Sixty jiffies full of power. "In other words, a jiffy is just the same thing to a second as the second is to the minute or the minute to the hour; and, dear me, what billions of things can happen in a jiffy! Why, they're simply enormous." "They must be," said Jimmieboy, "if, as you say, you can fix me up in regard to the fireworks in a jiffy." "There isn't any if about it," returned the bee. "Just turn over and put your face into the pillow, and see what you can see." "I can't see anything with both eyes in my pillow, much less with one," said Jimmieboy. "Well--try it," said the bee. "I know what I'm buzzing about." So Jimmieboy, just to oblige his strange little friend, turned over and buried his face in the pillow. At first, as far as he could see, there was nothing going on in the pillow to make it worth while; but all of a sudden, just as he was about to withdraw his face, a great golden pin wheel began to whizz and whirr right in front of him, only instead of putting forth fire it spouted jewels and flowers, and finally right out of the middle of it there popped a tiny bit of a creature all dressed in spangles, looking for all the world like a Brownie. He bowed to Jimmieboy politely and requested him to open his mouth as wide as he could. "What for?" asked Jimmieboy, naturally a little curious to know the meaning of this strange proceeding. "I am going to set off the sugar-plum bomb," the little creature replied. "But of course if you don't want the sugar-plums you can keep your mouth closed." "Can't I catch 'em in my hands?" said Jimmieboy. "You can if you want to, but they won't be of any use if you do," returned the little creature. "You see, this bomb shoots out candy instead of sparks, but the candy is so delicate that, like the sparks in fire fireworks, it goes out just as soon as it comes down. If you catch 'em in your hands you won't be able to see how good they taste, don't you see?" "Yeh," said Jimmieboy, opening his mouth as wide as he could, and so speaking with difficulty. "Hire ahay!"--by which I presume he meant fire away, only he couldn't say it plainly with his mouth open.