at it again," cried the Beetle, seizing her
round the waist, and blundering on again in a furious gallop of his own
invention.

"Whom shall I send for the Glow-worm's relations?" muttered the
Butterfly to herself.

"Send the Snail," said a lively young Cricket, who had devoted himself
to doing mischief during the whole evening.

"Peace, little goose," replied the Butterfly, tapping the Cricket on the
nose with her fan, and hastening towards the Grasshopper, who was still
enthralled and convulsed by the bloated old Spider.

"Whom should we send, my dear!" said the Grasshopper, in reply to the
Butterfly's question; "the Fly footman, to be sure; and pray tell him to
be smart about it, for I've been run down half-a-dozen times already by
the dancers since the sun set. One lamp is too little for our
ball-room. That blind Mole has run--ha! there he comes again. Look
out!"

As he spoke, the Mole came bearing down towards them in a furious
Portuguese waltz, with a horrified Dragonfly struggling in his arms.

The Grasshopper made a bound to get out of the way, but at that moment
the lively young Cricket laid hold of his leg and held him fast. The
consequence was that the Mole tumbled over him, fell on the top of the
bloated Spider, and hit his head so violently on the breast of the
Bull-frog that he stopped his noise immediately.

This sudden stoppage of the bass brought the other musicians to a stand,
and as a matter of course stopped the dancing abruptly--with the
exception of a deaf Squirrel, who had failed to find a partner, and who
went on revolving slowly by himself as if nothing had happened.

"Dear me," exclaimed everybody (except the Squirrel), "what has
happened?"

"Oh, nothing worth mentioning," said the Grasshopper, getting up with a
limp. "You young rascal, what--why--there, take _that_."

"Oh!" sobbed the young Cricket, pointing with a look of surprise at the
Spider; "what a sight!"

He might well say so, for the bloated old Spider had been flattened out
by the weight of the Mole to nearly twice her size, and was apparently
quite dead. In great concern, the host and hostess ran to raise her.

"Are you hurt, dear?" asked the Butterfly, anxiously.

"Hurt!" exclaimed the Grasshopper, pushing her aside; "don't you see
she's burst!"

"Oh me! I'm _so_ sorry," exclaimed the Mole, wringing his fore-paws.

At that moment there was a shout of eager expectation, for the Spider
was seen to move. The