20 THE WASPS NEST. CHAP. L 



you got in it?" "A yellow bumbees' byke." "A 

 what ? " exclaimed his father and mother in a 

 breath. "A yellow bumbees' byke." "Did I not 

 tell you, sir," said his father, " only the other day, and 

 made you promise me, not to bring any more of these 

 things into the house, endangering and molesting us 

 as well as the whole of our neighbours. Besides only 

 think of your stripping yourself in a wood, to get off 

 your shirt to hold a bees' byke ! " 



" But this is a new ane," said Tom, " it's made o' 

 paper." " Made o' fiddlesticks ! * " Na, I'll let ye see 

 it." " Let it alone, I don't want to see it. Go to bed 

 at once, sir, or I shall give you something (shaking 

 his strap) that will do you more good than bees' 

 bykes ! " 



Before the old couple went to bed, they put Tom's 

 shirt into a big bowl, poured a quantity of boiling 

 water over it, and after it was cold, they opened the 

 shirt, and found a Wasps' Nest I 



