“Don’t you be scared,” Pee-wee called to them, “because I know a way, I’ve got resources, that’s more than they have; they’re only trying to scare you.”
“Oh, don’t let them touch it!” Marjorie cried. “Don’t go near it, please, please don’t! Bring the things away, and we’ll go somewhere else—please.”
Hervey said, “If we turn that nest upside down the wasps won’t know where they are when they come out; they’ll be lost and they’ll lose their morale.”
Marjorie called, “Oh, no, no, no, no, they won’t lose it. Don’t go near it—please!”
“Don’t you mind them,” Pee-wee shouted. “I know a regular scout way to do.”
“Don’t go near it,” the girls shouted. “They’re buzzing all around!”
“You leave them to me,” Pee-wee said, very brave. “I’ll fix it.”
I didn’t know what kind of an idea he had in his head, but I thought it must be something he had read in the Handbook or somewhere or other. He gets his stunts direct from the factories—manufacturer to consumer. He took three or four crinkly napkins that had blown all over the ground and lighted them with a match. Then he began waving them around. “See them all go in?” he shouted. “The flame scares them into their nest.” Gee whiz, it was true, I’ll say that. All the wasps that were out beat it for their nest as fast as they could fly. Pee-wee went dancing around waving the paper till it began burning his hands.
“Oh, isn’t that just wonderful!” one of the girls called.
“That’s nothing,” said Pee-wee, all the while reaching around on the ground; “the next thing I have to do quick; then everything will be all safe.”