THE RUNNING AT SWARMING TIME 



31 



Then the hive, under the skilled super- 

 vision of the general, must be placed just 

 right. It was his practiced eye that de- 

 cided how far the top should he inclined 

 backward, and when it should be held 

 by the rail, and where one end of the 

 rail should touch the hive and the other 

 1)6 braced against the ground. It was a 

 delicate and complex proceeding. 



The time had come for Father to 

 shoulder the bean pole, and to march as 

 with a rifle to meet the enemy. Should 

 I leave him alone in a situation so peril- 

 ous? Xot I. I dashed through the 

 kitchen into that sacred spare room, and 

 grabbed my double-barrelled, muzzle- 

 loading shotgun. Hastily I pulled out 

 the ramrod, took off the cap of the 

 wormer, thrust the rod down one barrel 

 after the other, and pulled out the hornet 

 paper waddin.g. I inverted the gun and 

 poured into my palm two charges of 

 shot. It was only the powder that was 

 wanted. We had no desire to kill any- 

 body or anything. Our only object was 

 to make a noise and I was willing to 

 make my share or more. Back I ran to 

 the apple tree under which was the cen- 

 ter of all interest, in time to see the com- 

 pletion of the hive adjustments, and 

 Grandfather panting for breath, and ex- 

 emplifying a mixture of all sorts of gaits 

 in his effort to reach the wood shed, 

 not the workshop portion, but the open 

 space portion where was tlie wood pile 

 and where was the ladder up which the 

 chickens went to roost in the attic. Just 

 under that ladder was a wooden peg 

 on which hung the old string of sleigh 

 bells, never to be used except at swarm- 

 ing time. I can even now hear their 

 crisp, metallic music, as their vibrations 

 rang in sympathy with the old man's 

 jumping. "Run. run ; why don't you 

 run?" With a crash of clanging metal 

 he arrived, and met Grandmother, who 

 had been back to the pantry, where she 

 had snatched a polished tin nail in one 

 hand, and a shining tin pan in the other. 

 She thought that she might work double- 

 action in flashing the light into the 

 swarm, if perchance it should decide not 

 to accept its new and well scrubbed 

 home. 



Philip, a boy about mv o\vn age. who 

 lived on an adjoining farm, grabbed a 

 pail and ran to the middle of the road 

 where was a liberal supplv of drv sand. 

 He went on that errand with a swiftness 

 so frantic that, it seemed to me, he could 



never be equalled by any other boy, and 

 though the ])ail was nearly full, he 

 rushed back as if the content were as 

 light as feathers. 



Susie ran to the sitting room, grabbed 



"SUSIE . . . REACHED UP TO TAKE AN 



OLD-FASHIOXEI) LOOKIXG-GLASS FROM ITS 



NAIL NEAR THE CEILING." 



a chair, climbed on it and reached up to 

 take an old-fashioned looking-glass from 

 its nail near the ceiling. In her haste 

 she lost her balance, the chair tipped 

 over, but by some miraculous interven- 

 tion, perhaps the great necessity of the 

 bees at that time, she escaped with a few 

 bruises, and the mirror without even a 

 crack. Even Bill, who under ordinary 

 circumstances could not be prevailed up- 

 on to mow the grass within several rods 

 of the hives, and who seldom knew that 

 there was such a thing as a well on the 

 place because of his familiarity with the 

 cider barrels in the cellar, now suddenly 

 became brave and an ardent advocate of 

 cold water. He seized one of the in- 

 verted milk pails that were hanging in 

 the sun for purification and drying; he 

 dashed the bucket down the well and 

 pulled it up as if he was thoroughly fa- 

 miliar with cold water and poured the 

 contents into that milk pail. Then hur- 

 riedlv grabbing a dipper, he hastened to 

 the scene of action. 



Everybody was in readiness and there 

 came over the scene a hush like that 

 which precedes a thunderstorm. The 

 central figure was mv Father. All eyes 

 and hearts instinctively turned to him as 

 to one upon whom everything depended. 

 He shouldered the bean pole and 



