aside one of the glass doors of the Carpenter's prison and picked the
frightened captive up with his fingers.

"Oh!" cried the two guests. "Won't he sting you?"

"Naw!" said Johnnie Green scornfully. "He won't sting me. He knows me."

For a few minutes the two city boys--for that is what they were--for a
few minutes they watched Johnnie Green expectantly. They seemed to be
waiting for something. And they were. They were waiting for Johnnie Green
to be stung.

But nothing of the sort happened. And soon one of them said:

"I wish I had a pet bumblebee."

"So do I!" said the other twin.

"Do you?" asked Johnnie Green. "Well,--I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll
give you each a honey box. And maybe you can catch some bumblebees, if
you want to."

Of course, the twins were delighted. And Johnnie Green appeared pleased
too. Perhaps he should have told his little friends that his pet was not
a bumblebee at all--but a carpenter bee--and that carpenter bees never
sting people.

But Johnnie Green did not always do just exactly as he ought to have
done.