Part 3

Then came a surprise Ant Venture for the Ant. At a sign from the small Spider, Size Two, the waiter placed Anthony’s lunch basket before Anthony and raised the cover. Inside, in the most delicate pink Japanese napkins of rose pattern, was enough of each thing served at the Wild-Rose Tea House to last Anthony for several meals. A card tied to the handle with pink ribbon said:

FOR A PERFECT GENTLEMAN WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF DOT-TY LADYBUG AND WEB-STER SPIDER

Oh, my, my, my! Such a glow went all through Anthony Ant that he felt as pink as the pinkest rose that ever blossomed on that bush. And to think that all this joy had come to him because he had not said the cross words he nearly said when he found these friends meddling with his basket! Why, he was beginning to have a feeling in his bones, too, and the feeling in his bones told him that all that Mother Antoinette Ant ever had told him about being kind and calm and speaking gently was perfectly true!

[Illustration: _Oh, my, my, my! Such a glow went through Anthony Ant_]

A VENTURE IN PLEASURE

The Ant noticed that before they left the Wild-Rose Tea House the Ladybug and the small Spider, Size Two, after a talk aside with the waiter, each had a confectioner’s box to carry. He thought probably they had bought some of the wild-rose fancy cakes to take home to their families. But he was so busy thinking how to say “Thank you” to them for their present to him, and for the party too, that he thought no more about the boxes, and they all went back down the bush to the place where the log would bring them to the boat once more.

They spied the white chip gleaming against the dark water below them, as safe as possible. It did not take them many minutes to get aboard and to stow their parcels in a space in the middle where no bobbling would jubble them off into the water. _Jubble_ is a most uncommon word too, and means what would happen if the boat should bobble so hard that the things would be thrown off into the water. Then they sat down to wait, as there was nothing else to do. They all three tried to poke the boat away from the log by pushing against the log as hard as they could with their hands all at once. But, in spite of all the hands they had among the three of them, there was not strength enough, with all of them pushing, to send the boat out into the free water.

“The wind will change sooner or later,” said the small Spider, Size Two. “That is one thing always true about wind--it has to change sooner or later. Sometimes it is sooner and sometimes it is later. This may be one of the later times, but there is nothing easier to do than waiting. While we are waiting we can plan about how far we can go and how long we can stay.”

“If we have to start late, we cannot stay long nor go far,” said the Ladybug, “for there will be the journey back to take, except for you, Mr. Ant. You won’t have to go back, of course, since you are traveling around the world. All you will have to do will be to land when we do, and keep on going to the right. But we have families who need us, so we have to go back.”

“That is so,” the Ant answered, and already he felt sorry to think that the trip with these friends could not go right on. If only they would go around the world with him! He teased them to say they would, but they said that, as much as they would like to travel with him, they must not. Besides, they added, they were not in need of a change, as they were so happy at home with their families that the families were quite all the change they needed.

“Anyway, we can have a happy time all the afternoon,” said the Ladybug, “for our families will not need us till night. Never think about the saying good-by part of a pleasure until the good-by part of it comes, is my motto.”

“That is a fine motto,” said the small Spider, Size Two. “I wish I had it embroidered and framed to hang over the mantelpiece in every house I build.”

“Some day I shall be glad to embroider it for you,” said the Ladybug.

“Oh, and will you embroider one for me, too?” asked the Ant eagerly. “I am sure Mother would be so pleased, for she says things that sound like that. I’ll ask her to invite you to pay us a long visit when I get back, if you will. You’d love Ant-Hill Manor, I know!”

“But you don’t love it, do you?” said the Ladybug. “You were so eager to leave it, you see.”

“Well,” replied the Ant, looking much ashamed of himself, “to tell you the truth, I think it was the work I wanted to leave more than it was the home.”

“Well, the change will show you a grand mistake in that way of thinking,” the Ladybug told him, “but I shall be glad to embroider the motto for you if you really care to have it.”

“Oh, thank you!” cried the Ant. “Give me your address, and when I come back from my trip I shall be glad to call for it some day, and bring you the invitation to our home at the same time.”

“It is Knot-Hole Barkalow,” said the Ladybug, “and it is in the knot hole of the big elm tree nearest the place you found us. My house is really a small bungalow, but it fitted the house better to call it a _barkalow_. You come up the tree and tap seven times, and I shall know who it is. In case you get no answer, you will know I am out on a little marketing trip or doing errands that have to be done, so walk in and make yourself at home till I come back.”

“Thank you,” said the Ant, and wrote the address in his notebook.

And then, oh me, oh my! There was a frightful splash in the water near them, and the little boat bobbled so hard that not only their baggage but they themselves were nearly jubbled into the brook.

“What was that?” cried Anthony Ant, much scared.

“It must have been an earthquake!” said the Ladybug.

“More like a waterquake, I should say!” gasped the small Spider, Size Two, who had swallowed some of the water that splashed into his face.

[Illustration: _There was a frightful splash in the water near them_]

“Oh, now I know what it was!” cried the Ladybug. “It was only a Bullfrog jumping from the log. This must be his diving pool. Oh, but look! We are sailing at last!”

So they were, and in that plunge Mr. Bullfrog had done them a good turn rather than a bad overturn! The boat was floating out into the brook again, and the voyage downstream had begun. Gently sailed the boat. Though it still bobbled a little from its shaking, it bobbed evenly and was in no danger of giving its passengers an unhappy jubbling at present.

It was the happiest trip on the water ever taken in the whole world, so they all thought. Sometimes the little boat would stick for a few minutes where something stopped it in its course. Then it would get free from the stone or whatever blocked the way, and downstream it would go again. There were many things to see by the way on each side, and the small Spider, Size Two and the Ladybug explained to Anthony all the things he did not know.

The boat stopped at a small island of stones and gravel in the middle of the brook late in the afternoon, and there they thought it best to end the trip. They carried the parcels to the island and left the little boat to itself. It might go on once more, or stay as long as it liked. They would not need it any more, they thought, and they explored the little island for an hour. Then it was that the Ant found out what was in the boxes the others had brought.

As they sat under the shade of a thick weed, the Ladybug opened her box and took out a rose-patterned paper tablecloth and spread it on the clean stones. Then came afternoon tea from both boxes--even a small tea-house stove to boil water for the tea in the tiny tea-kettle. They would not let the Ant open his lunch basket at all. That is why they had brought the things themselves for the picnic--so he could save all his, which he would need on his trip. If you never have eaten wild-rose tea cakes, you have missed cakes worth while. There were pink candies, rose-mint flavored and shaped like roses, and such dainty sandwiches you never saw, nor I, either!

After the tea it was time for the Ladybug and the small Spider, Size Two to go home. Anthony went to see them off, and there was the little white boat that looked so tempting to take once more.

“Well, we might as well take it,” decided the Ladybug. “Mr. Ant can come too, for, when it once starts, it may bump us against something from which we can crawl to a stone nearer shore. He can stay on and sail farther, for there is a bend in the brook that will take him a long distance toward the right, and he can get off when the brook bends back again.”

It was as though the whole thing had been planned to give the three the best surprise yet. Almost as soon as they were aboard, with Anthony’s baggage too, the boat started down again, and suddenly a sharp turn about a rock made the current send the boat in a slanting push across to a bowlder so near the shore they could easily reach it from such a fine landing place.

They all made the jump from the boat safely, and waved their feelers and hands after the boat, for they could see it was not going to wait for the Ant this time. He would not have that boat ride down the bend after all. He did not care, for he had his things all with him and could cross some way later. He had intended merely to land with them on the bowlder and watch them as they landed, then go back to the boat; but, as it had floated away, he did not care. They clambered to the top of the bowlder to see how the shore looked, and all at once they saw a large sign which said:

WONDERFUL INSECT BAND CONCERT HERE TONIGHT FREE COME AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS

THE BAND CONCERT

“Oh, my!” cried the small Spider, Size Two. “We ought to hear that! It was advertised in last night’s paper, and I am sure it will be fine. Ever hear a band concert, Mr. Ant?”

“Never!” replied the Ant. “Mother never would take me, but sent me to bed too early to hear any concert of any kind.”

“Oh,” said the Ladybug, “we must hear it!”

“What about the home folks?” asked the small Spider, Size Two.

“I’ll tell you what,” said she. “Go to the nearest telephone booth and call up your wife and tell her. She will let my family know too, for she is the best neighbor I have, and we’ll get back before so very late.”

Ah! but there was no telephone on the grounds, so the small Spider, Size Two sent a wireless message instead, and the matter was arranged.

As the dark came slowly, a Bat and all his cousins appeared from the woods somewhere or other and flew gayly about in the air, they were so excited about the concert. And the Fireflies began to bring out their little lanterns and try them on the dark corners here and there to see about the flash workings, and they began their dance about the place. The Crickets were vibrating their wing cases, and all sorts of insects that are more or less still all day were trying their violins, and flutes, and zippers, and zingers, and zoomers, and buzzoons, and drummerinos, and all the funny instruments only night insects know how to play. It was all very exciting. The three friends took hold of hands and sat on a small bench made of bark. They did not speak a loud word, it was so beautiful. There was a large crowd, for everybody from all the places around came.

[Illustration: _The Fireflies began to bring out their little lanterns_]

“Which is your favorite sound?” whispered the Ladybug to the Ant.

“Why, I think it is the quiet, soothing sound those pale green insects with the wings you can see through are making,” he answered.

“Ah!” said she. “Those are the so-called August Croakers. They are a sort of Tree Cricket, and they sing every evening as soon as the dusk is near enough. They will not stop till the frost puts an end to their song.”

“They are my favorite too,” said the small Spider, Size Two. “Those loud, zippy things that make such a lot of exciting noise with their funny jiggerettes are all right for a little while to liven things up a bit, but for a steady, all-around, satisfying sound, give me the August Croakers every time.”

As some of the concert was sure to last most of the night, the Ladybug and the small Spider, Size Two thought they would better not stay after the Fireflies had finished the most lively part of their dance. They said good-by to the Ant and slipped away in the dark before he could thank them again for the great kindness they had shown him. All at once it was as though the night had shut him in with a smothering feeling of unhappiness. He was alone!

Anthony Ant went back to the dark bench and sat there alone trying to think what to do next. If the August Croakers had not been there with their comforting sounds, and the Crickets with their cheerful trills, he would have cried, he was sure. He watched the Fireflies and the Bats, and tried to follow the tune the loud, zippy insects were playing. It must be a sort of Hungarian gypsy dance, he thought, for he had heard that Hungarian music played by gypsies was of the wild, queer kind.

All at once Anthony Ant thought of his home and nice soft bed. He was tired from so much happiness all day and so much loneliness suddenly, and how he wished he could walk into the doorway of Ant-Hill Manor and find himself in his own snug corner where the Night could not hurt him! It seemed all at once, you see, as though the Night was something that would catch and hurt him. Anyway, he knew it would not do to sit on that bench all night. How he wished his friends had asked him to go with them! To be safe in Knot-Hole Barkalow with the Ladybug family or in some snug place with the small Spider, Size Two family, would be better than to be alone in a strange place. The other insects were going to their homes, and the place was getting more lonely every minute. There were fewer lights from the Firefly lanterns, and the Crickets were not so cheerful as at first, for even they were getting sleepy.

Anthony Ant left the bench and stole through the many shadows to the bank of the brook again. To hear its murmur was a little more cheerful, for he had heard it all day while sailing with his friends and traveling near it.

As he walked along the edge he came to the great bowlder where they had landed. He climbed to the top to see if in the dark there was anything to be seen. The pale moon was shining faintly over the water, and as he stood upon the top of the bowlder he saw a sight that made him a wee bit happy. The boat he thought gone forever was stuck near the shore farther down. If he could walk down the shore a little distance, he could get aboard. Maybe it would not seem so lonely on the white chip where he had been so happy. So he wearily climbed down the bowlder and, with his lunch basket and dressing case, crawled slowly along the shore until he came to the boat, and glad was he to find he could get on deck easily. This he did, and while the chip swung gently in some weeds without bobbling at all, he fell asleep and forgot how lonely he was and how afraid he was of the Night. He even had one pleasant little dream about the birthday party at the Wild-Rose Tea House!

KEEPING DOWN LUMPS

If Anthony Ant had thought the day before that Dr. Alexander Beetle Bug knew how to write a prescription that was good for something, the same prescription did not seem so joyful when he wakened early next morning. He found that the chip was bobbling horribly and that if he had not used his dressing case for a pillow, and tied his lunch basket to his belt, probably both would have been jubbled into the brook in the night. He sat up in a hurry and discovered that he must have drifted far away from the place he had boarded the chip the night before.

There was nothing on either shore that looked the least like anything he had seen the day before. My, but he was scared!

“Oh, where am I?” he thought. “I must have gone ’way past the bend of the brook and halfway down to the other end of the world! This is awful! I’d better get off right away!”

Oh, but he couldn’t get off right away! The current was too swift, and there was no chance to jump to anything near the boat. He had to hang on as hard as ever was, and sail away whether he wanted to or not. He was hungry too, for he had not tasted anything since the picnic afternoon tea of the day before, but with the bobbling of the boat he could not even open his lunch basket. There was nothing to do but to wait until something happened.

The something which happened did it so quickly that Anthony Ant did not know what it was. All he knew was that he was sore from head to foot from a big bump he got when something dashed the chip against a large stone near the middle of the brook. The boat itself had had its last trip for a long time, as any one could tell by looking at it. It stood on its side against the stone, and a mass of weeds and grass that had floated down after it now wedged it in so it could not get out unless a most out-of-the-way thing should let it out of its prison.

The Ant had his things with him, anyway, and that was something. Maybe his mother had guessed that his journey would not all be easy and that there might be bumps and scratches and bruises, for mothers know all about those things always. So in his dressing case he found salve in a tiny jar, and something to put on bumps, and a small roll of bandages, and even a little bottle of liniment for lameness.

A big lump that nearly made him cry seemed to get into his throat when he thought about Mother Ant so far away in that cosy Ant-Hill Manor. Whenever he was hurt, she had such a cuddly way of taking him into her lap and rocking him in the big rocking-chair, and saying, “Poor little Anthony! Did he hurt himself on the bad stones? There, there, there! Don’t cry now, Mother’s petkins! It will be all well soon. Let Mother kiss it. There, there! See the pretty pictures of all the little Antlets in the nice picture book Mother will show him. Here’s a little Antlet that got hurt just like you. Such a naughty little Antlet that ran away from his dear mother and brothers and sisters once upon a time, and fell down a terrible hill, and bumped both his knees on his frontest legs, and tore his best clothes! Oh, my, my! Look at him, and see how he is crying! And here he is in another picture, trying to get home to dear Mother, and here she is coming after him and picking him up, and here--”

But Anthony Ant had to stop that minute thinking about all that, for it made that lump so big that the tears were all ready to tumble down from the tear places in his eyes. How the whole family would laugh at him if he let cuddly thoughts turn him into a baby and send him back home like a silly coward! He would stick to the doctor’s prescription whatever happened, for even his mother, who never had let him go off alone before, had smiled at the prescription and had helped him get ready to go.

Sometimes something from a lunch basket is the very best thing to keep down a lump in the throat, for often things seem much worse when the stomach is empty. Anthony Ant, therefore, put salve and bandages and liniment on his worst hurts, and then sat down on the flat part of the great stone and opened his lunch basket.

Another lump almost came up into his throat at sight of the pink Japanese napkins and dainty things, for it made him think of those kind friends he might never see again. But he took a sandwich right away. The minute he had swallowed a mouthful both the lumps had gone, and by the time he had eaten the things suitable for a whole breakfast he was as cheerful as any Ant could have been far away from home. He found that the lunch basket had been wiped clean from any grit, and the jar that had held the honey his mother had put in was washed clean and filled with a rich cheese made from goodness-knows-what, for it was a secret dainty of the Wild-Rose Tea House and was not given away to everyone.

After breakfast Anthony felt better. He even whistled a little tune, called “All on a Sunny Morning.” He made up his mind to several sensible things. One was that he would not travel too hard and fast that day. Another was that he would try to find something to eat before his lunch basket was empty. Another was that he would not let anything make him forget to keep both his lunch basket and his dressing case with him where they would be safe. The last thing was that he would make the Ladybug and the small Spider, Size Two proud they had met him, by really always being as polite as he had seemed to them to be, for well he knew that he was not always so kind and mannerly.

The next thing was to cross to the right bank of the brook, and this was not easy. The water was swift and deep, and he must wait for something to float down.