90 THE CAUSE AND THE CAUSER.

mean stuck fast in this case I think, professor,”
chuckled a bumble who was trying to help.

“And very much attached too,” giggled the pro-
fessor in reply. Just then, however, he gained his
point. By dint of leverage he succeeded in raising
the thing from the bumble’s head ;—at the expense
of a few hairs to the bumble, it must be owned, to
say nothing of the nervous shock consequent upon
all operations. The poor fellow bounced grum-
bling into the air, while the professor and half a
dozen bumbles rolled the foreign body about to
discover what it was, if possible.

It was about the length of one joint of a Bee's
leg, and was in appearance like a miniature ogre’s
club or policeman’s life-preserver, only the knob
part was as long as the stalk. And the stalk
seemed to come out of a tiny ball which was
covered with something as sticky as glue. Hence
whatever it touched it fastened itself to, and very
fast indeed. What could it be?

“Tf one only lived in a shell now,” remarked an-
other bumble with a humorous hum, “this would
be just the moment for retiring inside to-——”