"Do you think so?" he exclaimed. "I don't see how it happened."

"Neither do I!" Freddie Firefly said. "But if I'm to stay in the
procession I certainly can't sit on this banner any longer. And besides,
if I'm going to call on Farmer Green's wife I shall have to travel
faster than we're moving now."

Since they were then standing stock-still in the meadow, there was a
good deal of truth in what Freddie Firefly said.

"But you don't need to call on Mrs. Green!" Chirpy Cricket cried.
"That's not your banner, you know. It belongs to Mehitable Moth."

"I'm afraid Mrs. Green has heard I'm coming; and I don't want to
disappoint her," Freddie replied.

And then he sprang from his perch and went zigzagging away.

One might think that Chirpy Cricket would have been quite upset by the
breaking up of his torchlight procession. But being naturally cheerful,
he merely smiled and said that it was plain that the Fireflies were a
very flighty family.




VIII

BUSTER'S SCHEME