"What are those?" Billy finally ventured to ask, pointing to a row of tree-like things along the sidewalk. "Hat trees, silly," said one of the bears. "Can't you see the hat on the top?" "Oh!" said Billy, "they're very funny, aren't they?" "Not a bit funny," said Big Bug Bear, "and if you had to listen to their bands all night, you wouldn't think so either." "What kind of bands?" asked Billy. [Illustration: _The Hat Tree._] "Hat bands of course--they're brimful of horrid noises." "Oh!" said Billy, and relapsed into silence. By this time they had walked quite a distance, and though Billy had kept his eyes open for a chance to escape, one or another of the bears had hold of his arm all of the time. "I suppose you know why we have captured you?" said Big Bug Bear, finally. "Because you don't want me to find Bogie Man, I expect," said Billy. "For once in your life you are correct--little credit to you, though." "But why?" "Why what?" "Why don't you want me to find him?" "He's our cousin for one thing, and for another thing, it's our business to keep people from doing anything they want to." "And you expect to keep me from it," asked Billy. "Indeed we do," said Big Bug Bear. "How?" "You'll find out soon enough. Now stop your talking." Billy shut his lips tight and walked along with a sinking heart. "Isn't he a sulky brat?" said Little Bug Bear, "pouting along and not saying a word." "But you told me to stop talking," said Billy. "Don't be impertinent," said Big Bug Bear, shaking him. "If you can't speak politely to your elders you needn't speak at all." My, my, how Billy did hate the Bug Bears for that! Pinching and beating, anything he had been through could not have hurt him worse than this treatment. The Bug Bears seemed to know it, for they bullied him back and forth, and forth and back until he thought he would go crazy. "Here we are at last," said Big Bug Bear, stopping in front of a prison-like Derby House. "Yes, and if this boy hadn't lagged so on the way, we'd have been here an hour ago," said another Bug Bear crossly. "Get in with you." And giving Billy a push through the door, he and the rest followed close after. Indoors they were greeted by another Bug Bear. Greeted is hardly the word, because that seems to mean some kind of a smile or a pleasant hand shake. As it was, the Bug Bear got up sulkily from a corner where he had been lying and grunted by way of "how do you do." "We've got Billy Bounce," said Big Bug Bear. "Huh! at last--it took you long enough, goodness knows," said the first speaker surlily. "We didn't come here to talk," said Big Bug Bear angrily. "Get to work." "What are you going to do to me--kill me?" asked Billy. "No--not if you do what you're told," said Little Bug Bear. "Worse than that," said Big Bug Bear. "We're going to operate on your eyes," said the owner of the place. "Blind me?" cried Billy. "Oh! don't blind me." "Wait and see," growled Big Bug Bear.