“There’s another pest to be gotten rid of, Mr. Talmage,” suggested Miss Martin.
“And have you a story ready for it?” laughed Ned.
“It won’t take a moment to weave one just as long as we may need for the occasion,” replied Miss Martin.
“Is it the fly that you have such an antipathy to?” continued Uncle Ben.
“Yes, it is, and if you will do as I advise, Happy Hills will soon be rid of flies as well as mosquitoes,” rejoined Miss Martin.
“Well, tell us a story and we will judge of the importance of the battle against the fly,” said Uncle Ben.
So Miss Martin sat thinking for a few seconds before she began:
“‘Oh, Flossy, did you know Uncle Ben Talmage has started a camp at Happy Hills for the Little Citizens?’ cried a noisy fly to her companion one nice day in June.
“‘Really! How interesting; but what good will that do us here? We are keeping house in the pig’s trough, so how could we hope to reach camp so far away?’
“‘I’ll tell you about a plan I have, Flossy. Of course, there will be lots of children staying the summer at Happy Hills, and where there are little ones there is sure to be food and things lying about for flies to picnic upon. Now we can steal a ride from the pig-sty to the camp when Farmer Jones feeds the pigs. We can sit in the bottom of his swill-cans and sneak into camp without anyone seeing us. Once there we can set up housekeeping at any of the Nests. Soon we will have a large family and found a great fly-colony.’