“‘As Alice was a-sitting at her window sill one day,
A beautiful young gentleman he chanced to pass that way,
She cast her eyes upon him and he looked so good and true
That she thought, “I could be happy with a gentleman like you.”’”
“Help! Help!” screamed Nancy. “Oh, Ben, Oh, Percy, Oh, Billie, save me!”
“What is the matter?” they cried.
“Don’t come near me,” she interrupted. “Don’t, don’t! Keep away. They’ll kill you, too.”
Nancy was jumping up and down in a perfect agony of fear, wringing her hands one moment and tearing at her skirts the next.
“It’s a hornet’s nest,” exclaimed Ben. “Keep still, Nancy. Don’t run. They won’t sting you if you are perfectly still.”
But it was needless to tell Nancy not to run. What with her narrow skirt and the spongy ground she could scarcely walk.
“There are dozens of them crawling inside my skirt,” she sobbed, “and you tell me to keep still.”
“Don’t be frightened, Nancy-Bell. I’ll stand with you,” announced Percy, boldly offering himself as a sacrifice to hornets, as he drew Nancy’s arm through his.
“Come on, hornets,” he cried. “Sting a man. Don’t attack a helpless girl.”