The humming sound came nearer, and there was more haste on the part of the youngsters to leave the schoolroom. The players, on the other hand, seemed to feel no alarm; but there was no use in going on with their parts if the others did not carry out the scene.
"Stop! Stop!" cried the manager. "There's no danger!"
"No danger!" cried the red-haired boy who had given the alarm. "What d'ye call that! Wow!" and he slapped the back of his neck vigorously.
The humming sound was much louder now, and several small insects could be seen flying about the room.
"I guess we'd better get out of this!" cried Russ, as he prepared to abandon his camera.
"It would be best," advised the teacher. "There is a swarm of bees outside, and some of them are in here. They may sting all of us."
"Well, this is a new one--a moving picture spoiled by bees!" cried Mr. Pertell. "I never----"
"One got me!" interrupted Mr. Sneed. "I knew something would happen. If there's anything going I get it--from bulldogs to bees!"
He began rubbing vigorously at his cheek, where a bee had saluted him too ardently.
"Come on--everybody out!" ordered Mr. Pertell, making slaps at a bee that was buzzing angrily around his head. There was no need to give this direction to the school children, for they were already outside, and now the teacher hastened out, while the moving picture players lost no time in following her example.
"Ouch! One got me that time!" cried Paul, who was hurrying out at the side of Alice.
"Not much now; but it will more, later," he said, as he examined his wrist to see if the bee's sting had been left in, as that would make an ugly sore. "I've been stung several times before, and when it swells up, and itches, then it's really bad. Let's go find a mud puddle."
"What in the world for?" she asked curiously.
"Mud is the best thing for a bee sting when you can't get ammonia," Paul explained. "Just plaster some mud on, and it draws out the pain. I don't know the theory, except that when a bee stings you he injects some sort of acid poison under the skin. Mud and ammonia are alkalies, and are opposed to acid, so the chemists say."
"Then I'll help you look for a mud puddle," she said.
There was considerable excitement now, for a number of the school children had been stung, and one or two of the players.