CHAPTER IV
WATCHING FOR THE HONEY THIEF
"WHOOP! there she goes over with a crash!" shouted Sandy, throwing hiscap up into the air, as the tall sycamore came down just as they hadplanned.
"'WHOOP! THERE SHE GOES!'"]
He started to dash forward as soon as the tree had struck, eager toascertain what sort of prize they had drawn in the lottery; but hismore careful brother laid hands on him.
"Don't try it!" he exclaimed. "Why, they are so wild just now, they'dsting you to death!"
"But how are we going to get at the honey, Bob?" demanded the youngerlad.
"You run to the house, and tell the others the good news. I'll bemaking veils out of this thin cloth. Then we have the gloves we usedlast winter. Bring a lot of pails back with you; for I think we'll needall you can find."
Sandy hastened back to the cabin, where he electrified his father andmother and little Kate with the joyful news. They got together everyavailable vessel for carrying the expected spoils; and then Sandy ledthe way back to where his brother awaited them.
On the trail he was compelled to explain just how they had taken PatO'Mara's advice with regard to tracing the honey gatherers; and whatsplendid success had resulted. Kate was singing with delight over theanticipated store of sweets that would reward their skill in locatingthe bee tree, for, in those early pioneer days, as a rule the onlysugar the settlers had was obtained through boiling down the sap of thesugar maple tree in the early spring; or in discovering some secretstore of honey in the forest.
Bob had arranged things completely to his satisfaction while hisbrother was away. Both of the young pioneers donned the veils andgloves, so that the bees might not take a terrible revenge on thedestroyers of their home.
Bob had also made a smudge with which he expected to partly stupefythe angry little creatures. Smoke always frightens bees, for they seemto think that fire is about to devastate their hive. Nature influencesthem to immediately load up with all the honey they can possibly carry,with the idea of taking it to some new retreat; and while in thiscondition they are comparatively harmless.
Presently Sandy came back to the spot where the others were standingin safety. He had a bucket almost full of broken combs from which therichness was oozing in a manner that set little Kate wild with delight.As for the good mother the sight was undoubtedly a pleasant one forher, since it promised many a delightful treat in the long wintermonths ahead.
David Armstrong immediately started home with the bucket, so as toempty it, and once more put it into service. Bob was still workingthere in the midst of the ruined hive.
"And he says there are, oh! ever so many more buckets of better honeythan this!" Sandy had cried, as he brought out a second supply, inwhich the combs were less broken than before, and seemed newer.
"The whole air is filled with the perfume of honey," remarked MaryArmstrong. "It hardly seems right to rob the poor little workers inthis way, after they have stored it up so carefully; though we do needit badly, for there will be little sugar in our home except what wemake next spring."
"Oh! Bob says there'll be just oceans of it left, spilled on theground," Sandy went on, "and the bees will get it all, sooner or later.Plenty of time for 'em to seal it up for this winter. They alwayshave ten times too much, and that's why some of it is so old and darklooking. Bob says he is not taking that if he can help it."
"Why, I could smell the honey half way to the house," remarked Mr.Armstrong, as he came up just then. "And, if there happens to be a bearwithin half a mile of this place, you can depend on it that he'll beprowling around here this very night."
"That was just what Bob was saying, father!" declared Sandy. "He showedme marks on the smooth trunk of the sycamore, where a bear must haveclimbed up ever so often, as if trying to reach in at the honey thatwas just too far away for him to steal. And some of the scratches wereso fresh Bob says they must have been made only last night."
After numerous trips to the cabin to empty the buckets the pleasanttask was finally completed. Bob declared that he had secured about allof the honey that was worth carrying away. There still remained a greatstore of the sticky stuff; but it was either spilled on the ground, orelse so darkened by age that it did not seem worth while carrying itoff.
"We'll leave it to the poor little fellows," laughed Bob; "for they'reas busy as beavers right now loading up and flying off to anotherhollow tree one of 'em has found. And I think we're pretty lucky to getoff as easy as we did, eh, Sandy?"
Sandy had removed the thin cloth veil that covered his face, and bythis action revealed the fact that at least one angry bee had found away to pierce his armor; for his left cheek was swollen so that his eyeseemed unusually small. Some wet clay took the pain out, however, andin due course of time the swelling would go down.
It was not the first time Sandy had felt a sting from a bee, nor did heexpect it would be the last. And, when he looked at the glorious fruitsof their raid on that big sycamore hive, he forgot that he had sufferedin the good cause.
"Well, do we try for that bear to-night, Bob?" he asked of his brother,later on in the afternoon, when he could see once more fairly well withboth eyes.
"I think we would be silly not to," replied his brother; "especiallysince we set the trap ourselves when we cut down that bee tree."
"He's just sure to come nosing around, don't you think?"
"Don't see how any bear could stand back, with all that odor in theair. Besides, it looked to me as if the old fellow might have beenpaying a visit to that tree every single night for a whole month, therewere so many scratches on the bark. So you can just depend on it thathe's got his mouth set for honey."
"And then there's another thing in our favor," Sandy went on saying, ashe glanced upward toward the heavens, an action that caused his brotherto remark:
"I'd wager a shilling that you are thinking of the moon being nearlyfull to-night, which is a fact. That is in our favor, and, on thewhole, I'd be inclined to believe that we may be tasting a bear steakby to-morrow."
"One good thing leads to another with us, Bob. First a prize in the wayof gallons and gallons of prime honey, and then, to finish, perhapsa fat bear in the bargain! But, remember, you said I was to have thefirst shot at the old honey thief, if he does make his appearance?"
"All right," answered Bob, good naturedly; "and I'll keep my word; butif I were you I would go slow about calling names. Please remember thatthere are some others in the same boat. Only, in our case, we succeededin getting the spoils; and there we have the better of old Bruin, whoclimbed that tree so very many times only to have his trouble for hispains."
Of course the lads took their parents into their plans, for it mightbe their absence would worry the little mother, who sometimes stillthought of that wild ringing of the alarm bell, and all it might havemeant.
Shortly after they had had their supper, the two lads took theirmuskets, and passed out into the night. As they had said, it promisedto be just a glorious opportunity to carry out such a plan as they hadin mind.
The moon rode high in the eastern heavens, being not very far fromfull. Not a cloud seemed to dim the bright light, so that, for a shortdistance around them, things looked almost as plain as in the daytime.
As the two boys had done considerable hunting in common there waslittle necessity for talking things over, or arranging any programme.When the honey-loving bear came along, eager to satisfy his craving forsweets, of course Sandy would wait for a favorable chance to get in afair shot. And, unless his aim were poor, or some accident occurred tootherwise mar the arrangements, that would wind matters up.
Arriving at the fallen bee tree, the young pioneers quickly decidedjust where they should secrete themselves. In doing this they exercisedtheir knowledge as woodrangers, for much depended on the direction ofthe wind.
"It seems to be blowing toward the home quarter," remarked Bob, asthey stood there, fixing certain facts in their minds. "That favors usfinely, because the chances are ten t
o one he will come from the otherside of the opening made by our felling the big sycamore. So you see hewon't be able to smell us."
"How will this place do, Bob?" suggested the younger brother, pointingto what in his mind made a splendid hiding-nook, from which they couldpeer forth, and see anything that took place just beyond.
"Could hardly be better; and so there is no use for us to lookfurther," Bob remarked. "Pick out your stand, Sandy, where you will beable to shoot best. I'll be satisfied to take what is left."
This was soon arranged, and, having once settled down to wait, theytried to keep as still as though made out of marble. Talking wasforbidden, even in whispers; and a cough would very likely have ruinedthe whole affair, since the bear, if near-by at the time, must havebeen warned of his danger, and with a "wuff" would turn to rush away.
An hour passed in this way. Fortunately the two lads were good waiters,and had proved this on many another occasion in the past.
Sandy had allowed his thoughts to go out to other scenes, and was eventhinking of that fine young frontiersman, Simon Kenton, whom he admiredso much, when he felt his brother touch him softly on the shoulder. Thecontact thrilled him, since it was the signal agreed on to denote thatthe lumbering bear was coming!
The Pioneer Boys on the Great Lakes; or, On the Trail of the Iroquois Page 7