l
follow it this very night."

So he thanked his new-found sister and said good-by, for he wanted to
look for some cotton at once.

"Goodness me!" the trumpeter exclaimed as soon as Buster had left her.
"Here I've wasted a precious quarter of an hour when I should have been
working." Thereupon she began gathering nectar as fast as she could, and
forgot all about Buster Bumblebee and his trouble.

When he left the trumpeter in the clover field, Buster was feeling quite
cheerful. Although Chirpy Cricket's advice had been of little use to him,
Buster's talk with the trumpeter had ended pleasantly enough. And now he
expected that he would be able to sleep as late as he pleased--with the
help of a bit of cotton.

Buster flew fast, as he left the fragrant clover behind him, to hunt for
the cotton that he needed. But he soon paused in his rapid flight and sat
down on a sprig of honeysuckle, to think.

He was puzzled. He hadn't the slightest idea where he could find any
cotton. So what was the use of hurrying, if he didn't know where he was
going?

V

MR. CROW TO THE RESCUE

As Buster sat on the sprig of wild honeysuckle, wondering where to look
for a bit of cotton with which to stuff his ears, a bird fluttered down
and perched upon the old stone wall to which the honeysuckle clung. The
name of the newcomer was Jasper Jay. And Buster Bumblebee was glad to see
him, because he wanted help from somebody and he didn't care who it was.

"Where could a person get a small piece of cotton?" he asked Jasper Jay.

And Jasper--who would gladly have made a lunch of Buster, had he not been
afraid of getting stung--Jasper promptly replied with another question:

"What do you intend to do with cotton?" He was a very curious fellow,
this Jasper Jay.

Buster Bumblebee had no objection to explaining everything to him. And
then--and only then--was Jasper willing to tell what he knew.

"Cotton--" said he--"cotton grows in fields. I know that much. And what's
more, I know it doesn't grow in Pleasant Valley, for I live here the
whole year round and I've never seen any."

That was bad news for Buster.

"What do you advise me to do?" he inquired anxiously.

"Ask my cousin, Mr. Crow," said Jasper Jay instantly. "He's a great
traveller. Spends his winters in the South, _he_ does. And no doubt he
can help you."

[Illustration: Buster Thanks Old Mr. Crow For His Advice. (_Page 25_)]

"Where can I find Mr. Crow?" Buster Bumbl