In Search of Goliathus Hercules Read Online Free PDF

them shiny.” Henri knew that didn’t sound very convincing, but if he could just get out of the room quickly…
    “And your socks? Was it necessary to remove them?” inquired Mrs. Black.
    “Um…well, I didn’t want to get any polish on them. So I took them off…” He could feel his face getting hot.
    “I see. Do you normally shine your shoes when they are on your feet?” But before Henri could dig himself a deeper hole, Mrs. Black said, “Georgiana, I do not think this young man is telling the truth. I believe he has been over at my farm. I expect he is interested in the fire. Well, let me tell you that if you play with fire, you will get burned!”
    “I haven’t been at your farm!” exclaimed Henri. “I didn’t even know you were burning the fields.” He knew that he shouldn’t speak to Mrs. Black that way.
    “Hmm,” Mrs. Black said calmly, but her face showed a frightening fierceness that Henri had never seen before. She moved her arms up to adjust her bun, pulling out the sharp hatpin. For a moment it was poised in the air, and it occurred to Henri that she could easily throw it at him like a dart. “Well, why don’t we see those nice shiny shoes then, On- ree ?”
    Now he was cooked! With little choice, Henri silently turned and exited the room. As soon as he was in the hallway, he started to run, pausing only for a moment to pull the turquoise button off the wall.
    He was really in trouble now. Mrs. Black would see his muddy, scuffed shoes and accuse him of trespassing on her farm and who knew what else? Great Aunt Georgie would be furious that he had taken the turquoise button, but he was scared and figured he needed its special powers. Anything to protect himself from Mrs. Black!
    Henri reached the back door and found his less-than-shiny shoes. He picked them up, and in a moment he was running, but not back to the parlor.
    Out the door, through the garden, and down to the creek Henri ran. He sat down dejectedly on the bank. He had escaped Mrs. Black for the moment, but what was he going to do? What would Great Aunt Georgie do? Maybe she would send him home to London. That would be good, but he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Really, she had been nice to him. Why were Great Aunt Georgie and Mrs. Black friends? They weren’t alike at all. It felt as if Mrs. Black was always lurking about.
    As Henri stared down at the water, deep in thought, his ears once again began to distinguish the voices of insects. The cicadas and crickets still cried out their entreaties, but there were other high-pitched voices coming from upstream. A moment later, a small boat came into sight. It was a toy boat, really; one that looked like it had been discarded or forgotten by a child long ago. The paint was peeling, and it looked less than seaworthy. The occupants were a motley assortment of insects—a grasshopper, a stick insect, a couple of mantises, and some kind of beetle.
    One of the mantises called out instructions: “Keep her steady, more to the right. Hey, tell us what’s coming up in front.” The beetle was weeping inconsolably and the grasshopper seemed to be trying to calm her. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they got out. There was enough time,” he said.
    “I wanted to go back, but the flames…It was so hot, and the smoke, it made my eyes water.” She started to cry again as the boat drifted out of earshot. Henri got up and started walking along the bank of the creek so he could follow the boat. He realized that these insects must be refugees from Mrs. Black’s fields. The fire merely inconvenienced Mrs. Black with its blowing smoke, but it was endangering the lives of these creatures and destroying their homes.
    Henri continued to follow the boat. Up ahead he could see that the stream ran faster. Surely the boat would capsize in the rapids. He needed to help them! But how? At the same time, the stick insect lookout saw the rapids too. “Reverse course, reverse course!” he yelled. There was