THE BLACK BILL-BUG OF CORN 29 



the corn stubble, and if he failed the folks at home 

 would laugh at him. Starting in a half-hearted way 

 he selected the biggest stubble he could see and 

 putting his right foot on one side and his left on 

 the other he stooped over and began pulling with 

 both hands as hard as he could, in fact he pulled 

 so hard that he grunted. While pulling he bit his 

 tongue between his teeth and drew his face out of 

 shape as if he were suffering severe pain. When he 

 had pulled, twisted, grunted, and looked painful for 

 some time, the stubble, root and all, came so suddenly 

 that Johnny was not prepared, and he fell backwards, 

 almost turning a somersault, with earth flying all 

 over him. He remained on his back a few moments 

 as if to catch his breath, then got up, stiffly, like an 

 old man, and sat rubbing his eyes. He put his 

 hands down, winked hard a few times, and then 

 rubbed his eyes some more. He kept on spitting 

 and sneezing, wondering if he would ever get rid of 

 all the pieces of earth that had lodged in his eyes, 

 nose, mouth, and ears. Then he slowly drew his 

 knife from his pocket and split the stubble and root. 

 What do you suppose he saw as he laid the two pieces 

 on the ground very quickly and looked at them with 

 bulging eyes? He thought that he saw three bill- 

 bugs partly hidden in little nests in the dried and 

 rotten pith of the inside of the stubble. 



"I must have fallen pretty hard, for I never see 



