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returned Ben, laughing; "but hush, men, hush. That first bee is
filled, and begins to think of home. He'll soon be off for HONEY
Centre, and I must keep my eye on him. Now, stand a little aside,
friends, and give me room for my craft."
The men complied, and le Bourdon was now all intense attention to
his business. The bee first taken had, indeed, filled itself to
satiety, and at first seemed to be too heavy to rise on the wing.
After a few moments of preparation, however, up it went, circling
around the spot, as if uncertain what course to take. The eye of Ben
never left it, and when the insect darted off, as it soon did, in an
air-line, he saw it for fifty yards after the others had lost sight
of it. Ben took the range, and was silent fully a minute while he
did so.
"That bee may have lighted in the corner of yonder swamp," he said,
pointing, as he spoke, to a bit of low land that sustained a growth
of much larger trees than those which grew in the "opening," "or it
has crossed the point of the wood, and struck across the prairie
beyond, and made for a bit of thick forest that is to be found about
three miles further. In the last case, I shall have my trouble for
nothing."
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"What t'other do?" demanded Elksfoot, with very obvious curiosity.
"Sure enough; the other gentleman must be nearly ready for a start,
and we'll see what road HE travels. 'Tis always an assistance to a
bee-hunter to get one creature fairly off, as it helps him to line
the next with greater sartainty."
Ben WOULD say acTYVE, and SARtain, though he was above saying
creatoore, or creatur'. This is the difference between a
Pennsylvanian and a Yankee. We shall not stop, however, to note all
these little peculiarities in these individuals, but use the proper
or the peculiar dialect, as may happen to be most convenient to
ourselves.
But there was no time for disquisition, the second bee being now
ready for a start. Like his companion, this insect rose and
encircled the stump several times, ere it darted away toward its
hive, in an air-line. So small was the object, and so rapid its
movement, that no one but the bee-hunter saw the animal after it had
begun its journey in earnest. To HIS disappointment, instead of
flying in the same direction as the bee first taken, this little
fellow went buzzing off fairly at a right angle! It was consequently
clear that there were two hives, and that they lay in very different
directions.
Without wasting his time in useless talk, le Bourdon now caught
another bee, which was subjected to the same process as those first
taken. When this creature had filled it-self, it rose, circled the
stump as usual, as if to note the spot for a second visit, and
darted away, directly in a line with the bee first taken. Ben noted
its flight most accurately, and had his eye on it, until it was
quite a hundred yards from the stump. This he was enabled to do, by
means of a quick sight and long practice.
"We'll move our quarters, friends," said Buzzing Ben, good-
humoredly, as soon as satisfied with this last observation, and
gathering together his traps for a start. "I must angle for that
hive, and I fear it will turn out to be across the prairie, and
quite beyond my reach for to-day."
The prairie alluded to was one of those small natural meadows, or
pastures, that are to be found in Michigan, and may have contained
four or five thousand acres of open land. The heavy timber of the
swamp mentioned, jutted into it, and the point to be determined was,
to ascertain whether the bees had flown OVER these trees, toward
which they had certainly gone in an air-line, or whether they had
found their hive among them. In order to settle this material
question, a new process was necessary.
"I must 'angle' for them chaps," repeated le Bourdon; "and if you
will go with me, strangers, you shall soon see the nicest part of
the business of bee-hunting. Many a man who can 'line' a bee, can do
nothing at an 'angle'."
As this was only gibberish to the listeners, no answer was made, but
all prepared to follow Ben, who was soon ready to change his ground.
The bee-hunter took his way across the open ground to a point fully
a hundred rods distant from his first position, where he found
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