“No,” replied his papa. “I have here some wire to tack over the windows, to keep out the flies and mosquitoes, for it is getting to be summer now, and those insects will soon be flying and buzzing around.”
So after supper Mr. No-Tail, and his two boys, Bully and Bawly, tacked the wire mosquito netting on the windows, and when they were all done Mr. No-Tail went down to the corner drug store and he bought a quart of ice cream, the kind all striped like a sofa cushion, and he and his wife and Bully and Bawly sat out on the porch eating it with spoons out of a dish, just as real as anything.
“Oh dear me! There’s a mosquito buzzing around!” suddenly exclaimed Mamma No-Tail, as she ate the last of her cream. “They are on hand early this year. I’m going in the house.”
“I’ll go get my bean shooter, and see if I can kill that mosquito!” exclaimed Bawly, who once went hunting after the buzzers, and shot quite a number. But land sakes! it was so dark on the porch that he couldn’t see the buzzing mosquitoes though he blew a number of beans about, and one hit Uncle Wiggily Longears on the nose, just as the old gentleman rabbit was hopping over to play checkers with Grandpa Croaker. But Uncle Wiggily forgave Bawly, as it was an accident, and as there was a little ice cream left, the old gentleman rabbit and Grandpa Croaker ate it up.
Well, something happened that night when they had all gone to bed. Along about 12 o’clock, when it was all still and quiet, and when the little mice were just coming out to play hide and seek and look for some crackers and cheese, Bawly No-Tail felt some one pulling him out of bed.
“Here! Hold on! Don’t do that, Bully!” he cried.
“What’s the matter?” asked his brother. “Are you dreaming or talking in your sleep? I’m not doing anything.”
“Aren’t you pulling me out of bed?” asked Bawly, and he had to grab hold of the bedpost to prevent himself falling to the floor.
“Why, no, I’m in my own bed,” answered Bully. “Oh, dear me! Oh, suz dud! Some one’s pulling me, too!” And he let out such a yell that Mamma No-Tail came running in with a light. And what do you think she saw?
Why two, great, big buzzing mosquitoes flew out of the window through a hole in the wire netting, and it was those mosquitoes who had been trying to pull Bully and Bawly out of bed, so they could fly away with them to eat them up.