160 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



down on to the honeycomb and fell to work. 

 Jonathan had providently cut a three-forked 

 stick, and he now stuck this into the ground 

 and set the box on the forks so that it was 

 about on a level with the goldenrod tops. 

 Then he carefully drew off the glass, and we 

 sat down to watch. 



&quot;Should n t you think she must have had 

 enough?&quot; I said, after a while &quot;Oh! there 

 she comes now!&quot; 



Our bee appeared on the edge of the box, 

 staggering heavily. She rubbed her legs, 

 rubbed her wings, shook herself, girded up 

 her loins, as it were, and brushed the hair out 

 of her eyes, and finally rose, turning on her 

 self in a close spiral which widened into larger 

 and larger circles above the box, and at 

 length, after two or three wide sweeps where 

 we nearly lost track of her, she darted off in a 

 &quot;bee-line&quot; for a tall chestnut tree on a knoll 

 to the westward. 



&quot;Will she come back?&quot; we wondered. Five 

 minutes - - ten fifteen it seemed an 

 hour. 



&quot;She must have been a drone,&quot; said Jona 

 than. 



