CHAPTER XX
ON BUTTERFLY ISLAND
“What’s this?”
“Oh, I am stung!”
“It’s a nest of hornets!”
“Let me get out of this!”
“Ouch! Wow! This is terrible!”
So the cries rang out, as the paper bag broke and the hornets’ nest fell to the ground with a thump.
The hornets had been angry before, at being imprisoned, and now the shock evidently made them madder than ever. Out they swarmed about Reff Ritter and his cronies, who slapped right and left to ward them off.
Ritter was stung on the nose and on the chin, and every one of the other lads was attacked.
For several seconds the bewildered boys did not know what to do, and simply made wild passes through the air at their enemies. Then, with one accord, they attempted to run away. In doing this Coulter bumped into Paxton, and both went down and the hornets swarmed all around them.