Part 12 (2/2)

”Listen to that whanging, will you?” cried Toby; ”n.o.body but Lil Artha could use an ax like that. As sure as you live they must have struck something. Tell me about the babes in the woods, will you; some people wade in good luck every time they start out!”

”Another fellow has taken hold, because the sound changes,” George observed, sagaciously; ”and p'raps Ty Collins is swinging the ax now. He can hew close to the line; fact is, I never saw a scout who could chop as evenly as Ty. Wow! did you hear that crash, fellows? A tree went down that time, whether there's any honey in the same or not. I'll only believe it when I see, smell and taste the nectar.”

A short time afterwards they heard some one coming on the run. Then a figure broke out of the brush, waving excitedly.

”Hi! get your buckets, and come along to help gather the harvest!” Lil Artha was shouting as he approached, half out of breath.

”Then you sure enough did find a bee-tree, and it isn't any joke?”

demanded the incredulous George.

”Take a look at me, and then say if I show up like a joke!” demanded the long-legged scout, indignantly.

Everybody laughed as he twisted his face up, and tried to look serious.

It was an utter impossibility with that lump ornamenting the end of his nose, others gradually swelling his cheeks, while various suspicious signs behind his ears marked the places where the angry little bees had left their stings.

”No hurry, Lil Artha,” said Elmer; ”let me rub your face with this witch hazel, and put a little ointment on to relieve the pain and reduce the swelling. You're puffing out under the eyes right now, and if something isn't done you'll have to be led around for a while.”

While Elmer was doctoring the battered comrade George kept plying him with questions, as though he had great difficulty in believing the glorious truth.

”I hope it isn't only an old hornet's nest you've struck,” he went on to say, doubtfully; ”but then there wouldn't be any at this time of year, I guess. Sure you saw real honey, did you, Lil Artha?”

”And smelled it too!” cried the afflicted scout. ”Why, the old tree burst open when it fell, and you just ought to see what gallons of the stuff fills the hollow trunk away up near the top. My! but the bees are mad, and swarming around there by the million! I ran in among 'em, thinking to s.n.a.t.c.h a comb, and get away with it, but they swooped down on me, and I had to cut for it like fun. Elmer, however, can we get some of that honey without being stung to death? Oh! if only I had one of Daddy Green's bee head-nets that he loans to people when he's showing them the inside of a hive in his apiary, wouldn't it be the boss; and rubber gloves to go with the same.”

”Perhaps I might rig up a net somehow,” Elmer mused; ”I've got a piece of mosquito netting in my bag that I use for a minnow seine, and that ought to make several head-nets. Let's see if we can find any gloves that'll help keep our hands out of danger.”

After a hunt through all the traps the boys managed to secure enough coverings to answer the purpose after a clumsy fas.h.i.+on. Meanwhile George and Toby had hastily gathered what utensils they had with them capable of holding some of the honey. Everybody was wildly excited, for they had never really pa.s.sed through an experience of this sort. Bee trees they had heard of many times, but that one should actually be discovered when they were camping out, and yearning for something of a sweet nature, seemed almost too good to be true.

”All ready here, Lil Artha!” exclaimed George; ”and now lead us to your wonderful wild honey hive. I just want to see it with my own eyes, that's all.”

Lil Artha looked severely at him, that is, as well as he could with those half-shut eyes of his, and then remarked sarcastically:

”Well, if you ain't the limit, George; I sure hope you _do_ see the plain evidence, yes, and _feel_ some of 'em too, like I did. They say the poison of bee stings is used in medicine, and it's mighty good for some things. P'raps a dose of the same'd cure you of your questioning everything there is. But come on, everybody.”

Elmer did not know whether they were exactly wise in abandoning the camp, even for a brief time; but he felt that it would be hard to keep any one there; so he concluded to take the slight risk.

Lil Artha was a pretty good scout. He had noted directions as he went forth on the expedition, so that in returning to the camp he had made what might be called in more senses than one a ”bee-line”; and now the trail was so plainly marked that even a fellow with one eye, or half-closed ones, could follow it back to where the other three scouts awaited their coming, hiding behind the brush so as not to attract too much attention from the buzzing horde of insects.

The netting was fas.h.i.+oned into head protectors, the ends being tucked well down in their coats. Then donning heavy gloves the two boys selected for the work, George and Ty Collins, started boldly into that whirling ma.s.s of excited bees.

They shortly came out bearing pans full of splendid honey, and doubtless a considerable number of stings in spite of all the precautions taken against this evil.

”Next time look for a little fresher stock,” Elmer told them; ”for while this is all right, and like amber in color, you'll find that it's last year's gathering. Split the tree further up, and get the latest stuff!”

So Ty took the ax back with him; while George worked a sort of smoke smudge Elmer had prepared, in order to help stupefy the bees. It did the business in great shape, too, as every bee keeper uses this means for keeping the little insects from paying too much attention to him when he is working with their hive. They seem to fancy that their home is in deadly danger of being consumed, and every working bee immediately burdens itself down with all the honey it can carry, and for the time being renders itself helpless to use its sting.

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