As soon as the wily yellowjackets discovered that their prey was in the water, they hovered about over the surface, striking at everything that came up. And while mankind is, in a limited way, amphibious, surely he makes no claim of extensive submarine ability. This fact the murderous hordes seemed to have taken into consideration in carrying out their attack. By painful stages the victims worked their way downstream until they were out of range. Then they dragged themselves up on the bank and started what looked like a cartoon of a mud-slinging campaign. To an idle passerby a group of full grown human beings with their heads and often their bodies completely poulticed in black mud would have been an amusing sight. But on this occasion not so much as a suspicion of a smile crossed the face of any person present. An incipient laugh would doubtless have been punished by immediate execution. The only observers who were not among the suffering participants were in no mood for smiles. They lay absolutely motionless back in the bushes and devoutly hoped that their labored breathing and pounding heartbeats would not be overheard. The affair had got away from them entirely. There was no telling what would happen if their part in it should be discovered. Not until it was quite dark did the badly stung bathers dare to return for their clothes. The hornets were gone. And the languid stillness of the summer night was broken only by their grim tokens of exclamation. Some time after the last suffering victim had dragged his weary feet down the path leading from the pool, two dark shadows cautiously emerged from the shrubbery. "Let's beat it for home!" urged a husky voice. "If any one saw us around here they'd prob'ly kill us!" "All right," breathed the other. "The quicker the better!" "Do you s'pose any one ever did die from bee-sting?" "I'm afraid so. One feller said if he didn't die before mornin' he might have one chance in a hundred--" Next day Sube's face blanched with fear as he saw the undertaker's wagon pass the house in the direction of the Unionville Mill. When the fearsome news was broken to Gizzard he presented a ray of hope. "I ast my dad last night if anybody ever died of bee-sting and he said he never heard of any; but he said if a person got enough of 'em he couldn't see why they wouldn't kill just like a charge of birdshot." "Does he know about everybody that dies in the whole world?" asked Sube incredulously. "Maybe not all of 'em; but he knows about a good many." At this point in the discussion Biscuit arrived, and with him came a brilliant idea to Sube. "How good do you know Hi Wilbur, Biscuit?" he asked. "How good! Say! He used to work for us!" "Bet you don't know 'im good enough to nail 'im for a ride when he comes along!" challenged Sube. "Oh! Don't I! Don't I, now! Well, you just watch me! _Watch_ me! I'll show you if I do or not!" howled Biscuit.